While making a profit at a lesser expenditure lies at the core of a CFO’s responsibility, today surpasses the expected. In an accounting and financial setup, a CFO is held in the highest regard to ensure that there is a smooth operation of all business functions, employees are at peace and the forecasts made are accurate. This allows the leaders to make investment and expenditure decisions accordingly. The CFO’s title is more than just performing simple financial duties and over the past few years, this role has evolved significantly.
The accounting and finance sector is moving at a much rapid pace and it can get overwhelming for CFOs to put their fingers on what is most critical to focus on. The top things that these finance leaders struggle with include seamless integration of artificial intelligence in daily operations, disparate systems and data, hiring and retention of global talent, and overcoming traditional financial challenges.
While they may seem independent of each other, all of these challenges point towards one problem – poor accounting and financial hygiene. When CFOs aren’t able to gather synchronization from all these issues, the financial health of the organization suffers.
Financial or accounting hygiene refers to the practices that businesses use to strike a balance in their finances. From maintaining accurate financial records to monitoring cash flow, budgeting, investing, and managing debt – all of these contribute to sound hygiene. As the accounting sector continues to evolve, practicing good financial practices becomes inevitable to ensure the sustainable growth of the business. It also helps businesses gain a clear picture of their financial standing, avoid cash flow problems, and make well-informed decisions.
In this article, Finsmart Accounting – globally trusted for accounting outsourcing services – will share everything about accounting and bookkeeping hygiene. Let’s start!
What are the challenges that contribute to poor financial hygiene?
In 2024, the economic market continues to be immensely unstable. Several geopolitical unrests are massively impacting the global economy. Hiring and retaining talent is getting harder. Inflation, high interest rates, and a recession in many countries continue to make navigating through the global economy even difficult. Along with these global factors, here are some of the top reasons that make accounting hygiene suffer:
1. Making the right cost-cutting decisions:
According to a recent CFO survey by Grant Thorton, about 58% of CFOs say that cost optimization is their top concern. Headcount, travel, consulting fees, supply chain rationalization, and technology investments are some of the top areas where CFOs will try to find potential solutions to cut down costs. With the volume of software and AI tools available in the market, finding the right solution for the business remains the top concern. Even when CFOs do manage to find the right technology, the price concerns continue to peak. This is an even bigger problem for small accounting firms.
2. Identifying the right investment opportunities:
Just like any other sector, accounting and finance firms are also seeking growth in 2024. CFOs are levied with the task of continual investments in projects, products, and innovation to drive growth, despite the need to cut costs. Investments like expanding in newer geographies or securing a new line of service need careful evaluation and consideration to balance the risk and reward. With so many competitors around the world and so much happening in the financial sector, it can inevitably get difficult for the CFOs to choose what to pick.
3. Cash and liquidity planning:
The forecast of recession should not be taken lightly in 2024. Many countries have already been affected and accounting firms across the world should stay prepared. If and when a recession hits, liquid cash is what businesses need. For small accounting firms, it is necessary to have enough cash to make up for revenue losses. With high-interest rates, borrowing to invest towards growth can become extremely expensive. As the economic market continues to remain volatile, CFOs are posed with the challenge of continuous forecasting to balance debt and equity.
Recommended reading: Learn about the outsourcing accounting services pricing in India!
4. More frequent and accurate forecasting:
Financial analysis and planning is one of the key functions of a CFO. However, in the post-pandemic world, firms must increase the frequency of the financial planning cycles. Scenario modeling is another key activity that has become a priority for the CFOs. Traditional manual processes and spreadsheets slow down planning cycles and that makes the CFO’s jobs even harder. CFOs need to update themselves constantly with technology, ace predictive analysis, and learn to leverage new-age software for speed and accuracy.
5. Attracting and retaining the right talent:
In 2024, finding and retaining talented resources remains a significant problem that CFOs have to deal with. Businesses have continued to open up new jobs, however, they have been unfilled for the longest time. A lack of finance and accounting talent, with specific skills, has troubled CFOs for a decade and the pandemic has only worsened it. Labor shortages extend to operations, logistics, sales, and entry-level positions, which means it affects every level. It has become difficult for the CFOs to find a way to make the workplaces more conducive for the new-age workforce.
Read on to explore experts tips for managing accounting hygiene better in 2024.
Tips to Manage Accounting Hygiene Better
According to David Bharier, the head of research at the British Chambers of Commerce, the situation is unsustainable for thousands of businesses. He says, “Confidence is falling fast as many SMEs find it impossible to absorb or pass on rising costs.”
But that does not mean there is no way to balance and maintain the accounting hygiene for the businesses.
Here’s what CFOs need to do maintain bookkeeping hygiene in 2024:
– Unify the diverse data
Today, the role of data is immense in the accounting and finance sector. CFOs need to be extremely mindful of how they use the vast amount of data. The need for current and accurate data is key to support decision-making, the analysis of which also remains vital. Unifying the necessary data for analysis reduces the need to pull it from disconnected databases, especially when time is of the essence.
Having a single data source increases the speed of reporting and reduces the inefficiency and errors that are a major struggle in manual processes. According to research by Accenture, about 77% of CFOs believe in combining different data sets to achieve business objectives. To solve the data challenge, CFOs also are in dire need to ensure that the company’s financial statements are accurate and auditable.
– Prevent fraud and invest in cybersecurity
In 2022, there had been about one cybersecurity attack every 39 seconds. As firms continue to enhance their fraud prevention and cybersecurity measures, the attackers continue to grow smarter too. CFOs are the economic guardian for a firm and risk management is one of the key roles they play. Recognizing the need to protect sensitive information and the potential costs that cyberattacks can cause to a firm is necessary for the CFOs.
A study by EY reveals that 59% of the CFOs believe that improved risk management will be key in protecting the business and more than half of the global CFOs see it as one of the toughest challenges. With remote working takes the center stage, managing potential fraud and cybersecurity through cloud-based measures become more essential.
– Support a remote workforce
The problem of talent shortage in the accounting sector is no secret. The millennial and Gen-Z workforce are more inclined towards striking a balance between the personal and professional and hence, there is an immense rise in the demand for remote work setup. Although the shift to remote poses a challenge to potential investments in physical office space, they provide cost savings and returns on technology, benefits for employees, and create favorable conditions for the employees.
In a remote setup, the challenges of burnout and the need to rebuild the overall culture continue to exist. During and after the pandemic, the employees who continued to work from home, along with the CFOs, had an increased number of work hours per week. As the lines between personal and professional continue to blur, the CFOs need to rethink the work and workplace and help strike a balance. Inculcating an empathetic culture has become all the more important in recent times.
Recommended reading: Learn everything about auditing in accounting
– Embrace innovation
The roles of CFOs have already evolved in the past decade and it will continue to do so in the upcoming years. The maintenance of accounting hygiene and the success of a business will depend solely on how well CFOs can lead innovation within the organizations. The pace of change and innovation that enabled the organizations to survive in the volatile economic climate will become a determining factor.
As CFOs need to work along with the C-suite leaders, they will need to use their knowledge of business performance to adopt financial innovation to drive growth. Predictive analytics tools and the ability to use data to their advantage will become key in helping CFOs identify risks and opportunities. This will also help firms to use the CFO advantage to stay ahead of the competition.
– Seek support when you need it
While CFOs are levied with some of the most important financial responsibilities, they do not necessarily have to do it alone. Communication plays a key role in ensuring that there is sound accounting hygiene and problems in the businesses are addressed at a nascent stage. CFOs, besides working with the C-suite, should also maintain a balanced relationship with the employees at the entry-level. It is the CFO’s responsibility to understand issues at all levels.
The tasks of an accounting firm are many, and if a CFO is stuck in the loop of completing repetitive tasks, it leaves them with very little time to focus on what is important.
For an overwhelmed CFO, dealing with a talent crunch, along with several other issues, outsourcing might be the solution. It helps optimize cost, while enhancing productivity and revenue and prevents the possibility of in-house team burnout. With a remote team at their disposal, CFOs also get access to global talent with expertise in the fields they need.
Recommended reading: Cash flow management reporting tips and ideas for CPAs
Maintaining accounting hygiene for accounting firms
Accounting hygiene continues to be the epitome of success for a business. CFOs play a key role in nurturing a culture of accountability, transparency, and excellence within accounting firms. Investment in automation, providing training, collating data, and making proper use helps elevate the accounting hygiene standards and ensure long-term, financial health, and credibility.
To get the help you need to maintain accounting hygiene through outsourcing, write to us at connect@finsmartaccounting.com.
Also, don’t forget to check out:
India entry consulting services
Accounts receivable outsourcing services
Outsourced financial controller services
Director Growth Strategy & Alliance
Maanoj Shah is a finance and outsourcing expert with strong Business Strategy and Scaling-up experience. Over the last 20 years, he has incubated multiple businesses and helped build global enterprises in verticals as diversified as hospitality, technology, and healthcare.
