Where to Start with Accounting?
Proximity of goals
In most cases, the main thing is time and proximity of goals. Small businesses usually do not practice and do not have the ability to build strategic plans, and most importantly, to follow them. Therefore, anything that cannot be implemented in the foreseeable future, while the initial enthusiasm hasn’t faded — specifically in the first month or two — is doomed to fail. Therefore, any project, even a grand one, must be divided into stages so that each is within achievable timeframes, has practical implementation, and clear success criteria. In addition, a schedule and clear distribution of responsibility for each step is needed, because otherwise the process will be eternal and no one will be responsible for wasted resources.
Analysis
The first stage, as in any matter, is to think. Think about what exactly you can quickly start accounting for, as separate functions, so that it becomes part of the future accounting system and does not create overly resource-intensive problems in simultaneously supporting the new and old management system. It is necessary to determine what in your current processes is redundant or resource-intensive and try to eliminate, or at least reduce, these shortcomings. To do this, you need to determine what the key control points in the process are, how to make the process transparent and limited only by function, not by the characteristics of the person conducting the process.
Checking the compass
At the implementation stage, beyond purely technical realization, you must not lose the connection between goals and implementation. One of the main reasons for meaningless or unsuccessful implementation is delegation of, or failure to perform, the supervisory function from the project owner — namely the owner or director — to lower levels (if the project started at a lower level and rose to the top, it is almost always a stillborn project). Because the project owner’s goals, even if they are formalized and communicated to all project participants, cannot be fully understood by others. Primarily, given a different angle of view and functional mismatch. Because each function looks at the project only from its side, which is natural.
Control
At the application stage, each link and each separate function in the company must understand and ensure the fulfillment of its role in the system, where almost everything is interconnected. Therefore, if there is no control over execution and compliance with procedures, at some point your accounting will be, if not destroyed, then significantly limited in its ability to be the basis for quality decision-making. Accordingly, this should motivate you not only to systematize data circulation but also to systematize work on staff training and monitoring compliance with accounting policy procedures.
Main beneficiaries
Once on the path of accounting systematization, you will be forced to systematize most aspects of your activity. For some, this will be a prerequisite for development, while others will leave this path and return to murky waters with shaky ground, which cannot be a good foundation for growth. Therefore, this process must be supported by the understanding and will of the company’s top management and cannot be delegated to an accountant/IT manager or any other function that is not inherent in strategic decisions.