how we Innovate chaotic norms of tradiontional Accounting

 PROBLEM: A previous construction services client was experiencing exponential growth and was having trouble staying on top of it. The client stated he valued my business acumen and consultation and needed my help. A new line of business was servicing an additional 1,500+ transactions a month resulting in the issues below:

• Inaccurate and missing Accounts Receivables 
• Unclear to No Work Order Status 
• Unknown Profit Margins 
• Unproductive Staff time dealing with bad process 

CFO POWERFUL SOLUTION:

• Implemented controls to create the receivable 
• Mapped in detail the work order execution process 
• Streamlined and improved the existing WO process 
• Designed and introduced several templates reducing staff time and increasing accuracy, and analytical value 
• Created a weekly analytic of work orders and margins 
• The solutions were implemented 90% remotely  

My client appreciated the unique analysis, controls, and increased staff efficiencies. We were able to accomplish these results in a short time, whereas the client’s then-internal finance team which included a CPA, business consultant, and full-time bookkeeper had not been able to help for quite some time.

PROBLEM:  A service company was having issues with missed billing for work they performed. They were utilizing three independent software packages to receive the work order, schedule the work order, and bill the work order. The billing was being done by the accounting group on a varied basis based on emails from one of the systems indicating the service had been completed. In one year, this company had approximately 20K of missed billing to customers due to this unstructured, uncontrolled, and unmanaged process. 

CFO Powerful Solutions:

• We performed a detailed formal mapping of the process and the team members involved highlighting opportunities for improvement and control.
• We restructured one of the software data input modules for ease of input and greater accuracy 
• We formulated procedures to close out all services weekly including manager review and signoff 
• We developed an Excel template that integrated two systems to ensure accuracy and completeness. We used this template to automatically create the invoices for the week into the accounting system. 
• It took about 3 to 4 hours a week to bill previously with errors. We took the process to 15 minutes per week with greater accuracy and visibility into each work orders 
• We then leveraged the Excel template to produce a strategic weekly summary report with Run Rates that afforded the owner a better understanding of the business. 
• This was an incredible piece of work and great results.

 PROBLEM:  A manufacturing client reached out to us when she became concerned about the high amount of income tax they had paid for the last two years. CFO Powerful Solutions discovered the issues below:

• Inaccurate and incomplete Bill of Materials which lowered the cost of goods sold value 
• Inadequate inventory tracking processes 
• No regular inventory counts and over-reliance on ERP system inventory balances.
• A limited review of key inventory items at month end 

CFO POWERFUL SOLUTION: 

• Integrated Accounting and Operations for cohesiveness.  
• Maintained an updated Bill of Materials for key sales items 
• Implemented monthly inventory cycle counts and adjustments 
• Created quarterly 80/20 analysis of BOMs for ongoing accuracy
• Adjusted the financial statements for decreases in inventory 
• Presented the findings to the CPA which led to filing tax amendments and getting $500K back for the two years 

The client was livid this had not been identified previously by the CPA and Full Time Employee Controller, but thankful CFO Powerful Solutions was able to figure it out. The CPA claimed they didn’t find this issue because this was “cost prohibitive.” We disagreed and explained that this finding was "expertise prohibitive" and more diligence should have been expended upon the owner expressing their concerns.

PROBLEM: I was in the position of Controller for a company and in the first couple of weeks I noticed that weekly payroll allocations and journal entry process was cumbersome. The process I inherited involved:

• Two staff (Controller + Staff Accountant)
• 3 systems (Payroll, Accounting, Excel)
• Was riddled with errors
• Was time-consuming taking 3 to 4 hours per week to complete.

I saw this as an extremely inefficient use of the staff's time as other key issues needed this staff to focus on.

CFO POWERFUL SOLUTION:

• I set up a process mapping meeting with all stakeholders, detailing the process
• Reviewed the DATA that was being retrieved or input from all the systems
• Discussed our needs with the payroll company as to the report that was being used
• Created an Excel template that integrated the payroll and accounting general ledger accounts

Ultimately, I restructured the process and developed an Excel template that eliminated errors and reduced process time from 4 hours to 20 minutes per week, Then I used the staff time to work on other higher-priority projects. This was accomplished within five weeks of sitting in the Controller chair, which I had not had previous experience with the system or industry. This was completed while learning a new position and new people. The prior inefficient process had been in place for years.

This focus of mine on the PROCESS and DETAILS really helped to mitigate some real serious operational issues that lead to missed profit that this client was having to deal with. This helped track the change orders and approval status which in prior projects were being lost in the confusion. This brought structure, organization, and an illuminating path forward to the field team alleviating unnecessary team frustration and WASTED TEAM TIME and lost billings from change orders. 

PROBLEM:  I was the CFO for a client and he asked for my assistance in operations. The client had been awarded a construction build out project that involved multiple locations. The issues the client was facing were:

1. This would involve three or four independent construction teams.
2. Each location involved specific requirements.
3. The first few projects were riddled with chaos, confusion and numerous construction issues from the Project Manager and field.
4. The walkthroughs were taking a long time.
5. There were issues of both out of scope work being performed and not charged as well as scope of work not being completed and caught by the client. 

CFO POWERFUL SOLUTION:

• I participated in walk throughs for two locations.
• I took detailed notes of the project requirements that could arise for any and all locations “all inclusive”.
• I discussed the requirements in detail with the lead project manager for each location.
• I formulated a template for the scope of work that had drop downs for each location. When you selected the specific location only the pertinent information and scope of work for that location would show. Also, the template highlighted potential issues that may arise specific to that location and quick facts on how to handle those potential issues. 
• The above scope was then used to discuss the project with field personnel prior to the job beginning, so that the field had a detailed understanding of what was needed to be done.
• The template also included tracking for change orders that arose (out of scope work) to be charged to the client. The change orders summarized by location and approval status were then used to obtain approval and ultimate payment from the client. 

This focus of mine on the PROCESS and DETAILS really helped to mitigate some real serious operational issues that lead to missed profit that this client was having to deal with. This helped track the change