In life, if we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we don’t prosper. This same principal applies to business. If a business doesn’t make changes, over time the business will stop growing and prospering. Closely held business owners understand this and are continuously looking for ways to change and improve their products and services to stay on top of their industry. What many owners don’t realize is the importance of continually looking for ways to change and improve their internal accounting and technology systems that make the business work.

When meeting with business owners and their management teams, we often hear the following types of remarks:

“We do most of our work in Excel and then enter it in our accounting system.”

“Our software is outdated and it takes hours to create reports.”

“We struggle to get accurate and timely information from our accounting systems.”

When we begin to ask further questions about the systems in place, we hear these types of remarks:

“We have always done it this way, we don’t need to change.”

“This is how I was taught, I can’t suggest a change.”

“Changing would take too much time and interrupt business.”

The key to these two sets of remarks are business owners and accounting teams recognizing when systems aren’t working effectively or efficiently, however the fear of change keeps them from looking toward a solution. Forward thinking business owners are recognizing the need for change, and we can help partner with them to determine what this looks like for their business.

We can bring an accountant’s perspective and expertise to the table to help identify and prioritize action areas, make recommendations to solve problems and spearhead change implementation that needs to occur. The following is an example of actions being taken by today’s businesses to move their internal accounting and technology systems toward the future:

  • Accounting software selection, implementation and team training
  • Analysis and evaluation of the entire accounting system
  • Managing electronically transmitted accounting data
  • Chart of accounts restructuring
  • Job cost and profit center tracking
  • Real time financial reporting

By employing these actions, business owners are not only recognizing the need for change, they are embracing the challenge and keeping up with the fast-pace of today’s world.

We Can Help

The Accounting Systems Consulting team at Elliott Davis wants to partner with your business’ team to make the changes necessary to take your financial management to the next level. By taking a deeper look at your people, processes and technology, we can offer personalized recommendations for improvement to ensure you get meaningful and timely results to help you make informed decisions regarding your business.

The information provided in this communication is of a general nature and should not be considered professional advice. You should not act upon the information provided without obtaining specific professional advice. The information above is subject to change.