Valentina
Every successful business needs an efficient finance team to manage the company’s money. Recent studies show 79% of CFOs increased their finance transformation efforts following the pandemic, which is understandable when you consider how much COVID-19 has impacted organisations financially. So, what steps can you take to streamline your business’s finance team?
Outsource Accounting Functions
One of the best steps to take is to outsource your accounting functions as opposed to hiring staff. Outsourcing is a lot more cost-effective as you do not have to pay a salary and other employee costs, plus you can find a specialist to handle the various different functions. This can include key tasks like accounts receivable and bookkeeping services and outsourcing to an experienced professional could reduce overhead costs from employees, such as PTO, health insurance etc.
Create a Collaborative Culture
You also want to try and create a collaborative culture within your organisation and avoid the division of departments. When you can create a collaborative culture involving your finance team and other departments, it will help them to understand the value of each department to the organisation and which areas need investment.
Reduce Manual Processes
You should also look to automate as many processes as possible and there are many tasks in finance that no longer need to be completed manually. You can implement a payroll system that can take care of P45s, pensions and many other tasks. This is effective because it can save time, reduce errors and ensure that you are always compliant with the latest laws. This can also give you greater control over your payroll cycle and ensure that this is an area of the business that you do not need to worry about.
Provide Training
You also need to ensure that all of your finance team know how to carry out their role efficiently. This means that you need to provide training sessions, especially after implementing new technologies and systems. You also need to create a culture of support and make it easy for team members to come forward when they have any questions, concerns or ideas.
Support Sustainable Growth
You should always weigh any growth/expansion plans you have for the finance team against the long-term strategy and overall aim of the business to support sustainable growth. It is better to focus on effective delegation and the implementation of new technology over making new hires, which can make a major long-term expense.
Hopefully, the advice in this post will help you to streamline and improve your company’s finance team. Every business needs a strong finance team, especially during turbulent economic periods, so you want to make sure that this department runs as efficiently as possible and helps to support the growth and development of your entire organisation.
