In small business, many times employees have to wear many hats and do multiple jobs. Sometimes things that weren’t in their original job descriptions.
Oh, the old “and-other-duties-as-assigned” schtick. I see.
What happens, however, when you ask your administrative assistant to answer the phones, do payroll and accounting AND human resources is that something gets dropped in all that juggling. Usually a professional who has been trained in those disciplines follows a process they’ve been taught and is universal.
Process, you say?
You know, the steps that outline how things get done in your company? A company implements processes (or controls or procedures) to ensure that work gets done consistently by your employees regardless of who does the work. The areas in a company that can benefit from having processes in place:
- Finance
- Human Resources
- Operations
- Sales and marketing
Hmmm…that just about describes the organization of most, if not all, businesses. Must make sense, then, to most business owners. It might make the difference between getting paid and not getting paid if, say, you can’t find an invoice that is overdue. So, let’s start with finance and accounting. Here are some of the basic processes that could make your life better from a finance perspective:
- Budgets
- Payroll
- Accounts receivable (AR)
- Accounts payable (AP)
- Taxes
Recently, we encountered a small company that had assigned accounting and collections to the boss’ administrative assistant. Collections became difficult when she couldn’t find purchase order numbers associated with invoices. A simple process and communication between sales and accounting would have made it easier for her to make those calls and successfully et the payment.
For more on how to organize your business processes, call or write to us. TFO Solutions is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs and business owners with their financial strategy from the back office to the boardroom.
**photos courtesy of Unsplash (Joshua Coleman and Henny Stander, photographers)