How do you know when it's time to start looking for a new accounting system? Is the tool that you're using good enough? Can you extract enough value from some future state that would justify all the hassle and headache associated with upgrading to something different? Before you can even start asking those questions, it's important to figure out the current gaps associated with status quoe approach.

1. 5 REASONS YOU MAY HAVE
OUTGROWN
YOUR CURRENT ACCOUNTING
PROCESSES
Jason Clause & Doug Kennedy
© 2014 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

2. Contact Information
Jason Clause
IT Consultant @ Endsight
510-823-4604
jclause@endsight.net
LinkedIn – Jason Clause
Twitter - @jasonclause

3. Contact Information
Doug Kennedy
Partner @ CFOs2GO
415-770-3840
dkennedy@cfos2go.com
LinkedIn – Douglas L. Kennedy

4. 5 REASONS YOU MAY HAVE
OUTGROWN
YOUR CURRENT ACCOUNTING
PROCESSES

5. 5P a g e
Limited Time for
Decision Making
1

6. 6P a g e
• As your company grows, so does transaction volume and the amount of data
housed in the accounting system
• As you approach the limits of your software’s transactional capacity, it will begin
to operate slowly, freeze up, and continually give you the message “Not
Responding”
• If you’re still using simple spreadsheets….this method requires immense amounts
of manual labor and re-checking (to avoid errors/fraud)
• Each limits decision makers’ and management’s time frame to react to their
internal financial information
Limited Time for Decision Making1

7. 7P a g e
• Stable database, which has incredible storage volume, and is trusted
by even the largest enterprises, vastly improves the speed and
capacity of your operations
L i m i t e d T i m e f o r D e c i s i o n M a k i n g
HOW DOES AN UPDATED
ACCOUNTING SOLUTION SOLVE THIS?
1

8. 8P a g e
Too Much
Paper
2

9. 9P a g e
Too Much Paper2
• As a company expands rapidly, dealing with paper invoices, expense
sheets, physical financial statements, etc. becomes a logistical nightmare
• If you’re geographically spread out as an organization, this becomes
even more difficult
• As this continues, you waste time: manually placing financial information
in the system, attempting to match paper invoices, and searching for
previous orders and payment history

10. 10P a g e
T o o M u c h P a p e r
HOW DOES AN UPDATED
ACCOUNTING SOLUTION SOLVE THIS?
2
• Through an automated and integrated system you can eliminate paper from
the accounting process entirely
• No more time needs to be spent on manual inputting or filing, or searching
for invoices and documents
• Without paper, the number of adjusting entries necessary to provide correct
financial information is reduced
• Additionally, the removal of paper keeps expenses and revenue information
highly organized…which eases the process of completing closing entries for
temporary accounts at years’ end

11. Delays in production effecting
business ROI

12. 12P a g e
3
Delays in
Production

13. 13P a g e
Delays in Production3
• Sales orders are a process which interact with multiple parts of your business
and require consolidated efforts
• If you do not have an integration which addresses the flow of this
information, then you must manually overcome this
• This causes delays in the production schedule and rushes of demand that
could incur the use of premium shipping and overtime hours
• All of this can lead to a loss of consumer and supplier confidence, and
potentially even the contact itself

14. 14P a g e
D e l a y s i n P r o d u c t i o n
HOW DOES AN UPDATED
ACCOUNTING SOLUTION SOLVE THIS?
3
• Full automation of electronic data interchange, with a new operational solution,
allows you to direct orders from production, all the way to the point of sale at
the click of a button
• By ensuring that production schedules are adhered to, and removing human
errors within data handling, costs associated with delays become a thing of the
past

15. 15P a g e
Inaccurate
Calculations
4

16. 16P a g e
Inaccurate Calculations4
• Simple human errors, which can have monumental negative impact on financial
statements, are incredibly difficult to remedy or foresee
• Many companies attempt to make due with discrete manufacturing systems…
but these are particularly vulnerable to the many variables which must be
incorporated in the production and sales process
• In addition, companies, which use spreadsheets will have considerable difficulties
attempting to troubleshoot/test massive accounting applications
• This often results in incorrectly calculated costs for the sales process, which can
cause: losing clients and jobs due to overpriced products, and high costs of
goods sold due to poor inventory tracking

17. 17P a g e
I n a c c u r a t e C a l c u l a t i o n s
HOW DOES AN UPDATED
ACCOUNTING SOLUTION SOLVE THIS?
4
• With a modern accounting process you can achieve automated
standard costing
• This provides insight into which products are the most profitable, and
lets you know where your business should direct its focus
• With more succinct and standard costs, you can more effectively
project demand and revenues, preparing yourself for the future

19. 19P a g e
Employees Building
Reports Manually
5

20. 20P a g e
Employees Building Reports Manually5
• Most legacy financial management systems provide no way of adjusting the
statement formats or manipulating data within the reports
• To compensate for this, employees often need to consolidate information
from many sources
• Often this requires company accountants to wait for each department to
contribute their information, and then cross reference
• If using spreadsheets, then it will also be necessary to double check formulas
and figures to ensure accuracy

21. 21P a g e
E m p l o y e e s B u i l d i n g R e p o r t s M a n u a l l y
HOW DOES AN UPDATED
ACCOUNTING SOLUTION SOLVE THIS?
5
• An updated operational process allows you to format and quickly run
financials with ease
• With the use of automated work flows, your business’s accounting
team could route the reports to both internal and external decision
makers
• With more confidence in reported figures everyone has more time to
address other tasks