Pareto's 80/20 Rule for Corporate Accountants

Acknowledgements. Introduction. PART ONE. AREAS TO FOCUS ON IN THE NEXT SIX MONTHS. Chapter 1. Accounts Payable in the 21st Century. Move to a Paperless AP Function. Invest in an Electronic Ordering System (Procurement System). Introduce Purchase Cards. Cut-Off AP on the Last Working Day. Closing Accruals on Day 2. Throw Away the Company Checkbook. Frequent Direct Credit Payment Runs. Mount the Last Signed Check on the CEO's Office Wall. Speed Up Budget Holder Turnaround on Approving Invoicing. Send a Welcome Letter to All New Budget Holders and Provide Training. Reward Good Budget Holder Behavior. Have a Closer Relationship with Your Main Suppliers. Use Self-Generated Invoices (Buyer Created Invoices). Chapter 2. Timely Month-End Reporting--By Working Day 3 Or Less. Rating Scale for Month-End Reporting. Benefits of Quick Month-End Reporting. Impact of a Quick Month-End on Finance Team Workload. Tighten Up on Month-End Cut-Offs. Pushing Processing Back from Month-End. Ban Spring Cleaning at Month-End. Moving Period Ending to Nearest Week-End. Refocus "Variance to Budget" Reporting to Year to Date Variance until Quarterly Rolling Planning is Instigated. Limit Budget Holders' Monthly "Variance to Budget" Report to One Page. Issue a "Flash Report" at the End of Day One. Run a Workshop to "Post-It" Re-Engineering Month-End Reporting. Key Activities of Three Working Day Month-End. Chapter 3. Make the Monthly Reports Worth Reading. Useful Rules on Reporting. Reporting a Business Unit's Performance. Reporting a Consolidated Profit And Loss Account. Reporting the Balance Sheet. Reporting a Quarterly Rolling Accrual Forecast. Snapshot of All Projects Currently Started. Reporting Progress of the Top Ten Projects. Cash Flow Forecasting. CAPEX Reporting. Chapter 4. Limit Time Invested in Board Reporting. Selling Change. Costing Board Papers. Scoping of Information Requests. Avoiding Re-Writes of Board Reports. Tabling Board Papers Electronically. More Timely Board Meetings. Refocus of "Variance to Budget" Reporting to Year to Date Numbers. Continually Purging Board Papers. Rating Scale for Timeliness of Board Meetings after Month-End. Reporting Key Result Indicators in "Dashboard" to Board. Chapter 5. Timely Annual Planning Process: Ten Working Days or Less!. Sell Change Through Emotional Drivers. Never Budget at Account Code Level: Apply Pareto's 80/20 Rule. Automate Calculation of Items Categories Where Trend Data is the Best Predictor. Accurate Revenue Forecasting: Talking with the Right People at Your Main Customers. If Using Excel Simplify the Model to Make It Robust. Hold a Briefing Workshop. Expand Your Team. Bolt Down Your Strategy Beforehand. Avoid Phasing the Annual Budget. Provide Automated Calculations or Travel. Have Trend Graphs for Every Category Forecasted. Budget Committee to Sit in a "Lock-Up". Chapter 6. Managing the Most Important Resource: The Accounting Team. Hold an Off-Site Meeting for the Accounting Team at Least Twice a Year. Set-Up Monthly One-On-One Progress Meetings with Direct Reports. Attracting the Best Staff to the Team. Adopt Better Recruitment Practices. Recognize Staff Performance. Team Balanced Scorecards. Best Practice Training. Outdoor Pursuit Adventure. Team Building Lessons from a World Class Coach. CFO and All Direct Reports Must Find a Mentor Immediately. Chapter 7. Quick Annual Reporting: Within 15 Working Days Post Year End. Costs of A Slow Year-End. Cost the Annual Accounts Process. Quick Year-End is a Good Year-End. Help Get the Auditors Organized. Appoint an Audit Coordinator. Complete Drafting of the Annual Report Before Year-End!. Limit When Changes Can Be Made. Have a Month 10 Or 11 Hard Close. Effective Stock Takes. Estimating "Added Value" In Work-In-Progress (WIP) and Finished Goods. Effective Fixed Assets Verification. Importance of Internal Auditors. Extract More Value from the Management Letter. Derive More Value from the Interim Audit. Restrict Access of Confidential Information to the Audit Partner. Run a Workshop to "Post-It" Re-Engineer Year-End Reporting. Some Case Studies. Chapter 8. Managing Debtors. Operational Improvements to Accounts Receivable. Reporting on Your Accounts Receivable. Avoiding Accounts Receivable Month-End Processing Bottlenecks. Increasing the Use of Direct Debiting Of Customers' Accounts. Debtors Collection before Year-End. Chapter 9. Marketing the Accounting Function. Chapter 10. Client Management: Improving Relationships with Budget Holders. Perform an In-House Customer Satisfaction Survey. Chapter 11. Working Smarter. Debriefing Of Staff at the End of the Day. Banning Morning Meetings. Implementing "Action Meetings" Methods. Handling E-Mails. Continuous Innovation. Getting the Induction Process Right. Creating a Service Culture. Having Fun in the Workplace. Chapter 12. Maximize the Use of the General Ledger. Introduce a Reporting Application to Sit Over the GL. Tidy Up the Chart of Accounts. PART TWO. AREAS TO FOCUS ON ONCE CORE GAINS HAVE BEEN ACHIEVED. Chapter 13. Throw Out Annual Planning And Associated Monthly Budget Cycle. Beyond Budgeting. Reporting Without A Budget. Chapter 14. Quarterly Rolling Planning: An Evolvement from Quarterly Rolling Forecasting. Flawed Logic of the Monthly Budget. Selling Quarterly Rolling Planning Through the "Emotional Drivers". Recognize That Quarterly Rolling Forecasts Involves All Budget Holders. Never Forecast At Account Code Level: Apply Pareto's 80/20 Rule. Have Trend Graphs for Every Category Forecasted. Accurate Revenue Forecasting Will Involve Talking with the Right People at Your Main Customers. QRF Creates the Annual Plan Goal Posts Quickly. QRP Creates a Quarter-By-Quarter Funding Mechanism. QRF is Based on a Planning Application-Not Excel. QRF Should Be Based Around the Key Drivers. A Fast Light Touch (An Elapsed Week). QRF A Rolling 18 Months Not 12, 13, or 15 Month Process. QRF A Quarterly Process Not Monthly. Barriers to Implementing QRF and How to Over Come Them. Implementing Quarterly Rolling Forecasting and Planning Process. Post-It Re-Engineering Procedures. An Efficient Annual Planning Process If All Else Fails. Implementation Road Map. Chapter 15. Cost Apportionment: Do Not Do It Monthly!. Chapter 16. Ban Excel from Core Monthly Routines . Chapter 17. More Emphasis on Daily and Weekly Reporting. Yesterday's Sales Report. Weekly Key Customer's Sales. Weekly Reporting On Late Projects and Late Reports. Chapter 18. Developing Key Performance Indicators and Reporting Them in a Balanced Scorecard. 10/80/10 Rule. Late Planes KPI. Under Weight Trucks KPI. Selling KPIs Through The "Emotional Drivers". Characteristics of a KPI. Importance of Daily CEO Follow-Up. Reporting KPIs24/7 or Daily to Management. Reporting Weekly KPIs and Performance Indicators to Management. Reporting Monthly PIs to Management. Reporting To Staff-Their Team's Progress. Reporting To Staff: The Organization's Progress. Identifying Organization-Wide Critical Success Factors Is an Important Step. How KPIs and Financial Reporting Fit Together. Chapter 19. Where To Invest In Accounting Systems for Maximum Benefit. Acquiring a Planning and Forecasting Tool. Invest In Accounts Payable to Reduce Transaction Volumes and Make It Paperless. Reporting Tool. Drill Down Front-End Tool. Invest In Your Intranet and Website. Chapter 20. Implementing a New Accounting Systems. Chapter 21. Better Use of the Intranet. Chapter 22. Board Meeting Less Frequently Than Once a Month. Chapter 23. Become a "Warrior Against Waste". Appendix A. Part One Checklist on Those Areas Where the Finance Team Can Score the Easy Goals . Appendix B. Implementation Steps to Reduce Month-End Reporting Time Frames Checklist . Appendix C. Month End Bottlenecks and Techniques to Get Around Them . Appendix D. Speeding-Up the Annual Audit Process Checklist . Appendix E. Part Two Checklist on More Wide Ranging Changes Which Will Require a Heavy Investment from The Finance Team . Appendix F. How a Quarterly Rolling Forecast Can Be Laid Out In A Planning Tool.