What’s Wrong with My Accounting Team?

We hear it all the time: “Our accounting department is struggling, and I don’t know why!”

​Typically, it’s followed by questions like:

• How can I tell if the team has the right skillset to do the job we need done?
• Do they have the resources needed to do their jobs effectively?
• Should we hire more personnel to lend additional expertise or bear the workload better?
• Should we make a change to our accounting policies or procedures?
• Is our accounting software helping or hurting the problems we’re experiencing?

Resource: Do You Have a System Problem or a People Problem?

​Our partners at CFO Selections have tons of experience in addressing these types of questions, so we’re leaning on their expertise to give you some direction if this sounds like what’s going on at your company or organization.

If you’re looking for a clear way to help your accounting team get on track, having a financial assessment performed by a seasoned accounting/finance leader should be your first step.

While some business leaders will opt to do a more informal review of their books, processes, and personnel themselves, a third-party financial assessment not only dives deeper into your accounting and finance operations but also offers the benefit of impartiality to provide thorough and honest feedback to business leaders.

When our partners at CFO Selections conduct a Limited Financial Assessment, they cover as many of the following areas as they can in a 20–30-hour timeframe:

• Systems and tools
• Policies and processes
• Day-to-day bookkeeping responsibilities
• Past and present financial projections, models, and assumptions
• Risk management initiatives
• Internal and external reporting
• Financial goals and expectations

When they are finished, they prepare an executive summary of their findings and offer actionable insights and recommendations for improvement so that clients have a plan moving forward. But remember, having a financial assessment like this done is just the first step needed to move forward.

When your accounting team is experiencing problems, the next thing you need to do is actually fix the problems! Once you know where you need to improve, you can hire a fractional accountant to do the initial cleanup work to get your team back on track, implement better accounting policies and controls, and then help manage on the ongoing workload needed to keep things running smoothly.

When you need outsourced accounting services, we can help! Whether you’re looking for ongoing part-time accounting work, interim accounting services, or project-based accounting support, we have a solution to fit your needs! Our US-based accountants can work at your location, remotely, or a combination of both to best serve your needs. We also have experience with a wide variety of accounting software platforms. Contact us to get the expertise you need and the flexibility you want!