A business is very much like a car, a robot, or simply a machine that is made of many different groups of parts. And as a business owner, you must make sure that all your business parts are working efficiently.
If you are gunning for efficiency, you should consider streamlining your operations, especially the departments that are dealing with many data and procedures. One of the departments that you need to focus on is the accounting team. Accuracy and efficiency are important aspects that this department must possess, knowing that it helps you know your financial standing, which then helps in forming better business decisions.
Here are some of the tips you may want to remember:
Use batch processing systems
Processing every single receipt or invoice that the department receives at a time can be inefficient. The key here is proper consolidation. For example, you may set a timeframe or period wherein all the received invoices and receipts will be processed simultaneously. This will also require the cooperation of other departments; tell them that they should submit their claims and invoices within a specific period.
Automate what can be automated
Many accounting departments still stick to traditional, manual work systems. However, being stuck to old practices may be counterproductive. Spot if there are any part of the operations that can be automated, such as the reception of invoices. Automating procedures will certainly help everyone save time and effort. More importantly, it will allow you to generate reports much more efficiently. If you already have an existing automated system, make sure that it is updated. It would also help if you can work with a company that offers cleanup services for software, such as Quickbooks.
Be specific with instructions and boundaries
If you want your accounting department to work with efficiency, you have to make sure that the line of communications and protocols are streamlined. For one, you may want to have some of the major reports directly checked by the department head, instead of having another layer of approval, which usually causes delays. If there are any changes in the protocols, it will help if you updated everyone about it.
Avoid over-reporting
Reports are one of the major activities in the accounting department. But you may want to tone things down here. You need to decide which mode of reporting works best with the bosses and decision-makers. Daily and weekly reporting can be quite counterproductive, especially if the team is small, and they have a lot of other things on their plate.
Your accounting department is one of the most important groups in your business. The operations within this department must always be efficient and accurate. Otherwise, your business decision-making will be compromised. If you want to improve it, it is a must that you start streamlining it. This should not be hard work, as many companies offer third-party services that will enable you to simplify the operations and get rid of processes that do not work anymore.
