​As a fan of Star Trek, one thing I like to ponder about is the concept of time dimensions. Can you be in two points of time at the same time? For many people, living in a pandemic has made the sensation of time change. Things have simultaneously seemed like they happened long ago and also only yesterday. And, at one point or another we have all thought, “It seems like it was years since I saw you. Wait, it has been years!” But time has more than just social implications. The concept of time is relevant to you professionally as well, especially as an accounting manager or a member of an accounting team.
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To have an effective accounting and finance team, an individual’s time view preference must match their job responsibility. If it is not, your accounting operations may suffer, and your company may experience unnecessary attrition. What do I mean? 

​Several years ago, we published a resource for business owners to help them understand the difference between QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online. This resource tackled one of the biggest questions we were getting at the time (and still get frequently today!): “Which QuickBooks do I need?” In all this time it has remained one of our most popular articles, even though some of the information related to functionality and cost has now become outdated.

So, we have put together a new resource for you to provide more current information about these two bookkeeping software options. Additionally, we are including some information about the newest QuickBooks offering – QuickBooks Live. Our hope is that this new resource will provide the information you need to make the best choice for your business or organization.
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If you’re ready to find out more about QuickBooks, let’s get started! 

“Start with the core of the onion.” This is a mantra I use when talking to hiring managers about who they want for their job opening. This means starting with their most ideal candidate and working through different profiles. Most hiring managers are looking for either the next “up and comer” or someone who is established and has a solid 20 years left in the tank. As we work through candidate profiles, inevitably the recommendation is to always hire the person who can add the most value in the position.
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In the world of non-executive accounting and finance recruiting, the ‘core of the onion’ answer is never “I’d love someone who is late in their career.” There is often a stigma attached to late-career candidates that is uneducated at best, and at worst tantamount to ageism. But late-career candidates should be considered equally with all other candidates. Understanding why first starts with thinking about a professional’s career trajectory. 

The pandemic caused innumerable business obstacles, and among all the added barriers, accounting-related woes have emerged as a universal challenge.
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Every day we talk with companies that are fighting the good fight to keep up with their daily accounting demands amid pandemic-related complexities. And while each business has a unique story, what we are hearing in the way of accounting challenges is starting to become predictable. Whether the pandemic has increased or decreased revenue, the common threads that unite companies these days are more work, staffing problems, late and messy financials, a lack of accurate and actionable information, and budget issues.

The pandemic forced most companies to go remote for what was originally anticipated to be a 2-4 week stint. Over two years later, many companies still have remote employees, at least to some degree.

Hybrid working has become the new normal and small business owners continue to struggle with the added challenges of how to manage remote workers. While office-based businesses have largely adapted to managing a remote workforce, other types of small businesses continue to wrestle with the increased demands of location-divided staff.
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Communication challenges, technology barriers, and access to key information remain difficult among small and mid-sized companies trying to learn how to manage remote teams virtually. If this describes your business, our guide to managing remote workers will give you the tools needed to be successful in this new era: 

There is no doubt the US workforce landscape continues to experience significant changes. The business challenges of the last few years have caused many companies to rethink how they can best execute their operating plans. With more and more companies outsourcing their accounting functions, there are a few important things to keep in mind to ensure a beneficial outcome.

Call it what you want – cost cutting, cost containment, downsizing, cutbacks, or expense management. It all describes the same approach of reducing costs to weather an obstacle or downturn. In times of both slow decline and also rapid disruption we see companies go to the same well of pulling back on expenses. Some organizations may take a more surgical approach, carefully carving out smaller expenses from targeted areas to improve their overall financial health, while others may have a more knee-jerk reaction, slashing costs across all areas.

But whether cuts are being done with a scalpel or a cleaver, expense management software has become the must-have tool for managing costs, especially while staffing challenges remain high. These days companies tend to implement expense management software for just that purpose – to help with reducing costs related to purchasing and processing reimbursements. And with only 54% of companies currently tracking the cost of processing expense reports, this has become an area ripe for cost reduction over the last year.

This is a common story we hear: “We’ve been searching for an accountant for months and just can’t find anyone!”

Clients that come to us with this story are usually weary and desperate for help in finding the right candidate for the specifics of their role. Often times work has been piling up and employee morale is down as other staff tries to cover the gaps. It is at this point that hiring managers begin to wonder if they should settle for less than what they were looking for, using the old “someone is better than no one” rationale. However, under-hiring for a role is often more costly than continued hiring delays.

One of the most common questions we hear when talking to prospective clients is “How do I know if I have the right accounting team in place?”

Now, the underlying questions wrapped in this broader question can vary to include things like:

• Are our employees’ skillsets the right fit for our most critical positions?
• Do we have enough accounting personnel?
• Where should we be using technology to augment our human capabilities?
• Are all of our accounting and finance needs being met with the roles we currently have, or are there gaps?

​If you are wrestling with these same types of questions, use this guide to determine if you have the right accounting team in place to move your company forward: 

A guest post from Jen Girard at CFO Selections

We get this request all the time. A small non-profit needs to hire a new Finance Manager. Sometimes they call this person a CFO or Controller, but whatever the title, the role is a Superhero who wears multiple costumes and does it all!

How do you find (and afford) this person? Find out how other non-profits are doing it: