In Pursuit of Profit
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Accountants that have been in the industry for decades may find this idea unfathomable because they are used to the regular cadence of time-consuming, stressful closing procedures that never seem to go smoothly. And yet, as automation becomes ever more prevalent in accounting and finance, the traditional bookkeeping role is becoming largely replaceable by software, taking with it some of the tediousness and historical pain points that have traditionally been a hallmark of the industry. Will a manual month-end or year-end financial close soon become a relic of the past?
What about your accounting platform? Is it keeping pace with business needs? Does it provide the kind of functionality that your business needs to take that next step (whatever it may be)? Does it offer sufficient automation to streamline human efforts?
The reality is that the companies that need accounting help the most typically aren’t even aware that they need help. If you’re not sure how your accounting staff and systems are working together to deliver on key accounting functions, here are some red flags to keep an eye out for: 7/10/2023 Do Accounting Job Titles Matter?
I discovered many parts of the HR world matched my interests, so I wanted to be a finance leader who had some real HR knowledge. I pursued an SPHR (Senior Professional in Human Resources) designation, which required studying materials and taking an exam. As time passed, I realized recruiting was the part of HR I really liked because I am a lifetime connector. Fast forward to today and I have spent most of the past 20 years as a recruiter.
One topic that is a continual area of consternation within the recruiting world is job titles. Job seekers and hiring companies alike struggle with accounting and finance job titles. I’ll tell you why and what you can do about it when looking for or posting an accounting job:
Either way, they typically come to us with their books in disarray looking for someone that can get them back on track and put the foundational elements in place for them to manage continued growth more effectively.
Their goal is not simply to have clean books for the mere sake of doing so. Their goal is to have the kind of accurate and timely financial information needed for strategic decision-making – enabling yesterday’s growth to fuel tomorrow’s growth as well. They understand that sustainable growth must be built on a solid financial foundation.
Employers need to realize that they may not find an accountant that checks every one of their “nice-to-have” boxes, but if they work with an experienced accounting recruiter, they will find someone that fits their “must-have” needs. And, the sooner they can figure this out, the better because having an open role costs an average of $98/day, and rehiring an accounting employee after letting go of a bad hire costs over $50,000 on average! Therefore, to minimize hiring costs employers need to rethink their expectations around work flexibility, compensation, accounting improvements, and training when looking to fill a role.
These figures should be a real wake up call for accounting managers and their employers, especially at a time when the pipeline of students pursuing accounting degrees is drying up as well.
If accounting does not change as a profession soon, we may continue to see the numbers of accountants dwindle. The accounting pool keeps getting smaller and smaller. So, what’s next? Could it be extinction?
I have a lot of respect for accounting leaders who take pride in the way they manage every aspect of their company.
Let’s take a look at a few reasons why maximizing efficiency in your accounting department is important. Our partners over at CFO Selections have a number of financial resources meant for executive leadership, one of which breaks down the business sales process and explains why a CFO (Chief Financial Officer) is important during the sale of a business. As you get closer to selling, we would suggest reviewing that resource and reaching out to them if you need help.
However, today we are going to look at some best practices for creating and preserving value in your business well before you start going down the path of selling it. Our team of accountants will give some tips on what you can do financially to set yourself up for success as you get closer to selling. 3/23/2023 Do We Need a Chart of Accounts?
We’ll break down what a COA is and why you need one, give you some pointers on how to create a COA, provide an example of a chart of accounts for you, and give you some helpful reminders to be aware of as you create your own COA. Let’s get started talking about accounting chart of accounts fundamentals:
The author, Peter Cappelli, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Warton School of Business, highlighted the ways in which he believes that pursuing financial goals causes businesses distort their hiring and training objectives and deprive employees of the benefits they deserve. His summary for the article was as follows: Many HR practices in the United States are bad for companies, employees, and shareholders. Firms skimp on training and development, for instance, and tightly limit head count even when they’re understaffed. They increasingly move work to nonemployees, like leased workers, and replace pensions with more-expensive 401(k) plans. They do such counterproductive things because U.S. financial reporting standards treat employees and investments in them as expenses or liabilities, which make companies look less valuable to investors. The solution he proposes is to change SEC reporting requirements, which would only help publicly traded companies, though he seems to indicate that these struggles are being felt by a broad array of business types and sizes.
Unfortunately, it seems this article misses one very important point – the ways in which accounting and HR can work together to benefit the overall business. As a result, we’d like to cover that aspect of the discussion to help remind companies that their accountants are not the villains in the discussion of hiring and employee retention. |
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7/31/2023