Get The Most Out Of Your Money Spent
By Frank Lieshout | 5 min read
In our previous article, we mentioned some money-saving tips in terms of complying with financial reporting regulations.
Today we are going to look at how to get the most out of your time and money spent on the reviewing and preparing of your financial statements.
Technology
In the previous article, we mentioned that the use of technology brings efficiency. Here are some examples:
- Format of Financial Statements – By using accounting software that prepares the financial statements in the correct reporting format for your level of financial reporting, you won’t have to manually put the figures into another format (i.e. using the XRB Tier 3 and Tier 4 Templates) creating extra work and increasing the risk of mistakes
- Online Document Storage System – As well as using online accounting software, double down on the technology by storing all your paid invoices in an electronic storage system. This works as an electronic shoebox. Some systems like Receipt Bank have the ability to link with your online accounting software so the invoice is attached to the transaction.
Not all about the money
‘It’s not all about the money. Yeah right.’ Sounds like a Tui billboard. But it is true in this case.
A large part of what is involved in your financial statements is financial numbers, but it is not everything. Part of the Financial Statements Reporting requirements is now a Statement of Service Performance (SSP). The SSP shows
- Outcomes: what the entity is seeking to achieve in terms of its impact on society, and
- Outputs: what was delivered during the year to meet the outcomes
The key to preparing an SSP is setting your outcomes and outputs so that they are relevant to your organisation, while also being simple and measurable. This not only helps make them easier for the review but if you set them at the start of each year you can use them as a tracking tool throughout the year about how your organisation is doing.
Don’t let it drift away and be forgotten
As part of the review process (near the end), your Reviewer will provide you with a Management Letter about any issues or weaknesses (along with suggested improvements) they have come across during the review. This is so the organisation receives maximum benefit from their review. The issues or weaknesses should be discussed, investigated, and if it is agreed to follow the suggested (or other) course of action, an action plan should be created to ensure they are done.
As everyone is busy, our experience is that it gets forgotten about. FTI (failure to implement) or ‘too hard basket’ are excuses that also kick in here. You will be asked about them next year by the Reviewer, so proactiveness is the key.
No Dribs and Drabs
A time-saver is to provide the Reviewer with all of the documentation they have requested at one time. This will make the review run a lot more smoothly.
Limiting the to-ing and fro-ing will limit the annoyance of not getting the process completed in a timely manner.
Minimise your costs
You get out what you put in. The fee charged for a review is based on the information you provide and the quality of it. This leads to the fee that is charged.
The more information the better and as with anything, better quality will get you a better result. If you follow this advice, the fee should be less.
If you’d like to know more about the variety of ways we can support your team, get in touch with us for more information.
