By Leap the Pond, 19 July 2018

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CFO Magazine recently wrote an article on the 10 habits of highly effective CFOs. One of the first things that they stressed was that being a workaholic CFO is a mistake. “Workaholics are not the best long-term performers. There are times in all our careers when we have to work 80 or 90 hours a week and forgo other things. But it’s not a wise long-term strategy.” Striking that healthy work-life balance is essential.

We work with CFOs on a daily basis, sometimes under stressful circumstances, implementing accounting software is no easy feat. We see them (and their teams) burn the midnight oil. 9 out of 10 times they are implementing while still performing their daily financial activities. Being a workaholic during this time is sometimes unavoidable. What gives us solace is knowing that they are laying the groundwork for a solution that will help them work smarter and think more strategically, which coincidentally is also on the list of CFO success drivers.

When a CFO or Controller engages with us there usually is a breaking point. There might be something fundamentally wrong with how their current accounting solution is operating causing too much manual efforts, or their business has changed dramatically, or there may be new regulations that need to be considered (i.e. ASC 606). For example, when ModSquad’s VP of Finance and Accounting, David Wohlwend, came to us he needed a new solution to reduce the manual effort (read ModSquad’s case study here).

By reducing that manual effort and automating systems, we give finance teams the ability to allocate their time on projects that might have gone by the wayside or give them the opportunity to learn something new (another successful driver per CFO Magazine). The saying, time is money, is very true. Investing in the right processes and laying the groundwork for more effective financial management can save you in the long-run.

Take a little advice from Leap the Pond’s Co-Founder and President, David Furth, and “be incredibly focused, have a plan in place and a willingness to invest.” A willingness to invest in your business, particularly the infrastructure is needed. You can’t build a building without a solid foundation, the same is true for your business. If your current accounting processes are filled with hours of manual work, slowly killing you or your team, it might be time to invest. Ask yourself:

  • Do you spend hours in Excel?
  • Do you find avoidable errors that could be eliminated with automation?
  • Do you want to have a shorter month-end?
  • Do you spend days gathering data and creating financial reports?
  • Does ASC 606 give you nightmares?

If you’ve answered yes to any of the above, you are ready to start the process of finding a better accounting solution. The next step? Read our blog: How to Begin Your Search for the Right Accounting Solution to get five fundamental best practices that can’t be missed!

This content was originally posted here

Leap the Pond delivers Sage Intacct based accounting solutions to growing organizations that have BIG plans.

The Leap the Pond team averages more than 20+ years of experience with accounting and operations. Each consultant leverages this experience to help customers drive improved performance, streamlined processed, and real-time metrics. Since 2008, Leap the Pond has led more than 350 successful projects for nearly 300 organizations.