Best Ways to Clean and Organize Your Accounting Department - Roseville Accountants

Roseville Accountants

As meticulous as accounting departments are about numbers, you'd think that mindset would carry over to their processes and procedures. It's often not the case. Look around your own department: Are forms and templates uniformly archived and up-to-date? Or are they scattered here and there throughout the department or even throughout the organization?

Even with the growing use of intranets for central archiving, I still see a number of paper forms in use in many different organizations. If there's been an acquisition (or two or three), the problem is compounded. There are usually disparate forms... and procedures! Depending on who trained whom, your staff may all perform tasks differently with varying results. It's a risky way to operate the department. Continuity is key, and forms are the easiest place to gain or re-gain control.

First, you need to be digital if you aren't already, and you need a central repository for all forms. The days of using paper documentation are numbered, so the first step is to get your forms into an electronic format if you're still working with paper. Here's a minimal list of forms to consider:

• Requisitions
• Purchase Orders
• Expense Reports
• Checklists
• Meeting Agendas
• New Project Template
• Backup Log

Once you've got your forms under control, the next step is to include written procedures, work flow, your Chart of Accounts reference guide and your project management book of knowledge. If you don't have written procedures or a charted work flow, both are well worth your time and effort to create them.

With documented procedures, you'll find training new staff members is quicker and easier. Storing your procedures in electronic form and in a central repository makes updating them simpler and more cost-effective than it's ever been. All employees have a single reference point.

The idea of charting work flow makes some folks shudder. It can be a daunting task; however, it always leads to more streamlined operations. As soon as you begin committing your work flow to paper, you'll see exactly where extraneous steps exist, and a good work flow map shows you where you can eliminate wasted efforts.

There are a number of online sources to share and store documents. Google Docs is one of my favorites, and we use it all the time. Documents can be shared for real-time collaboration or simply shared for viewing. You can use Google Docs for text, spreadsheets, presentations, forms and drawings. Existing MicroSoft documents can be uploaded and are converted for easy viewing and alterations. The best thing about Google Docs is that it's free! MicroSoft Sharepoint Server is another cost-effective solution that I often recommend.

Creating a reference guide and central repository for procedures and forms is as important to your business success as getting the debits and credits correct! Set aside time every week to work toward your efforts. Once it's in place, you'll wonder how you ever managed without it.

Roseville Accountants