Consultants Debbie Putnam and Brian McElroy provided insight into growth management at Houston Society of CPA's CFO/Controller Conference
TR Moore & Company consultants Brian McElroy, CPA, and Debbie Putnam, CPA, provided tips for managing company growth from the CFO/controller’s perspective Sept. 23 at the Houston CPA Society’s CFO/Controller Conference. Highlights include:
On Hiring
- Determine hiring needs and communicate them to management by documenting the hours needed for accounting tasks, having your employees do the same, then comparing the two.
- Ask yourself a few questions:
- Can you realign tasks with existing resources to get more work accomplished?
- Can current cash flow sustain hiring?
- If not, is your need part time or full time? Temporary or long term?
- Are your competitors hiring?
- What are the risks of not hiring (i.e., not billing customers timely, delayed month-end close, not meeting bank requirements)?
Access the presentation for more, including sample templates for documenting tasks.
On Outgrowing Your Accounting System
Signs include:
- Staff keying in the same data more than once
- Use of Excel spreadsheets vs. system-generated reports
- Month-end close longer than five business days
- And more
Cost vs. benefit considerations include:
- Use the 1 percent rule, i.e., annual revenue is $25 million, budget $250,000 for a new system
- Consider the cost of consultants and employee resources
- Consider software, hardware and the annual cost going forward
- And more
On the Big Picture
Ways to provide insight to management as your company grows include:
- Basic financial statement with explanation of key issues
- Cash flow and cash-flow forecasting
- Budget-to-actual reporting
- Key performance indicators (KPIs)
- And more
Brian McElroy and Debbie Putnam work in the Consulting Division at TR Moore & Company, where McElroy focuses on meeting the comprehensive accounting and management advisory needs of small to mid-sized business clients, while Putnam provides CFO- and controller-level support to a wide variety of privately and closely held businesses. Contact us for more information.
