With a tough year ahead for finance directors, as touched upon in our last post – CFO Priorities 2020, there will be plenty of challenges for companies to overcome in 2020. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the strategies a finance director should adopt in order to embrace both the opportunities and obstacles that 2020 has in store. To get off to a good start, follow these New Year’s Resolutions to review your finance department.
Review your contingency plans
The threats posed by Brexit include disruption to the supply chain, the falling value of the pound and the loss of European trade. Even if these don’t materialise, CFOs should make it a New Year’s Resolution to address the ‘what ifs’ and ensure that they are prepared for a worst-case scenario. In the face of uncertainty, it makes good sense to have a Plan B, so finance directors should use the first months of 2020 to ensure that their companies’ contingency plans are in good shape.
Reform your reporting
In order to ensure the best possible business performance, it’s vital to have access to real-time, in-depth reporting. Is your current analytics package up to the job? If not, now is the time to make a change: in a year of change, it will be more important than ever to be able to rely on concrete statistics on which to base your business decisions.
Consolidate your accounts
Does your company have international branches or are you a group with multiple subsidiaries? If so, you’ll know the value of consolidating your accounts accurately and efficiently. With exchange rates likely to be particularly turbulent in the year ahead, it could be time to update your accounting package to include consolidation accounting software and handle consolidation with ease.
Introduce efficiency measures
Becoming more efficient is an evergreen goal that will always help businesses to streamline their processes, reduce waste and focus on their key goals. So, what better time to review your efficiency than the New Year? Conduct a review of the processes within your organisation and introduce automation where possible, to free up staff time, improve accuracy and eliminate clumsy workarounds once and for all.
Enable remote working
The uncertainty of 2020 may have an impact on staffing within your organisation, with many EU nationals likely to move away from the UK. To retain your most talented employees, support them by providing an infrastructure that enables remote working. Eliminate paper-based processes and allow staff to carry out all the key aspects of their role away from the office.
Integrate your IT systems
Imagine the difference it could make to your business if the key IT systems could be integrated together, rather than working in isolation. Cloud-based accounting software is easy to integrate with a number of other functions, including electronic banking systems and data entry software.
For a quick fix to help you keep your New Year’s Resolutions, choose AccountsIQ. With superlative reporting, consolidation and integration features, AccountsIQ is a cloud-based accounting software that will make your business more efficient in 2020.
