Practical Advice for Businesses and Nonprofits

By John Cohen

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

The mantra here at NPA Consultants is that “December (or June or September) is just another month.”  While we are glad to help controllers close the year because they are short of bandwidth, we are proud of our “value added” approach.

It is not uncommon for our procedures to reduce annual closings (and audit schedule preparation) from 6 weeks to 3 weeks, and monthly closings from 3 weeks to 1 week.

1. We set up closing schedules for our clients in a simple, consistent manner, with each month linked to the previous one.  Except for a few crucial accounts like (perhaps) reserve for bad debts, the analysis for the last month of the year is “just another month.”

2. We identify bottlenecks in the closing process and either solve the issues or accommodate them without letting them delay the closings.  Why let prepaid insurance or accrued vacation or even accounts payable tie you in knots when you can, in fact, avoid that aggravation?

3. We simplify the process so that almost anyone in the accounting department can be trained to prepare at least 80 – 90% of the schedules – often surprisingly quickly.  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 your particular issues, your annual audit preparation can be “just another month” (almost).  We’re here to help.

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.