5 Questions a CFO Should Ask During New Year Business Assessment

It’s a New Year, and that means companies are hitting the ‘reset’ button and looking at last year’s performance. Marketing will probably be analyzed. Operations will be studied. And human resources will likely be assessed.

But as a chief financial officer, you have an opportunity to dive into an area that is overlooked far too often in business’ annual review: Accounts Payable and financial technology.

Why are these areas important to explore?

• It reveals how much time you spend on tedious, manual tasks that don’t add real value;
• It allows you to see how you could better allocate – and save – money; and
• It lets you see the “bigger picture:” Where and how am I spending my money?

And, perhaps best of all? It opens the door to work more efficiently and focus on what truly matters for today’s CFO: driving strategy and the company’ success. And this can be done by using automated expense management technology.

CFOs now have more responsibility than ever. You do not have time to be solely involved in minutia data entry and bookkeeping. You know you must focus on being a leader and give counsel to help drive strategy. Using expense management technology allows you to do just that.

It will also save you lots of time and money. If you want to be more productive, we can help. Here are five key questions to ask at the end of each year to benchmark your financial practices.

How much time do you spend on bookkeeping?
This is likely a question many CFOs at large organizations do not consider. You are too busy bouncing between bookkeeping, financial reporting, and strategic initiatives. You’re used to bouncing around so much – why change it? You need to see just how well it is working – or not working. A good metric for this is time spent.

We know some businesses spending 20 or more hours a week on record keeping. That’s a LOT of time doing something that does not contribute to the top line of the business. Don’t get us wrong: we are not saying these tasks are not important. Rather, using this kind of smart business technology would allow your bookkeeper to focus on other tasks that are more productive for your company.

Today’s CFOs must break away from the number-cruncher stereotype and be more of a strategic player in the company. You need to be creative and create more value for the company. Using automated expense management technology can free up your time to do these very things.

How much money do you think is lost in invoices?
It’s easy to misplace or lose invoices. They’re a small piece of paper that probably gets shoved with other small pieces of paper. Before you know it, you’re not sure if you ever RECEIVED an invoice or not. We’ve all been there.

This is why storing expenses digitally is a must. And today’s technology makes it easier than ever before to do just that. For example, we know an architect that uses a highly intelligent automated expense management tool. During the first month, he saved a total of $700. This was because, before he used this tool, he was losing so many reimbursements and receipts. But he is now able to simply take a picture of a receipt and upload it directly into a system that codes it and organizes it for different clients. How easy is that?

The point is this: With so many invoices likely floating around your business, it’s hard to keep track of them all. You don’t have to think about all of this with expense management tools. The hard part is done. Simply connect to the software, send the document and receive your processed documents within seconds.

Are you able to see every bill you owe and when it is due?
It’s astonishing to learn how many companies can’t answer this question. Having visibility for your organization is crucial to effectively managing cash flow. With expense management software, you can see all of your expenses on a single dashboard. You can know exactly what you owe and when – without having to look in multiple places.

For a CFO, this is huge. Businesses are seeing more employees spend money than before. And purchases are being made in a variety of payment methods, often managed by systems that don’t connect to share this data. This is where cloud-based expense management tools help. They capture travel and expenses quickly and accurately, providing granular visibility into these purchases when they happen.

Are there opportunities to save money with different vendors?
It’s easy to not look at the bigger picture of how money is being spent. But imagine a scenario where you, no longer spending time entering data, can review vendors and how we’re spending money with them. Would you rather perform mundane tasks with data entry, or analyze this data to figure out how to save the business money? Everyone wants to save money. But not everyone knows the best and easiest way to do it.

You now move beyond the numbers and into analysis. You are doing something valuable. And who doesn’t want that for their business?

What do you spend preparing your annual tax documents?
Paying an accountant to do your yearly taxes is expensive. It’s also tedious. When March 1st rolls around each year, everyone loathes the tax preparation ahead. Preparing taxes can be a pain for everyone.

It doesn’t have to be complicated. Having an automated expense system changes the game. Think about it: All of your expenses and invoices are nicely organized and stored in a systematic way. There is no digging around for loose paperwork that you forgot you needed.

And, don’t forget about this: you could be audited by the IRS. How often do you worry about that? Get the right technology so that you will have a much less stressful tax season.

So, how did you score on these questions? If it wasn’t as great as you hoped, don’t fret. If anything, it’s an opportunity for you to take the plunge and try an expense management tool that will save you time and money – and quickly. Now THAT will make a Happy New Year for any CFO.

About The Author

James Thomas is the Founder and CEO of Itemize, a payments data company whose technology transforms receipts and invoices into structured information for commercial card data enhancement, accounts payable management, and employee expense tracking.

Prior to founding Itemize, Jim launched MasterCard’s payments data and analytics business, applying behavioral analytics and mathematics to large payments data sets. Previously, Jim served as a vice president at First Manhattan Consulting Group. He has also held positions at Morgan Stanley and Booz-Allen and Hamilton. Jim holds a BA from Franklin and Marshall College, a Masters of International Affairs from Columbia University, and an MBA from Columbia Business School. Jim also serves on the board of directors of Cultural Vistas, a non-profit international exchange organization for young professionals.