How to achieve a good work quality of an accountant?
A lot of material has already been written about how an entrepreneur can independently audit accounting activities, analyze shortcomings and draw up a development plan. However, many readers who are interested in this topic have a feeling that the efficiency of the accounting department depends solely on the department employees, whether it be a whole mini-team or a single representative.
In fact, the quality of accounting records largely depends on the activity methods of the company itself, the actions or misdeeds of its employees, as well as the employment volume, after all.
It is often not enough to fire one employee and hire another; it is necessary to establish processes within the system. Companies that provide accounting services, no matter how high-quality and professional, are not a panacea either. Sometimes it can take months to put the accounting department in order, since the accumulated faults and shortcomings are difficult to identify and even more difficult to hush up. In some cases, the best solution is to close one company in exchange for opening a completely new one, with a clean accounting. But whether everything will be in order there, the question is not only for the qualified accountants, but also for the heads of the company.
Company growth and dynamics of quality development of accounting records
Accounting department does not always face the challenges when expanding the staff, increasing the turnover, or reaching a new volume of sales. If you properly prepare for changes, select additional staff, and timely tie up loose ends, difficulties can be avoided.
However, as the evidence from practice shows, as the company grows, there is an increase in the shortcomings, putting things off for later, and shortcomings on the part of the accounting department. The cause lies in the sharp increase in the amount of work, the impossibility to physically cope with all at once.
If the situation with large companies is clear to a greater or lesser extent due to the increased staff and the segregation of duties, then small firms suffer from the omnipresence of the accountant. With minimal accounting loads, the management certainly wants to save money and burdens it with an extra work. If one person is engaged in the company finances, then it is this person who does all the work at least somehow related to money:
- accounting;
- execution of money transactions;
- preparation and verification of agreements;
- payment of taxes;
- calculation and payment of salaries, bonuses, incentives;
- HR-related matters – from submitting an application for a search for an employee to issuing a medical examination and an employment record book;
- communication with banks, etc.
When a company gets to a new level, a single accountant cannot cope with a large work flow that falls on his/her working day. To begin with, this accountant puts non-priority things into the pending tray, which he/she then either forgets to do or wastes a time limit when it is impossible to fix the shortcomings.
The tracking of improperly executed, unprinted, unsigned documents is an important control factor for the successful work of the accounting department. In accordance with the law, money that is specified in papers filled out with errors cannot be processed and recorded. This causes serious problems when checking by the tax office, starting with a fine and ending with a closure of the company.
What should a chief accountant be like?
It is quite obvious and understandable that the company growth is associated with an expansion of the staff, and, accordingly, an increase in the amount of work regarding the calculation and payment of salaries, especially if the management welcomes a complex motivation system. In addition, the volume of client settlements is increasing. Considering the fact that the documentation, which confirms your deductions, must be completed in accordance with the standards, without errors, with the necessary visas and signatures, checking the flow of agreements, checks and other papers will also take an extremely long time.
It is quite obvious that the increase in work causes the appearance of new employees in the accounting department and the formation of an entire division with the chief accountant. However, hiring or transferring an existing person to such an important position does not mean that all problems will be solved along with that. No matter how good as an accountant the department head is, first of all, he/she must remain exactly the head. It is characteristic that the more people are subordinate to him/her, the brighter the leadership abilities of a new chief accountant should be.
An entrepreneur has only two variants – to raise a chief accountant within the company or to hire a chief accountant from outside. In the first case, the training process should be closely monitored, in the latter case, it should be analyzed whether he/she has the necessary knowledge and skills.
Since the expansion of the department and the introduction of a new staffing position, the chief accountant, it is he/she who is responsible for the quality of accounting. However, it doesn’t mean that the efficiency of the accounting department will depend one hundred percent on this person. Please keep in mind that all employees have a great influence on the financial flows of the company, and even a single incorrectly executed document can reduce the quality of accounting.
The head of the company must have a clear vision of the work of the accounting department:
- poor quality of financial accounting, many shortcomings and inaccuracies can impact on the company’s activities until its closure, this concerns not only problems with the tax inspections, but also to theft or inappropriate use of the fund;
- problems cannot be solved on their own, if there is one, then until it is corrected, the other cannot be solved, the shortcomings accumulate very quickly and if decisions on their elimination are not made, a complete mess in the documents can be found over the quarter;
- it is necessary to train employees to properly keep documentation and to immediately redo incorrect papers; agreements or invoices, which were drawn up with errors, may result in bad consequences, and control over conscientious behavior concerns not only the accounting department, but also all employees who have anything to do with document circulation, it is important submit and register the documents in due time;
- supplier documents are of particular importance, since they are related to the money payment on your part; It is necessary to carefully monitor the movement of these papers;
- the more persons work in the accounting department, the more the department head should be a manager, and not an accountant; important tasks could and should be delegated to a free employee, monitor the shortcomings, organize the quarterly activity analysis and consider the outstanding issues together with the management.
Such advices are of practical importance, they were tested by many companies, including those providing the accounting services. If it is not possible to establish work through its own effort, it is exactly worth to ask for such assistance.
