With the costumes, candy, scary movies and carved pumpkins, Halloween can be an exciting time. But for some businesses, it can be a reminder of their accounting horrors.
Luckily, there are some simple ways to avoid accounting nightmares and stay on top of your books this Halloween and beyond.
Here are 5 ways to Lift Your Spirits this Halloween:
1. Stop running haunted house systems
Just as a haunted house is not a good place to go if you’re afraid of ghosts, so it is with your accounting system. An accounting system infested with chaotic workflows and disorganised processes is a scary place for accountants (Hopefully you’re not nodding with a grimace…).
Don’t be a Lazy Bones, take the time to clean up your systems. Make sure that there are no broken windows, the doors are shut tight and that there is no old work littering the floors.
In accounting terms, you’d want to establish a strong internal control system.
Controls help you avoid costly errors, promote accountability, and prevent fraud. It also ensures the integrity of financial and accounting information and as well provides a barrier between those with access to sensitive financial data and those without such access.
Think about switching on journal approvals and implementing controls around supplier bank account details if they’re not in place already.
2. Stop building accounting graveyards
If it’s been ages since you last reconciled your bank and credit card accounts, then you’re building an accounting graveyard.
Accounts should be reconciled at least monthly to detect errors and make sure your financial records are clean and up to date.
Reconciling every month is the best way to avoid accounting horror shows, and also helps you immediately spot problems, such as incorrect postings or missing payments.
3. Shut out spooky transactions
It’s a pain in the neck when transactions aren’t posting to the right account, or don’t post at all.
Things like inventory, accounts and expenses can be hard to track down if your accounting system is as old as Nosferatu.
Look at the general ledger to check for any old transactions, catalogue them correctly and make sure they are all closed.
4. Light up your operations
Closing your eyes during scary scenes in horror Halloween movies may help, but it’s of little use when it comes to your financials.
The finance team shouldn’t turn a blind eye to the inefficiencies of your current accounting software.
You ought to be using the right analytics and reporting tools to gain insights and Light Up your financial operations.
Infor Q&A for SunSystems, for example, is a powerful financial management software that increases productivity by providing accurate data that’s accessible to everyone in your team. It allows your finance team to generate financial reports automatically according to predefined business rules that are customisable.
Another example is NetSuite’s SuiteAnalytics which provides users with built-in reporting, searches, key performance indicators (KPIs) and dashboards. With embedded analytics, you can conduct actionable analysis and gain meaningful operational and financial insights into your organisation’s performance across multiple departments and teams.
With these tools, business intelligence is at your fingertip in real-time and you’d be able to easily make data-driven, informed decisions in a timely manner.
5. Identify the gremlin in your system
A gremlin is said to be a small, ugly, mischievous creature with a reputation for causing chaos.
If your current system isn’t performing at its best, then you probably have a gremlin in your system.
This often takes the form of outdated hardware, software not configured correctly, misconfigured permissions, high level of manual input requirements, monster paper-based operations, and so on.
Your first line of defence should always be to seek out the gremlin responsible for the slow progress, errors, or other mishaps in your system.
Once you’ve found the gremlin, you can begin to look at how it can be stopped or contained, so that your business can continue to develop and thrive.
Working with a trusted team of accounting systems experts can make a difference.
Witch of the above are plaguing your organisation?
If you’re having an accounting horror, it might be necessary to work with experienced accounting system consultant at FinanSys so your finance team can sleep easy.
