Every accounting department we have ever known is at least one employee short, and monthly closings (if there are monthly closings) too often rely on the Controller’s willingness to work long nights finishing the financial statements in the nick of time. Sound familiar?

These “just in time” financials are often the bane of the CFO’s existence, as the CEO is volubly anxious for results. The unhappiness can ripple its way right up to the Board of Directors, with everyone in the chain (to mix metaphors) suffering the consequences.

The usual comment we hear is that the Controller would make the closings easier ‘if only’ he/she had the time to set them up properly. Having been Controllers and CFO’s ourselves, we are not unsympathetic to this plight, and solving this problem is one of the ways we believe we add real value to our clients.

Almost any closing can be set up efficiently in a short period of concentrated effort by attacking the 3 or 4 most obvious bottlenecks. One of the first ones we look at is the format of closing schedules (i.e., worksheets).

We set up closing schedules for our clients in a simple, consistent manner, with each month linked to the previous one. Our goal is to set up the schedules so that almost anyone in the accounting department can prepare at least 80 – 90% of them – often surprisingly quickly and often before the month has even ended. By spreading the work painlessly, the number of days to finish the closing is substantially reduced, and everyone’s job performance (and job evaluation) is improved.

By investing in solutions to this and a few other issues commonly found in problematic closings, our clients have reduced their closing times by 50% and their pain by even more.

NPA Consultants

NPA Consultants are specialists in Policies, Procedures, Internal Controls and Financial Reporting. We help accounting departments run “better, faster, cheaper,” and Boards of Directors/senior managements insure that they are performing their fiduciary duties at the highest possible level. We are happy to answer any questions. Contact us at info@NPAccountants.org or 617 694 4600.