There comes a time in every finance professional’s life when a decision must be made whether to keep or change the tools you use every day. Even if you decide you can live with the tools you have, you still should be asking questions about their abilities to do what you need.
Among the things you need to do when it comes to accounting software are: Define your requirements, Understand your options, Evaluate of your processes, and Determine benefits and return on investment (ROI) of the tools, according to Cheryl R. Olson, CPA.
In an NPT webinar slated for Wednesday, June 19, Olson, formerly of the Girl Scouts of the USA and now with the Bellevue, Wash., accounting firm Clark Nuber PS, will walk financial executives through the process. Here’s a link to sign-up for the sponsored webinar: https://cc.readytalk.com/r/ismvevfvyhv9&eom
You need to kick the tires to determine if inefficient manual processes are draining productivity or if there is a dependence on unwieldy spreadsheets. See if you have multiple locations, grants, programs, projects, etc. See if the tools provide real-time visibility and access to financial data.
You might decide to stay with your current solution, but you’ll still learn a lot from evaluating all your options. Document issues with your current system. Prepare a top-down strategy that includes: What do you want to achieve if you decide on a new system; What type of information does management need to make better decisions; What is the impact of that?; and, Which processes do you want to automate?
The webinar is free. So far more than 200 finance professionals have signed-up. Please click the link and get in on the information.
