I currently work as a
Has anyone ever had success in this type of structure, and would you consider it best practice ? I've always felt that Finance should be done in Finance and only the Accounting department personnel should post to the GL. I don't have a problem with analysts reporting to department heads other than Finance, but have felt that segregation of duties should exist between those trying to hit a budget, and those responsible for reporting on it. Thoughts?
Very tough question. I have seen it both ways successfully. At a big bank, no one touches the gl unless you are an authorized
If you are going to decentralize I offer the following best practices - establish security levels/authorization; allow for specific types of postings (accrual is ok, but depreciation is not ok); set a timeline for the month, i.e. when the gl is open and when it is closed to posting. The most important policies - place oversight Responsibility with a senior manager in the group/department; but your Finance department maintains gl Authority over that individual, i.e. control.
Goodluck.
No. The reason is simple, there are two many areas of performance results that
You would be better off hiring another accountant. A couple years down the road you will need to bring in a consulting team anyway at 10 times the cost to fix what was broken by allowing ops people into accounting.
I've seen, cleaned it, and I don't recommend it.
The only option that would be a good solution:
If they need to book entries, provide them with a JE upload template and have them input the numbers, but send the template to the controller or
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I agree 100% with everything that you have said, Valerie.
From a SOX perspective, I also don't think that non-accounting personnel should be posting to the GL. And nobody should be posting entries that haven't gone through a documented, established review procedure.
Good time for this post. The same is being proposed to have Philanthropy post donors' contributions to the GL, due to timing issues whereby Accounting does not post to the GL until the subsequent month for the last month. If Philanthropy wants to find out donors' balances for the current month, contributions are not posted. Accounting records the amounts on an
Don't allow it. It will lead to other issues. Let a finance person support the business and make entries.
Whether a large or small company, I would strongly caution against this. It will likely just lead to more reconciliation work and/or irregularities that you need to explain.
Let me suggest a way to support decentralization and help the business segments feel empowered while maintaining control. Allow entry and submittal for approval by designated personnel outside of Finance but retain approval and posting authority in Finance.
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I was going to suggest the same thing. Our company has a central accounting person that reviews the submissions from outside department and posts to the GL. The person will request further back up, or can deny submissions if it does not follow GAAP. Submissions are in an excel template that works with Oracle uploading to cut down on the duplication of work.
I definitely agree with Ken Mason. In that way, the admins always have the control of situation.
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business social media sites
maintaining a presence on lots of social network
Would the marketing or sales departments allow finance personnel to participate in any of their projects?
Does your IT department allow non IT personnel access to the administrative functions on your servers?
There is a reason for specialization and controlled access.
