Accounting Systems and Processes Review

Client Overview

A client in the wholesale sector has been trading for 3 years. The director has owned companies in the past which unfortunately have not worked out however, this business is proving to be successful, turning over £1.7m in the second year of trading.
Due to the fast-paced growth of the business, a finance team member has only recently been employed to manage the business’ finances but the growth of the company was proving to be too much work for one finance team member to manage alone. This resulted in delays to up to date accounts, which impacted the director being able to access and run accurate reports to aid vital business decisions.

How we supported the Client

A member of our Accounts team therefore undertook a review to advise on improvements to systems and processes which would support the finance employee’s tasks and allow the director to be able to run accurate reports off their system.

• After reviewing the current processes in place, we were able to quickly identify which areas could be run more efficiently. We also had to be mindful of a bespoke piece of software being used by the client which allowed him to keep track of stock. This was a large investment for the business and therefore moving away from this software was not really an option.
• As a result of our review, we advised the following changes:
• The introduction of a cloud based software to file employee expense reports as opposed to paper based to reduce time. Employees were made responsible for attaching the necessary receipts by simply taking a picture on their phone.
• Cut off times were created to ensure the books were up to date in a timely manner to then aid the facilitation of accurate reporting for the director.
• Journal templates were created to speed up the process of posting monthly expenses such as but not limited to wages.
• The chart of accounts was reviewed and amended to align with the yearend accounts and needs of the director, removing any duplicated nominals. This then sped up the posting system as some nominals were grouped together.
• A simple reference-based system was created for filing all purchase documents, slowly moving this over to digital filing as opposed to manual records.
• Custom reports were created on the bespoke system to reflect all the information the director wanted to see monthly with the ability to delve deeper in these figures if required.

The results

By making a few small changes to the systems and processes, the finance staff member and director were quickly able to see how much more effective reporting could be and how they could save time in the day-to-day manging of the finances. This allowed the director to make better informed business decisions and relieved some pressure for the finance team member.