EFFICIENT ACCOUNTING-NEED OF THE HOUR

The finance and accounts department lies at the heart of the company. They have access to essential data that can turn around a business. Often, accounting departments have the mentality of being ‘limited by tradition’. They follow a set of established rules with a mindset of ‘this is the way it’s always been done’. With the right technology and standardized system, you can make the accounting department more productive.

 Following pointers can help the Accounting Firms in UAE make their processes more efficient:

  • Trim the Fat

When it comes to accounting, numerous mundane tasks occupy an accountant’s time. Updating spreadsheets, running reports, approvals – all these repetitive processes add up to non-productive hours.  Accounting Companies need to trim the fat on paper processes that do not generate revenue. This will help them focus more time on tasks that add value to the organization.

  • Reduce Wasteful Spending

Wasteful spending exists in every department (including the accounting department). It can happen in countless ways given how different every business can be. Companies should focus on identifying and eliminating the cause of the waste. For instance, routing invoices to clients via email instead of printed invoices reduces paper wastage.

Lead times are also a major cause of wastage. It can be controlled through process improvement. 

  • Investing in New Technology

Accountants are constantly seeking out new technology that can help them simplify their day-to-day financial operations 

    • Modern accounting software like Xero, ZOHO, QuickBooks, increasing productivity within the accounting workplace
    • Accounting companies can achieve a streamlined workflow with the right DMS software. This software avoids duplication and reduces the difficult invoice process by integrating with your current ERP.
    • More and more accounting firms in UAE are using cloud computing technology to store their data on the cloud. It allows multiple people from multiple locations to access the data and work on it. 

  • Be timely with reconciliation

It is important to reconcile your accounts promptly to ensure that all the transactions are recorded. It will be much easier to reconcile a little at a time, at the end of each month. The alternative (reconciling at year-end all at once) certainly sounds awful and should be avoided at all costs.

  • Avoid Procrastination

Delays and procrastination lead to inefficiency and waste of time & money in many ways:

  • Lost opportunity:

 In finance, delays often result in a missed opportunity. For example, let us say your company completes Dec financials in the month of Feb. It is later identified that there was a need for pricing adjustment in Dec. Two months of selling (and unnecessary losses) have already gone by.

  • Penalties and rework

Procrastination causes loss of money in terms of late filing fees and penalties. It also causes ‘time penalty’ as it becomes dificult to rectify accounts from the distant past.

  • Lost incentive to find solutions:

 Delayed work usually becomes a crisis that must be rushed to completion. In a rush situation, no one is finding solutions to problems. Instead, the goal is to finish work as fast as possible. 

  • Outsource

As the role of the finance and accounting department grows with time, it is advisable to outsource certain accounting functions to a specialist outsourcing services provider. Outsourcing improves the productivity of the internal team while ensuring the quality of output is high on accuracy. Enterprises should outsource accounting and VAT to expert accounting firms in UAE to save time & money.

Conclusion

While accounting has a strong focus on numbers, it is hard to see the big picture on how to reduce costs and make the department more efficient. The performance of the finance department must be constantly monitored. Companies should take quick actions whenever the finance department is lagging in their performance to get them back on track.