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How much will an outdated accounting system hamper your growth?

5th Aug 2013
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Quite a bit! At least that’s what many of you out there indicated in a recent survey of nearly 200 finance executives, writes Jeremy Roche, chief executive of Financial Force. 

Although this particular survey was conducted in the US, the findings are as relevant for UK finance executives as for those working in finance in the US. Because I divide my time equally between our UK Harrogate office and our San Francisco base, I see at first hand that the challenges affecting finance teams are the same the world over.

The primary purpose of the survey appropriately titled “Accounting Systems of Today.” was to help us better understand the current state of today’s finance departments-where your finance function is heading, what your biggest challenges are, and what types of solutions you need to be more efficient.

The results were insightful and helpful, but also got me saying the word “ouch” more than a few times.

What prompted the “ouch?” Well, the majority of you indicated your current accounting system plagues you with too many spreadsheets, too much manual entry, a protracted period close, no CRM integration and simply not enough cloud. Does this sound familiar?

The respondents’ reality:

  • 70% don’t integrate their accounting system with their CRM
  • 40% have a period close that takes two weeks or more
  • 64% are using more than 25 spreadsheets across the department
  • 18% are using 100+ spreadsheets across department
  • 51% are still painfully dealing with manual data entry
  • 27% are using an accounting system that’s more than 11 years old (that’s when people were still faxing!)

What are they doing about it?

  • 40% of respondents revealed they have had it! They are getting a new system
  • 70% of those are looking to move to the cloud

The biggest shocker from my perspective was how totally under-leveraged the cloud is right now for the back office.

It’s clear companies are dabbling in the cloud, but are not even remotely close to optimizing it for back-office processes. The accounting department of today should not be stuck with this much manual entry, relying on this many spreadsheets, or using a system that does not hook into the CRM.

The second, yet refreshing, shocker for me was that 40 percent of respondents indicated they are currently looking or have plans to look for a new accounting system. That’s a step in the right direction.

That tells us they are finally recognizing their current systems are holding them back. Let’s face it. The business world is constantly changing. Employees are using apps everywhere in their personal lives, and have come to expect the same application accessibility at work. It’s the businesses that embrace that new world that will come out ahead.

Now let’s jump a few years forward. I don’t think there’s any likelihood of us still seeing 70% of finance teams not tightly linking their accounting system to their CRM.

Hooking the two is a path to streamlined order to cash processes, single account management, and eliminates the re-keying of data and manual entry. In this age of lean companies and a focus on customer service, companies can’t afford to have sales, services and finance on different systems.

On that note, accounting teams need to be firmly embedded in the business, not segregated from the business with superficial walls. That’s where a cloud accounting solution might be able to help. Picking a solution that applies CRM, social and mobile capability to back office functions allows the finance function to operate seamlessly across the business rather than being tied to functional silos.

It’s time to seize an accounting solution that will help tear down walls between departments and get the business working as one.

Let accounting systems help your company to realise growth potential instead of the other way around.

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By User deleted
05th Aug 2013 10:30

Force (SalesForce) platform ...

There is a natural fit between FinancialForce & SalesForce because of the platform

http://www.force.com/ (http://www.financialforce.com/)

Wasn't CODA (2go) was also developed on that platform and was in the news about 2009 - it morphed into FinancialForce at some point over the last few years
http://www.salesforce.com/company/news-press/press-releases/2007/09/0709...

https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/topic/technology/salesforce-buys-coda2go...
https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/topic/technology/coda-embraces-forcecom

Of course the real issue is actually whether the Force platform was/is the right platform to use in the first place - here are a number of issues; admittedly from 2009 but nevertheless they were relevant at the time these system were bing developed and therefore must have had an impact on the process

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1664503/disadvantages-of-the-force-co...

Naturally it is a balance between time to market and ease/effectiveness of code - nevertheless, have all these matters been addressed and ironed out in the interim ?

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