Author: Mark Byrd

Wrap-Up: Reimagine Your Month-End Close with Sage Intacct

Written by Mark Byrd on April 24, 2023. Posted in Trusted CFO Solutions Blog Posts.

As the end of the month approaches, many finance and accounting teams brace themselves for the hectic period known as the month-end close.

In our previous articles, we have explored different aspects of the month-end close, including where to begin, how to speed up the close, and best practices with Sage Intacct to overcome the challenges that prevent a smooth monthly close.

In this article, we outlined the key points from this series and provided additional insights to help your team master the month-end close.

Where to Begin: Your Comprehensive Checklist

Staying organized at the end of the month can be overwhelming. With so many moving parts and crucial deadlines to meet, to say it’s challenging is an understatement. A smooth, efficient, and successful month-end close is the goal of every business, but how do you get there?

Start with a checklist! To make the close process easier, establish clear deadlines and task ownership to establish accountability for all parts of the process. Preparation and attention to detail are essential when building your checklist to ensure all financial records are up-to-date and accurate.

Read the full article: A Checklist for Success

Shortening the Monthly Close Without Cutting Corners

The month-end close is a notoriously lengthy process, leading to a backlog of work and creating unnecessary stress. It can take 5-10 days for a typical business to close the books at the end of each month, and many aren’t well-equipped to speed up this process.

By using automation tools powered by software and technology, you can fast-track your monthly close and reduce manual tasks that take up too much of your valuable time.

Read the full article: Techniques to Slash Your Month-End Close

Navigating Challenges of the Monthly Close

At the end of each month, businesses and their finance teams — especially smaller ones still adjusting to closing the books each month — face numerous challenges affecting progress and financial accuracy. The month-end close often presents challenges to companies.

Four of the most common challenges we explored include:

Data inconsistency and endless spreadsheet management
A lack of clearly defined processes for the close
Being reactive to monthly events rather than proactive
Outdated software and limited financial insights

Read the full article: Decoding the Challenges of the Month-End Close

Sage Intacct Strategies for a Smooth Month-End Close

In its most basic sense, the month-end close involves closing out the books for the month and providing a full financial overview. However, this involves hours of time and grunt work checking data accuracy, ensuring regulatory compliance, and meeting deadlines for financial reporting.

Sage Intacct is a robust accounting software that can help streamline the month-end close process and simplify daunting tasks. Implementing a continuous close approach, automated workflows, and leveraging a customized chart of accounts will keep you flexible and unlock better performance insights.

Read the full article: Best Practices to Perfect Your Month-End Close With Sage Intacct

If you want to learn more about incorporating these tips and strategies into your monthly processes, contact us today! Our team of advisors will help you master the month-end close so you can focus on more strategic activities to drive business success.

Best Practices to Perfect Your Month-End Close With Sage Intacct

Written by Mark Byrd on April 5, 2023. Posted in Trusted CFO Solutions Blog Posts.

As your business reaches the end of each month, your finances require precise maintenance, but that also means diving headfirst into endless spreadsheets and financial statements —an absolute nightmare.

The cloud accounting solution, Sage Intacct, is an excellent resource to keep your financials on track by creating an efficient month-end close without the headache or hassle of sorting through documents and tracking mistakes.

By following a few simple steps and taking advantage of its robust reporting capabilities, your business will stay organized, precise, and ready to start the new month. Let’s take a look at the benefits and best practices for a month-end close with Sage Intacct.

Benefits of the Month-End Close with Sage Intacct

Sage Intacct offers a range of features and integrated tools that help organizations reduce the time and effort needed for the month-end close, making the process simpler and ensuring the financial information is accurate and reliable

Here are a few key benefits to using Sage Intacct during your month-end close:

Integrates with your existing systems, such as Salesforce, to eliminate the need for manual data entry and maintain data consistency.
Streamlines invoicing and payment processes help you get paid faster and reduce the time it takes to close out the month.
Uses one set of financials and multi-dimensional reporting with an integrated General Ledger and real-time views of current and historical data.
Allows user-defined workflows to improve efficiency, compliance, and transparency, providing consistent audit trail visibility.
Accruals and reversals are automated, and entries are visible at all times, reducing the manual work needed for journal entries and reconciliations.
Identifies variances and anomalies that don’t comply with accounting standards with intuitive dashboards and reports that work based on your preset conditions.

Best Practices

Your accountant is under a lot of pressure at the end of the month to manage the close in a timely manner. With Sage Intacct, you can alleviate some of that pressure and ensure your organization’s financials are accurate, secure, and provide powerful insights.

Incorporating the following best practices to get the most out of your month-end close:

Establish a Continuous Close. A continuous close is a different approach to the monthly reporting cycle that aims to reduce the time and effort required for the close process. It provides real-time data and involves ongoing data management throughout the entire accounting cycle rather than at the end of the month.
Implement Automated Workflows. Sage Intacct provides the ability to set up pre-defined workflows for efficiently closing the period-end accounts and automating tasks like data entry, journal entry creation, and account reconciliations. Combining the power of automation and the continuous close allows for a much simpler period-end, freeing up time to focus on other important business activities.
Customize Your Chart of Accounts With Dimensions. Your chart of accounts allows for greater flexibility and tracking with Sage Intacct Dimensions. You can customize it to suit your organization’s specific needs, categorizing the information by company, department, or other key dimension values.

Move Beyond Traditional Manual Processes With Sage Intacct

In the world of modern business and new advancements, companies need to leverage technology to stay competitive and drive growth. By moving beyond traditional manual processes and adopting a cloud-based financial management solution like Sage Intacct, you can streamline your month-end close process, improve data accuracy, and gain deeper insights into the performance of your business.

If you’re ready to optimize your processes and leverage real-time reporting, get in touch with our financial advisors today.

Decoding the Challenges of the Month-End Close

Written by Mark Byrd on April 2, 2023. Posted in Trusted CFO Solutions Blog Posts.

The month-end close is a critical process, and even more so because it affects all aspects of a business. Unfortunately, this process isn’t always smooth, and mistakes can happen, but having the right tools and systems in place helps ensure everything is correct, allowing you to use the month-end close to your advantage.

Our ongoing blog series explores how businesses successfully complete the monthly close: highlighting tools, checklists, and guidelines to prepare for month-end closing and better estimating how long the closing process will take.

We wanted to dig deeper and look at the specific challenges companies face when closing their books at the end of the month.

Challenge 1: Data Lives in Spreadsheet Madness

When it comes to your month-end close, data is king. But when your data lives scattered across multiple spreadsheets, gathering and organizing everything in time for the close can be challenging.

Spreadsheets are also prone to human error, and the last thing you need is to spend countless hours tracking down the source of an error. All it takes is one misplaced decimal point or added keystroke for an incorrect entry, and suddenly your entire financial report is inaccurate.

Challenge 2: Lack of Clearly Defined Processes

Without a clear understanding of what needs to be done and when, you’re left stumbling around in the dark, increasing the risk of errors and omissions, which can have serious consequences.

Starting with a detailed checklist to define the steps of the close and establish roles and responsibilities will help set you up for a more successful close.

Challenge 3: Being Reactive Rather Than Proactive During the Month-End

You shouldn’t be functioning in constant crisis management mode. If you’re always reacting to issues as they come up and not addressing the root cause of the problem, you’re going to keep encountering the same issues month after month.

Here are three ways that reactivity can make the month-end close more difficult:

Lack of visibility: By only reacting to issues as they arise, you’re not getting a clear picture of the overall process. This lack of visibility can make it difficult to identify areas for improvement and can hinder your ability to make strategic decisions.
Time constraints: Reacting to issues is time-consuming and leaves little time for analysis or optimization. It’s easy to get bogged down in the details and lose sight of more important closing activities.
Increased risk: When you’re dashing to meet deadlines and constantly putting out fires, you’re more likely to overlook or miss important details altogether.

Challenge 4: Outdated Software Causing Limited Financial Insight

Many accounting teams lack the resources and tools to efficiently handle the month-end close. This makes it difficult to understand performance from one period to the next and limits their ability to have access to real-time financial insights.

Fortunately, modern cloud solutions like Sage Intacct make it easy to unify financial operations and increase visibility into your business, bridging the gap between siloed, manual processes and dynamic, real-time visibility.

With a more advanced and up-to-date platform, gain key insights and build better processes to make the month-end close easier and faster to manage.

Learn more about how to overcome these challenges with our tips for best practices in our upcoming blog, or get in touch with our trusted financial advisors.

Fast-Track Your Financials: Techniques to Slash Your Month-End Close

Written by Mark Byrd on March 30, 2023. Posted in Trusted CFO Solutions Blog Posts.

We know that you’re all too familiar with the fact that managing your company’s finances is a never-ending, ongoing task. Your accountant is the unsung hero who supports you through all the ups and downs of your financial journey. But even the most experienced accountants face their own set of challenges, especially when it comes to the monthly close.

Follow along in our newest blog series as we explore the challenges and discover best practices for improving the process. From techniques for tackling issues head-on to tips for what not to do, we will walk you through the steps to create more efficient workflows and master the month-end close.

In this article, we’ve highlighted strategies to help reduce the time it takes to complete the close and free up valuable resources for your business.

The Month-End Close Takes Longer Than You Think

So, how long does the month-end close take?

It can take anywhere from 5-10 days, and businesses often need help expediting the tasks associated with the monthly close cycle. Several factors can drastically impact the amount of time needed to close the books, including:

Company size
Complexity of transactional data
Incomplete or inaccurate data
Reliance on manual activities
Communication gaps
Lack of collaboration
Number of systems used for storing financial data
Level of prior preparation
Unexpected external events

Understanding the factors that impact the month-end close and how to streamline your process will help you create more efficient workflows and significantly shorten the monthly close.

Less Stress Leads to More Success: Why a Faster Monthly Close Is Key

Faster and more accurate closing cycles ensure your advisors, CFOs, and controllers have up-to-date financial data to base important decisions. Shortening the month-end close means the long nights, exhaustive calculations, and intense planning will reduce to a fraction of the original time, keeping workloads light and stress-free!

Here are some ways you can shorten the month-end close:

Build a comprehensive checklist: A checklist is your roadmap to success. It will keep you organized and accountable during the accounting period and month-end close.
Streamline reporting processes: Identify areas you can implement an automated solution that saves time and simplifies procedures.
Regularly reconcile accounts: Instead of waiting until the end of the month, reconcile your accounts regularly. This speeds up the monthly close and keeps your figures correct and records up-to-date.
Leverage cloud-based technology: Invest in an efficient and user-friendly accounting system with cloud-based capabilities to maximize data security, improve transparency, and increase month-end efficiency.

Mastering the Month-End Close With Modern Accounting Tools

Modern accounting tools like Sage Intacct can be a major advantage for simplifying the month-end close. It provides a well-designed, flexible, and secure platform that saves time and effort by automating tasks that would otherwise bog down your team’s productivity.

Leveraging this technology can lead to a faster and smoother month-end close, but working with a trusted accounting partner with a wealth of knowledge and expertise in your financial systems will set your business up for a successful future while reducing the burden of the month-end close.

Take Control of the Month-End Close: A Checklist for Success

Written by Mark Byrd on March 26, 2023. Posted in Trusted CFO Solutions Blog Posts.

As a business owner, the end of the month can feel like a whirlwind: hectic, chaotic, and overwhelming. But by following a structured checklist and diligently staying on top of your core financials, you’ll alleviate some of your stress and keep your business on solid financial footing.

If you’re ready to conquer the end-of-month chaos, follow along in this blog series as we dive into the ins and outs of the month-end close.

10 Comprehensive Steps for Your Month-End Close Checklist

Here we have broken down the month-end process in a step-by-step checklist, so you can feel confident, informed, and prepared to tackle the month-end close:

Review transactions: The first step to kick off your month-end period is to review all transactions for the month. This includes bank statements, invoices, receipts, and other documents retaining financial data. Make sure everything is accurate and there are no discrepancies.
Reconcile accounts: Once you’ve reviewed all transactions, you’ll need to reconcile and account for all transactions. This involves matching the balances in your general ledger to the balances in your bank statements and other financial records.
Adjusting entries: Made at the end of the accounting period, adjusting entries record additional transactions to keep your accounts accurate and up-to-date. This includes accruals, deferrals, prepaid expenses, deprecation, or other adjustments.
Review journal entries: Accurate financial reports allow you to make more informed decisions about your business. By reviewing all journal entries, you’ll ensure they are correctly categorized and coded.
Check for errors: Make sure your reports have no errors or discrepancies and that all numbers add up correctly. Even a tiny mistake can have significant consequences, impacting cash flow and legal implications.
Close sub-ledgers: Reconcile all sub-ledgers and include any journals and related entries so you’re prepared to close them out. Any discrepancies should be noted and cleared, and you must also include any new or unrecorded transactions.
Prepare financial statements: With your sub-ledgers closed, you can now prepare your financial statements. Include your income statement, balance sheet, and statement of cash flows.
Review financial statements: Before finalizing your financial accounts, review them carefully. Take this time to assess your tax liability and areas of improvement.
File all documents, paperwork, and statements: As the last step in the month-end close process, all financial records should be archived and saved for future reference.
Begin the next accounting cycle: Review any last-minute details and prepare yourself for the new month.

Now that we’ve reviewed this checklist, the month-end close may not seem so bad. But the reality is that the month-end close is a daunting task, especially if you’re working with outdated software or manual processes.

Divide and Conquer: Making the Month-End Close a Breeze

One way to make your close more efficient and less stressful is by automating as much of the process as possible. This could include using software to reconcile accounts, generate reports, and archive records.

If you want to delegate your financials to a trusted outsourced partner and get ongoing support, we’ll help you break down the process and streamline your monthly close. We want to help you power through this stressful season and confidently complete each step of your month-end close.

Contact us today to learn how we can help you slash your close time and empower your company with growth and continued success.

Managing Your Accounts Payable: A Guide for Small Business Owners

Written by Mark Byrd on March 22, 2023. Posted in Trusted CFO Solutions Blog Posts.

Are you tired of the countless hours spent managing your accounts payable (AP)? Do you want to streamline your accounting process to save the time and money spent on manual tasks on Quickbooks?

With a growing business, it’s easy to outgrow the accounting systems you’ve relied on since the conception of your company. By moving to Sage Intacct, you’ll gain valuable, actionable insights and true visibility into your business performance while simplifying the AP process.

The Tech Stack for Your Accounts Payable

Technology has revolutionized how we do business, and accounting is no exception. With the right accounting tech stack, you can automate your accounts payable process, improve accuracy, and reduce the risk of costly errors. Here are some of the tools you can use to streamline your accounts payable process:

Cloud Accounting Software. Cloud accounting software like Sage Intacct can help you manage your accounts payable more efficiently. You can track invoices, payments, and expenses in real time and securely access your financial data from anywhere.
Electronic Payment Systems. Integrating with electronic payment systems such as Expensify and Bill.com can help you make payments quickly and even automate the process. By eliminating the need for double data entry or paper checks, you’ll cut your time spent with manual entry by half (—or more!).
Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Technology. OCR technology scans and digitizes your invoices and receipts, making it easier to stay organized. OCR can also extract data from your invoices and reduce the need for manual data entry.

Simplifying the Day-to-Day Accounts Payable Processes with Sage Intacct

Once you have a solid strategy for your tools and technology, it’s time to focus on the processes and controls that will help you manage your accounts payable effectively. Here are some key elements you need to keep in mind to keep your business running smoothly and minimize your financial risk:

Three-Way Matching — This involves matching your purchase order, invoice, and delivery receipt to ensure the invoice is accurate. Three-way matching helps prevent overpayments and catches discrepancies early on. Sage Intacct utilizes an auto-matching feature to improve the accuracy of invoicing and reconciling your accounts.
Internal Controls — Keeping tight internal controls will ensure your accounts payable process is accurate and reliable. This includes the segregation of duties, approval workflows, and regular audits. With Sage Intacct, you define the invoice workflows and approval thresholds, so nothing falls through the cracks.
Reconciliations — Reconciliations involve comparing your accounts payable ledger to your vendor statements and ensuring they match. Sage Intacct provides centralized access to all your financial data, from bills and payment status to approvals and audit trails, so you can be sure your financial statements are accurate.

Streamlining Your AP Process With Trusted CFO Solutions

Whether you’re in the process of establishing an accounting team or already have a strong accounting department, a comprehensive accounting solution can help improve your accounts payable workflows. Sage Intacct is a cloud-based accounting software that allows your team the flexibility and control to focus on more strategic financial tasks to grow your business.

Contact CFO Solutions to learn how we can help you tap into the power of Sage Intacct Accounting and implement the best internal solutions to set yourself up for success.

Payroll Accounting: Driving Success Through the Power of Your People

Written by Mark Byrd on March 8, 2023. Posted in Trusted CFO Solutions Blog Posts.

Running a successful business requires more than a vision and commitment — it needs people: specifically, people whose passions and dedication align with that vision and your company culture. For that reason, your payroll is a fundamental element of future success.

Having a payroll system that is reliable and accurate is vital to keeping your workforce empowered and financially secure. By leveraging intelligent payroll software, companies can enjoy an effective method for processing timely payments, streamlining payroll cost allocation, and confidently managing employee benefits.

Better Payroll Management Starts With Software

Today’s payroll teams face many challenges, from complex regulatory requirements to changing employee needs. Manual payroll methods can’t keep up with the demands of modern payroll accounting.

Sage Intacct offers robust payroll management software that streamlines the payroll process, reduces errors, and saves time. With automated tax calculations, customizable payroll schedules, and employee self-service portals, Sage Intacct empowers payroll teams to focus on their people, driving success for their organization.

The benefits of managing payroll with software that keeps you in control include:

Reduced time spent on administrative tasks and enrollment
Accurate insights for understanding employee costs and compensation
Scalability with HR tools built to help you grow
Automating your defined payroll cycle
Better employee experiences
Compliance support for federal, state, and local tax laws

3 Areas of Payroll You Should Be Maximizing

Managing payroll operations can be a time-consuming and costly task. However, when managed strategically and by understanding how your payroll affects the budget, you’ll streamline processes and maximize returns.

Below are three key areas of payroll that you can use to drive success and increase profits:

Timekeeping Tech — Automating the payroll process by integrating with your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems can help your company become more organized, cost-efficient, and productive. Timekeeping solutions such as employee self-service applications, mobile tracking applications, and digital calendars can help eliminate manual processes and improve payroll accuracy. They also make it easier to access reports on labor and salary expenses, giving you insight for data-driven decisions.

Job Costing Solutions — Accurate job costing solutions can ensure that you stay on budget and remain profitable, so you know where and how to cut costs when needed. Real-time access to your labor, materials, and overhead data lets you make strategic budgeting decisions while uncovering inefficiencies.

Payroll Controls — Effective and well-defined payroll controls protect against fraud and improper deductions. A streamlined payroll process helps identify incorrect classifications and timesheet discrepancies and prevents future lawsuits or liability from non-compliance. You can also automate payments for employee compensation and deductions through technology solutions like Sage Intacct, eliminating any additional manual labor.

Revolutionize Your Payroll Accounting With Trusted Solutions

By understanding your payroll and using the strategies and technologies that make sense for your business, you’ll cultivate a company driven to success through the power of your people.

From helping you understand payroll cycles, integrating timekeeping technology, setting up job costing processes, and creating effective payroll controls, our advisors have the knowledge and expertise to help you create and maintain successful payroll systems.

Contact Trusted CFO Solutions to learn more about implementing strategic payroll systems and improving your bottom line.

Taking Control of Fixed Asset Management: Why Your Business Needs AP Automation

Written by Mark Byrd on March 1, 2023. Posted in Trusted CFO Solutions Blog Posts.

Accurate data and internal tracking are the building blocks for smooth asset management. Proper maintenance and upkeep are necessary to ensure that the assets continue to provide value over time.

Fixed assets are crucial to a business, providing long-term value and further business operations. They are tangible items such as buildings, vehicles, equipment, and furniture. Businesses must account for the depreciation of their fixed assets to take advantage of significant tax benefits and accurately report their financial performance to make informed business decisions.

Challenges With Fixed Asset Management

Managing fixed assets can be difficult for even the most experienced accounting teams. From tracking depreciation to reconciling asset registers, you’ll have your hands full. Keeping accurate records manually is especially challenging because fixed assets disperse across multiple departments and locations. Add the pressure of staying compliant and on top of internal controls, and you have an accounting nightmare!

From ensuring timely invoice payments to monitoring your purchase order processes, so much goes into managing fixed assets. Not to mention that many organizations lack the resources needed to stay on top of everything in a timely manner, avoiding costly mistakes and missed deadlines.

How Does AP Automation Help Manage Fixed Assets?

Managing fixed assets requires tracking, record keeping, and often manual data entry into multiple systems. Just on retrieving information alone, 80% of employees waste an average of 30 minutes daily. By automating your accounts payable processes, you’ll save hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars from data retrieval and manual work, all while making the process more streamlined.

This allows you to reduce the amount of manual data entry and create an audit trail for your asset data. With AP automation, you’ll gain better visibility for your assets and be able to conduct a higher-level analysis in seconds to understand how your assets are providing your business value.

Here are some of the other benefits that come with using AP automation for managing your fixed assets:

Eliminating human error with improved accuracy.
Reduced risk of fraud or misuse of assets.
Saving time and money with increased efficiency.
Comprehensive reporting for your fixed assets.
Avoiding costly penalties or fines with improved compliance.

Maximizing Your Software Investment With an ERP System

The cost of implementing and maintaining a fixed asset management system is an investment — not only in the software but in your business. An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system like Sage Intacct provides real-time visibility into all aspects of your financials, including fixed asset management, so you can identify areas of improvement and maximize your profits.

Combining a powerful ERP system with AP automation ensures all asset acquisition, maintenance, and tracking activities are monitored and accounted for in one centralized system. With Sage Intacct, you can be sure your company data is secure, up-to-date, and consistent across all departments.

If you are a small to medium-sized business looking to improve your asset management processes and learn more about Sage Intacct, we are here to help! Contact Trusted CFO Solutions to get started.

The Role of Controller: Why Systems Trump Strategy

Written by Mark Byrd on February 13, 2023. Posted in Trusted CFO Solutions Blog Posts.

In business, the daily operations that allow a company to function optimally might feel like a carefully-managed ecosystem. Having several different departments—as well as a specific set of responsibilities for each position within a department—maintains the balance of that ecosystem, and makes it possible for businesses to meet their goals.

More than any other department, finance is an area that benefits from its key players carrying out essential duties. Without the accurate oversight of revenue, accounts payable, inventory, and billing, a business could go from burgeoning to bust.

A controller acts as one of these key players, routinely analyzing and monitoring a company’s financial standing. Without a controller, it doesn’t matter how foolproof a business’s strategies are; what matters most is having the capability to carry them out.

What Does a Controller Do?

The role of controller is considered to be one of the most important in a business, as their insights are invaluable to the CFO in meeting financial goals. Without a controller, the CFO’s role would become overwhelming, as they would be responsible for all of the little details of financial organization as well as developing an overarching financial strategy. Simply: the controller ensures accurate reporting as the CFO works toward a business’s continued financial growth.

On a daily basis, a controller’s duties include:

Advising or assisting with the accounting process (i.e. accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll, inventory, and compliance);
Managing cash flow;
Creating budgets;
Assessing risk;
Ensuring that financial systems are efficient and running smoothly.

The average corporate controller is 40+ years old, and holds at least a Bachelor’s degree in Finance or an MBA in accounting and finance. His or her average salary is $85,260—a substantial amount of money for any company, but in particular for a fledgling enterprise.

Accounting Software: A Controller’s Secret Weapon

No matter how good a controller is at his or her job, it will be extremely difficult to carry out daily financial operations without the proper means. For example, if an end-of-year strategy involves increasing sales by 20% in the following fiscal year, accurate forecasting and real-time data accessibility will be necessary to bring this goal to fruition.

A strong accounting software can help a controller set strategies, oversee the business’s financial details, and keep all relevant information consolidated and organized. Basically: a controller will perform the responsibilities of their role, and a suitable software will support him or her in executing those responsibilities.

A few characteristics of a best-in-class accounting software are:

Seamless integration with related solutions, such as Salesforce and American Express;
Cloud accessibility and flexibility to keep business organization agile;
Deep accounting capabilities, such as payroll management, tax filings, and inventory tracking to make processes more efficient;
Innovative features that turn data into insight by analyzing real-time business performance;
Top-quality financial reporting;
Optimal visibility and organization with centralized dashboards.

The role of a seasoned financial controller is critical for driving business success, and he or she can only perform as well as the technology they are given to work with. Reach out today to learn more about more about why accounting solutions are vital for smooth financial management.

Why Using a Dashboard is an Accounting Game-Changer

Written by Mark Byrd on February 12, 2023. Posted in Trusted CFO Solutions Blog Posts.

Imagine a business as a train, chugging along to new horizons and greater things. For a successful and uninterrupted journey, trains need certain parts and routine maintenance to run smoothly. Businesses operate similarly, requiring a toolbox of strategic sales pitches, marketing efforts, and accurate financial analyses to continue on the right track.

With each department of a business comes its own set of moving parts, which—if not managed or organized well—can create complications. For finance specifically, things can become messy without the appropriate technology to view, track, and report on KPIs.

When it comes to establishing an effective financial process, basic bookkeeping and balance sheets aren’t enough. That’s why dashboards are quickly becoming one of the most powerful and streamlined approaches to strong accounting.

What is a Dashboard?

Think of a dashboard as an accounting hub: all essential information pertaining to business can be found here. Dashboards act as an effortless way to save several hours of time on financial reporting, and offer valuable insights into business performance.

Good dashboards will offer core financial functionality, such as cash and order management and accounts payable and receivable. The best dashboards will typically also offer more advanced features, such as fully-automated allocation and AI-powered timesheets.

Ultimately, a dashboard allows entrepreneurs, executives, and financial teams the ability to track KPIs and access important details in seconds.

How Can a Dashboard Strengthen Accounting?

Dashboards improve accounting thoroughly—particularly by the ways listed below:

Accuracy

It is estimated that just 10% of small businesses have current, accurate, and reliable accounting information at their fingertips.

With all that accompanies opening and running a business, it’s easy to see why meticulous bookkeeping might fall through the cracks. Of course, businesses must use some type of accounting system to log and manage their financials, but it’s often a scattered and disorganized process, leaving too much room for inaccuracy and error.

By harnessing the technology of a dashboard, accounting becomes straightforward, routine, and up-to-date. All changes are logged to a centralized platform to reveal whether a business is progressing or regressing, as well as show how much money is available to funnel into company growth.

Efficiency

When it comes to good accounting practices, accuracy and efficiency go hand-in-hand. Without efficient systems in place to track revenue, gross profit, and other important KPIs, precision tends to suffer.

Dashboards rectify accounting inefficiencies, saving companies up to hundreds of hours with increased agility and streamlined operations. Rather than relying on multiple mediums for bookkeeping, or an outdated program that doesn’t have as many helpful features, a dashboard will give businesses the most bang for their buck, saving time as well as costly mistakes.

Visibility

Finally, one of the most important features of a dashboard is visibility. There are two reasons for this:

Being able to clearly view all of a business’s financial metrics in a convenient, centralized location saves time (as opposed to hunting for data across various systems);
Being able to access all financial activity at once allows stakeholders to more accurately gauge the health of the business.

In order for businesses to reach their full potential, establishing effective accounting practices is crucial. Contact us to learn more about Sage Intacct, a powerful software solution with dashboards that always keep finance accurate, efficient, and visible.

Your Guide to a Fast and Accurate Close With Sage Intacct

Written by Mark Byrd on February 11, 2023. Posted in Trusted CFO Solutions Blog Posts.

Whether you’re working on your monthly, quarterly, or annual close, the process from beginning to end is tedious and time-consuming. Many businesses aim to optimize the process of closing the books, but obtaining a faster close is difficult without also compromising accuracy.

Having the right strategies in place helps open up new opportunities while preventing major roadblocks in your financial reporting.

Continue reading to learn about our tips for achieving a faster, more accurate close, and how Sage Intacct grants finance teams the freedom to focus on higher-value initiatives.

1. Utilize a Continuous Close Cycle

Closing the books is often a source of stress for companies burdened by risk-prone processes and the daunting accumulation of year-end or month-end activities. Sage Intacct and more modernized systems are building the foundation for continuous accounting without the need for ongoing work — data calculations, reconciliations, and the collection of financial information — from your finance staff.

A continuous close turns what once was a lengthy activity, into an independent process that seamlessly runs in the background, keeping accounts up to date.

2. Rely on Automated Accounting Functions

The stress and time spent on manual accounting functions just aren’t worth it. The average accounting team spends 25 days on their annual close, taking valuable resources away from more meaningful operations.

By relying on automation for your core accounting functions, you’ll slash the close time by half while seeing a direct boost in productivity. Sage Intacct’s accounting software makes it easy to keep accurate records throughout the year, preventing future accounting mistakes and optimizing cash flow. You won’t feel like you’re always behind at the end of the close cycle or stuck reviewing manual entries and endless spreadsheets.

3. Leverage AI-Powered Technology

The AI-powered technology of Sage Intacct is adding real value to accounting teams by analyzing and interpreting large amounts of data quickly, efficiently, and accurately. Scan thousands of journal entries in seconds based on specified parameters and build trust in your numbers.

Added benefits of leveraging artificially-intelligent software include:

Catching discrepancies with AI-based outlier detection
Testing for accuracy in a fraction of the time
Enhancing accounts payable and receivables processes
Flagging transactions that pose potential fraud risks

4. Make the Move to the Cloud

Gain access at your fingertips. On-premise solutions don’t offer the superior flexibility of cloud accounting, which gives organizations access to critical financial data from anywhere. Growing in popularity, 94% of accountants have turned to cloud accounting solutions in favor of efficiency, ease, and reliability.

Cloud accounting sets you up for long-term growth and prevents workflow delays that lengthen the close process. A faster and more accurate close ultimately frees up your team to deliver strategic insights as opposed to spending their time on menial, repetitive tasks.

Have questions about how you can improve the accuracy of your numbers and shorten the close cycle? We’re here to help answer them. Contact Trusted CFO Solutions to explore even more possibilities with Sage Intacct.

How to Save Money During Audit Season With Sage Intacct

Written by Mark Byrd on February 9, 2023. Posted in Trusted CFO Solutions Blog Posts.

Getting audited isn’t something businesses look forward to. If you’ve been in business for a while, you are all too familiar with this dreaded — but mandatory — activity. Audits cost your business hundreds and thousands of dollars, taking up countless hours researching transactions and data logs, or painstakingly tracking down supporting documentation.

Auditors are responsible for ensuring your records are accurate and compliant, reviewing all areas of your financial information. Unorganized spreadsheets and QuickBooks files require much more work and clean-up, leading to a costly audit and an unhappy auditor.

Transitioning to a system like Sage Intacct will save you time and money, helping you survive audit season. Here’s how:

Next-Level Efficiency: Streamlining the Audit

Feel prepared for your next audit. You could improve your finance efficiency by as much as 60%, significantly impacting the time spent on audits. Streamlining the audit process with Sage Intacct will make the process much smoother and save time for your finance team by:

Automating data collection specific to the audit, offering better financial insights.
Increasing visibility in the movement of your files, data, and business performance.
Maintaining compliance with industry and government regulations.
Securing your data with robust cloud security and user controls.

Enriched Financial Reporting With Drillable Dashboards

Role-based, custom dashboards help auditors get to key information faster. With an auditor-specific dashboard, you’ll be able to tailor the reports, charts, and data shown in a quick-to-digest format, delivering more comprehensive and relevant information to the auditor.

Sage Intacct provides deep visibility into your financials with access to advanced dashboard visualizations, while the drill-down capabilities go beyond the dashboard metrics. The reports link to related transactions and key granular data, so the auditor can quickly find supporting documentation to back up the numbers. This directly affects the time spent on data accuracy and collection, while giving you confidence in your numbers.

Effortless Audit Trails Powered by Automation

With an automated audit trail, eliminate the need for manually tracking who accessed a file, what changed, and when an entry alteration happened. Each log notates this information along with keeping a record of the previous values or status before the change. Incorporating a continuous audit log into your financial toolbelt equips your business with more transparency and accountability that your auditor will thank you for.

Automating key audit functions does more than save company time. Address specific industry needs, improve internal controls, and gain a richer understanding of business performance —all within the framework of Sage Intacct.

Looking to learn more? Reach out to Trusted CFO Solutions to discover how you can manage your financials like a pro with features that the leading accounting software brings to your fingertips and be better prepared for your next audit.

Control Your Inventory With Cloud Management Software

Written by Mark Byrd on February 6, 2023. Posted in Trusted CFO Solutions Blog Posts.

There are many factors outside of your control that affect inventory. All levels of supply chain operations are being impacted globally, from sourcing raw materials to the end consumer.

The disruption caused by the pandemic only heightened the need for optimizing inventory management. That’s why 72% of businesses plan to reinvent their supply chain with real-time visibility powered by automated technology, sensors, and analytics.

Learn how to make the most out of your day as a financial controller, taking a proactive approach to inventory management and prioritizing strategic solutions.

Responsibilities of the Controller

Inventory management involves the high-level oversight of a controller. Your primary goal as a financial controller is to ensure sufficient stock is on the shelves to meet customer demand while keeping overhead costs at a minimum.

The last thing you need is to have too much stock on hand, eating into your available cash flow —or not enough, which leads to customer disappointment and lost business. By establishing a system for your team to effectively control the supply and demand of your inventory, you’ll see a positive impact on your bottom line and maximize profits.

While your warehouse managers and production planners oversee the scope of day-to-day inventory control, you need tools that will help you hone in on the following:

Eliminating write-offs
Ensuring the accuracy of record keeping
Managing physical inventory counts
Implementing an integrated order-to-cash process
Making smarter decisions for product fulfillment

Challenges with Inventory Control

Inventory control is traditionally a time-consuming, endless process. Restaurants often need to conduct physical inventory counts several times a month to keep up with revolving weekly orders, and retail businesses may do them as often as every three weeks. Inventory systems that require lengthy data entry limit your visibility, making it harder to keep up with daily or weekly changes.

Here are some common challenges to look out for if you feel there is a lack of control:

Little to no visibility of current inventory levels. Without a true picture of units on hand, it’s difficult to manage future inventory investments and confidently advise the executives of your business on important financial decisions.
Problems with inventory tracking. Without a system for tracking real-time order progression and categorizing expired or defective products, your numbers can quickly get out of hand —not to mention put your customers at a safety risk in the event there are product recalls or contamination.
There isn’t one source of truth. It’s true that the more stock you have, the harder it is to control. With barcoding and automated data capture, you’ll have centralized information about an order or current inventory levels at your fingertips.

Cloud Inventory Management Solution

Your inventory directly impacts your cost of goods sold (COGS), which is why you must be able to trust your numbers. Sage Intacct addresses the pain points of spreadsheets and limited manual data, simplifying inventory management, so you don’t have to make decisions blindly.

Inventory is a high costing portion of most business operations, using up a big chunk of working capital and current assets. So getting ahead now with the right systems in place will save you huge in the long-term success of your business.

Contact Trusted CFO Solutions to learn more about using Sage Intacct to improve accuracy and uncover actionable insights.