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We’re just testing it for now…

Young and fast-growing companies usually focus on the product and how they can increase sales.
The back end is often neglected.
You want to know whether the channel is working, you want to be fast – and go live according to the Pareto principle.
You first want to know whether it works, generates sales – and not die in beauty.
Understandable from an entrepreneur’s point of view – but for the accounting department, this often means many system breaks and a high level of manual work.
It may all be manageable at the beginning, but the larger the company becomes, the more volume is processed, the more time-consuming the “manual” processes in accounting become.
And so the original low-volume test becomes a sales channel that generates revenue and causes high manual effort in the backend.
As a rule, you then no longer look back and optimize what already exists, but turn to the next project, the next revenue generator.

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Oh dear, we didn’t even think about the bookkeeping…

In addition, young companies attract young employees – it is often their first job.
Projects are initiated and implemented with a high level of motivation, but without much experience.
It is very common to forget to involve the accounting department – with the result that suddenly your completely annoyed accountant is standing in front of you complaining about why he has been presented with a fait accompli again and what kind of orders are in the PayPal account.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough for centralized (experienced) project management in the last budget round…

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IT – the holy cow…

Personnel capacities are usually tight and scarce in young companies.
In order for things to run smoothly, staff must be deployed optimally.
Optimal usually means value-adding: improving the product and increasing sales.
People do not allow themselves the “supposed luxury” of investing their capacities, especially those of IT, in back-end processes.
As a result, departments such as purchasing, accounting and customer care often still work with a “hammer and chisel”.
Nowadays, process improvement usually also requires a change in the IT systems.

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Discipline, discipline, discipline…

Discipline means doing things that are not fun.
You don’t need discipline for everything you enjoy doing!
(Lilli Palmer)

How can you make the accounting department happy?
By filing your travel expense report and all credit card receipts on time and neatly without having to be reminded several times (and damn it, not the credit card payment receipt, but the invoice – is it really that hard?).
If the founder only completes these tedious administrative tasks after umpteen reminders and is months behind – well, what do you think, your employees will handle it similarly.
And the next tantrum from your accountant will only be a matter of time…

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And now, finally, we come to the accounting itself…

The Accountant

The boss to the accountant: “You’ve been with us for twenty years, work heaps of overtime, have never been promoted, never received a bonus and certainly never asked for a pay rise. What kind of crooked things are you doing here?”

Accountants are generally reliable, cost-conscious, careful and want to do a good job and often don’t ask for help.
Or only when the special auditor from the tax office is at the door because the VAT return from the previous year has still not been submitted.
If you don’t ask and stand on your hind legs, you won’t get anything.
Not even team members who can provide support.
As a result, the teams are usually understaffed and this leads to…

…permanent fire-fighting mode

Accounting is at the end of the food chain.
This means that all problems and errors, edge cases that have not been considered, that have previously occurred in the process chain and that manifest themselves in some form in euros, lead to problems in accounting.
Those who are constantly overwhelmed by day-to-day business – due to high manual effort and too few staff – have no time to identify errors and rectify them, optimize processes and think about how work can be made more efficient.
And they also have no time to structure the team….

Who actually debits the money from the PayPal account?

“Luckily there was still some money there, otherwise we would have had to run to the local court tomorrow.”

In fast-growing structures and accounting teams, tasks change quickly and are subject to change.
There is usually no time to document tasks – and responsibilities are usually not clearly defined.
In most cases, little importance is attached to structure and order (unfortunately!) – with serious consequences:

• Invoices are forgotten to be posted because the invoice email inbox is overflowing
• Invoices are paid twice because the process is not clearly regulated
• Every search and evaluation takes forever because everything is stored everywhere and nowhere
• And there are no errors in the accounts because they are not cleared and tidied up.
• ….

And the downward spiral begins…

• No figures, no well-founded decisions
• Loss of confidence with banks and suppliers, credit insurers (because no figures can be presented)
• Financial losses
• Demotivated teams to team erosion because overloaded/overstretched
• Loss of knowledge

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And how do we solve this now?

How do you get a top accounting department that delivers good quality, on time and everyone is happy and satisfied?
(and you don’t have to worry about anything – except submitting your travel expenses on time)?

Updates!

Do you have regular project meetings?
Weekly performance meetings?
Is finance included?
If not – make sure that your accountant is involved from now on.
He needs to know what is happening in the company.
Which projects are running – which decisions have been made – what should be started.
This is the only way he can set the course for the project at an early stage.

Kapas for optimization

Give your accounting department Kapas!
Kapas to look at and optimize your own processes – but also Kapas for your IT or your project management.
Only those who have time and are not driven by day-to-day business have the muse and energy to look at processes, consider and research how they can be improved.

Clear structures, order and responsibility!

Order is half the battle!
Especially in accounting.
A clear team structure incl.
clear allocation of tasks is the first step.
And at least a documentation of the essential work processes should be created (here, for example, a small video guide that can be created with Loom can be easily recorded) in order to be able to guarantee a sickness/holiday replacement, for example.

Be a role model

Do your administrative tasks (travel expenses, invoice approval, etc.) on time and regularly.
Set yourself regular blockers to complete these tasks.
One reminder from your accounting department is already one reminder too many.
And expect the same from your employees/team and communicate this accordingly.

Order in the accounting accounts: Clearing is the magic word

Decipher, decipher, decipher!
You can’t do without it!
If you don’t tidy up accounts – if you don’t decipher – you won’t find errors.
Or takes an eternity to do so.
Everyone knows about permanent debtor and creditor account maintenance, but very few people tidy up their balance sheet accounts.
This is the easiest way to keep order and maintain an overview – so start clearing and tidying up!

The most underrated tool: Excel Power Query

If you are in the Google and Slack world – buy your accounting and controlling team an Excel license and buy them the Excel Power Query course from Leila Gharani.
Very few people know and use Excel Power Query – and for financiers it is life changing!
Month-end closing at the push of a button is possible – even if your accountant wants you to believe that this is an urban myth.

And last but not least: Robotic Process Automation

If you have an inhomogeneous IT landscape with a large number of system breaks and already have a high number of transactions, you should look into the topic of robotic process automation.
With low-code solutions such as UI-Path can help here and you can let your robot do the work for you.

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CONCLUSION

If you don’t receive your monthly financial statements on time or at all, it’s not just down to the accounting department….

• Set priorities: Don’t just focus on sales and product development.
  Make sure that your processes are efficient and clean.
  And can grow with the company.
  This will save you a lot of trouble and also a lot of money.
• Integration and communication: Ensures that accounting is involved in all relevant projects and decisions.
  Finance needs to know what is happening in the company at an early stage.
• Provide resources: Give your accounting department the resources it needs to optimize processes.
• Structure and responsibility: Establishes clear structures and responsibilities – and documents the key work processes.
• Role model: Take care of administrative tasks regularly and without reminders – and set a good example.
  This is the only way you can expect discipline from your teams.
• Account clearing: Keep your accounts clean and tidy.
  This is the only way to find errors and other problems quickly and deal with them in good time.
• Use of tools: Invest in training for tools such as Excel Power Query to increase efficiency.
• Automation: Get to grips with Robotic Process Automation, which can automate repetitive tasks and relieve your teams of tedious tasks.

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