Still Closing Your Books in February?

Prepping for auditors? If you are drowning in extra work with general closing taking way too long, chances are you are not following best practices. Take a closer look at steps you can implement relatively quickly to take the pain (and added costs) out of monthly and annual closings.

Four Steps to Stay on Track, Forever

Step One

--Institute a process of daily or weekly reconciliations. Best practice: Conduct cash reconciliations frequently because looking more often allows your team to identify problems faster and drill down to root causes easier. On core control accounts: Perform bank reconciliations, check AP and AR balances.

Step Two

--Take advantage of your ability to review income statements throughout the month. Worst Practice: Waiting until the end of the month, combing through then reviewing larger chunks of entries. Best Practice: Setting up a solid process and review system. Again, this allows problems to surface early and sets up an even pace to keep you up to speed.

Step Three

--You may spend days waiting for paperwork to be received, manual charges to be added and audits to occur prior to being able to recognize revenue and expense. But, don’t wait. Best Practice: Use automated trucking software to ensure information is mapped to the right account in advance. Avoid big dumps and too much time spent re-classifying accruals manually.

Step Four

--Pay attention to allocations. There is pain in playing the allocation game. Best practice: Put a well-documented method in place. Gather appropriate data. Reduce as much manual intervention as possible.

For transportation services providers of all sizes, ramping up processes and turning to automation can make the difference between efficient closing and time/productivity losses. TMW offers consulting services to customers all year ‘round and is a Microsoft Gold Certified partner.