Accounting Innovation

Accounting and Finance are not your typical areas of innovation. Sometimes these are areas that some people may think hinder innovation because they include those boring but required standard reporting such as statements of cash flow, balance sheets and income statements. There are also budgets and projections and when working for public companies there are banks and investors that hold businesses accountable for results. Accounting and Finance needs to be very black and white, with rules to follow and not a lot of room for creativity. However, the rules and requirements can be followed and the numbers can be squeaky clean AND there can still be innovation in the processes and procedures. There are many times that an accountant has the opportunity to think outside the box when performing daily, monthly and yearly tasks. Advancing from green bar columnar pads to Excel spreadsheets has changed the time it takes to perform functions dramatically. The more Excel skills an individual has the more productive they can be at improving the processes. And when a routine process is time reduced, the more time there is for looking at the numbers and what they really mean to a company and look for ways to be more profitable.

A word of caution on creating processes that are automated and run smoothly or so you think. If the company changes or software changes occur or even a new account or department is added , your automated process may no longer be accurate and sometimes months or even a year can go by and no one realizes it. Processes for reporting need to be reviewed and rethought on a regular basis.

Innovation is also found in actual activities within the accounting and finance world such as financing a capital project. There is the traditional way of using a bank but there are also nontraditional ways that should also be explored. Accounting and Finance cannot work in a vacuum or have a narrow focus. They need to be aware of the activities in other departments and understand how their reporting captures those activities. Accounting and Finance can and should be a part of decisions that involve innovation in other areas of the company.