Worcester Business Journal

24 Worcester Business Journal | April 3, 2017 | wbjournal.com I n the past two decades of my professional career, I have been on both sides of the accounting relationship both as a controller and as an outside certified public account. Growing up in a family run- ning a small business gave me insight into the mental demands on a busi- ness owner. These collective experi- ences taught me to be as effective as possible in exchanges between own- ers and their strongest financial ally – their accountant. Business owners can often feel judged and shamed for not doing things correctly. This is a natural feel- ing to be avoided with a few simple steps to ensure the relationship with your advisors is functional and approached with positive intentions. Keep lines of communication open at all times, not just at year-end. During the course of the year, open communication is very important. While success is dependent on two- way communication, business owners should feel it is acceptable to reach out immediately for any questions or con- cerns that come up throughout the year. This can include any items where the business owner is uncertain or curious on the affect to their business. If you are unclear about how to record a transaction properly, how to address a potential employee issue or general tax law applicability, an effective CPA should be available to field those ques- tions during all times of the year. Work together in order to set reason- able deadlines. CPA's are always looking to get information as soon as possible in order to manage an extremely large work load in a short period of time. There can often be a tendency to push a sense of urgency on the business owner or their controller. Being honest with your CPA about whether dead- lines are reasonable within your busi- ness workload will minimize prob- lems. If a deadline cannot be met by either party, communicate that imme- diately and suggest a reasonable solu- tion to compromise on an alternative. Respond to questions in a reasonable amount of time. Oftentimes, in working on your financial reports or year-end workpa- pers, questions will arise for the accountant and the only way to get the answer is by contacting the business owner. Due to tax and reporting dead- lines, every effort should be made to answer questions as quickly and com- pletely as possible. Neither person should be expected to drop everything to respond, but make the effort to reply as soon as possible or to let the other know when an answer can be expected. Do as much analysis as possible prior to year-end. A little time spent analyzing accounts leading up to year-end can go a long way toward saving time and avoiding questions. A well-maintained set of books will often provide all that is necessary for the accountant; how- ever, some transactions require addi- tional analysis. Various steps can be taken to save time and money in advance: • Providing invoices or bill of sales for changes in fixed assets, • Reviewing accounts receivable for old balances that are potentially uncollectible, • Adjusting note payable balances at the end of the period, and • Review any changes in equity. Remember that you are all on the same team As a business owner and CPA, you are both ultimately working toward the same goals of keeping the compa- ny in compliance, helping to make the business a success and helping the business owner achieve their personal and professional goals. 10 T H I NG S I know about... . . . Te c h n o l o g y r e t u r n o n i n v e s t m e n t By Libis R. Bueno Bueno is CEO and chief technology officer at Worcester IT firm Domitek. Reach him at lbueno@ domitek.net. K N O W H O W Working effectively with your accountant C andor – or openness and truth- fulness – is necessary to create transparency, get good ideas, give feedback and promote healthy debate. "You reinforce the behaviors that you reward. If you reward candor, you'll get it," said Jack Welch, former CEO of GE. With candor, autonomy builds. Employees who have a role in contributing to decisions and discus- sions are more likely to fully buy in when it comes time to execute. This is no time for ego. Making room for candor in the office is something secure leaders do to promote collabo- ration, writes Tal Shnall at LeadershipHospitality.com. "Transparency expands the trust, and candor fosters openness," he writes, ingredients for success. Hoarding information is not helpful. Practice having difficult conversations. Speaking honestly about sensitive subjects could cause unintentional damage. Many manag- ers find it challenging to give perfor- mance appraisals to team members whose work isn't where it should be. "Northrop Grumman … retired chief ethics officer Frank Daly, established a program wherein managers can prac- tice having unpleasant conversations. It helps them learn how to deliver negative messages constructively," writes James O'Toole and Warren Bennis at HBR.org. Candor sparks a productive cycle. Russ Laraway at RadicalCandor.com says managers should listen, clarify, debate, decide, persuade, execute and learn. Listen to team members, he says. "They likely have some of the best ideas." Guide employees in clari- fying goals, debate together to uncover the best answer, ensure a decision gets made and carry out the plan. "Your team's execution changes the context and uncovers new variables. The new context needs to be observed and understood and then used to feed the process again." BY SUSAN SHALHOUB Special to the Worcester Business Journal 10 1: E n c o u r a g i n g c a n d o r 10) Technology ROI is pretty simple. Positive ROI means the results a technology produces are greater than the time and money invested. 9) Consider the ROI before and after purchasing technology. Before purchasing, you want to carefully consider whether a technology service or product is worth your money. Then months after you've implemented it, you should analyze whether or not you made a good investment. 8) Examine the technology you are currently using. Is it providing a solid foundation for your business to grow? 7) Look at intangibles. Think about productivity costs of staff time, disruption and frustration. 6) Understand the best use of your staff's time. If you implement managed services, your staff would have more time toward growing your business. 5) Understand the costs of implementing the new system. How much time will be required to train your staff? What's the cost of that? 4) Include the cost of subscription purchases. Since you are usually paying these on a monthly basis, it can be a bit tricky to add up real costs. That's why it's important to use a timeline. 3) Technology can create new revenues streams. For example, an investment in VoIP opens up an opportunity to offer video consulting to clients in parts of the world normally out of reach. 2) Discuss the investment with end users. If you fail to consult your end users before implementation, they take longer to adapt or even rebel against it. 1) Only consider ROI for big purchases. If you need to buy something small, like a new keyboard, just go and buy it. BY GREGORY SHORT Special to the Worcester Business Journal W Gregory Short, CPA, is a senior accountant of Shepherd & Goldstein LLP in Worcester. Reach him at (508) 875-2552 or gshort@sgllp.com. W W

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