I was afraid I would worsen the mess the company was already in. Employees scrambled to respond to executives commands.  Nobody knew what was expected of them, they complained of not having the materials to do their jobs and they couldn’t get their bosses attention.

I could sense the danger our company was in.  Some talked of quitting.  To the amazement of all my friends, I was now in charge.

“Can she really manage the company?”  I heard an employees whisper.  “No way!”  John exclaimed.  “She’s never managed anyone before in her life.”

Getting Organized

There were no plans or management expectations for any job.  The company had been growing too quickly and there never seamed to be enough time to document anything.  Managers wanted to hire 20 more employees but I didn’t want to throw people at the problem.  We needed to get organized first.

We needed Standard Operating Procedures and an Employee Handbook explaining the company’s rules and programs.  All positions needed job descriptions with clearly defined tasks, reports, and procedures. I spent the next few days searching for some kind of prewritten procedures.  That’s when I found an interesting ad in AICPA’s Journal of Accountancy for a Policies and Procedures Manual.  The ad discussed how to raise employee productivity while reducing common worker complaints.

How I Increased Profits

I then hit upon a plan.  I would use a prewritten manual as a template and have each worker enter the procedures for their position.  To get everyone on board, I would spend one morning each day training every department, explaining my expectations and the incredible value of having a Policy and Procedure Manual.

Imagine something in writing to refer to when someone is ill and you need to temporarily fill their position.  A tool that enables everyone to do more than just their job.  A tool that frees people to take stress free vacations.

Now you can rest assured that every task at every position is covered. Sixty days later, each department had their own Policy and Procedure Manual drafted.  This rough draft alone was worth its weight in gold.

We’re Organized now.  Profits are rising.  Employees are focused.  We didn’t need 20 more employees right away.  Instead I see executives smiling in the hallways – laughing with their employees.  I see the stress lifted and it feels good knowing I made a difference.

Transform Any Business

Business Policies and Procedures

This story is all too familiar for most companies.  Yet you too can transform your business with more productive, happier employees — in half the usual time.  The Business Policies and Procedures Sampler has shown thousands of CEOs, CFOs and other executives how to create more profits from their business operations.

You don’t need special “talent” either.  Just read the list of departments in the panel, decide which one needs to be more productive and let the Business Policies and Procedures Sampler do the rest.  And bear in mind no matter which one you choose the cost is less than a cup of coffee.  Even if you are already an excellent manager, you’ll be interested in this system for quickly developing policies, procedures, and forms.

Now On Sale for 50% Off

If you are sincere about wanting to increase the profits of your business — and you really want happier, more productive employees — order at once The Business Policies and Procedures Sampler. You will save $300 and receive 110 procedures, 124 supporting forms, and other supporting Word files that explain how to write procedures and use the manual.   You will receive this extensive set of policies, procedures and forms noted in the box on the right.

No-Risk 30-day Money-Back Guarantee

Act now before it’s too late to gain the benefits of this special offer.  If you’re not completely satisfied then return it within 30-days for a full refund.  How can you lose?  Start practicing how to Manage by Procedures by ordering the Office Procedures Bundle that is now on sale for 50% off during the month of December.

If you find yourself saying “That’s not right” to your employees after the job is supposed to be complete, you have a communication problem — one that’s resulting in general inefficiency, as well as bad feelings and low morale.  Perhaps it’s time you thought about creating a Policies and Procedures Manual.

A properly developed company manual focuses communications between employees and management on what’s really necessary to get the job done.  This focus is the first step in empowering your employees.  Empowerment requires a shared vision, the communication of necessary information, and adequate training.

A Policies and Procedures Manual is a communication tool designed to empower employers, managers, and employees by assuring a consistent approach to accomplishing daily tasks.  It provides a set of policies, plans, reports, forms, and work routines that convey the mission and vision of the organization.

Convey Management’s Vision

Your manual should be used to communicate both corporate policies and the appropriate company procedures for implementing the policy in a combined style and format.  If employees know the company vision, they feel confident to make decisions.   Policies should not be confused with procedures.  What’s the difference between policies and procedures?

Policy – A definite course or method of action to guide and determine present and future decisions.  It is a guide to decision making under a given set of circumstances within the framework of corporate objectives, goals and management philosophies.

Procedure – A particular way of accomplishing something, an established way of doing things, a series of steps followed in a definite regular order ensuring the consistent and repetitive approach to actions.

Improve Communications

A company manual serves to translate the company’s business philosophies and desires into action. A well-designed company manual is an invaluable communication tool for efficiently running operations within departments and bridging the gap between interrelated departments.

If a department has specific information it requires to process a task then that information is easily captured in a form that accompanies the task.  Forms are a common place in business acting as a guide for such things as purchase orders, employment applications, or asset requisitions.

Reduce Training Time

Your policies and procedures manual is a functional guide for training new and existing employees.  It prevents difficulties in performing duties due to lack of understanding or inconsistent approaches from personnel changes.  And, it will assist you in developing a consistent method in handling any task.

Improve Productivity

Policies and procedures speed up employee decision making by having a handy, authoritative source for answering questions.  Well-developed and documented company manuals can ensure compliance with regulatory agencies affecting your business such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), government contracting authorities, and independent certification organizations (e.g., ISO).

Strengthen Your Operations

A comprehensive company manual covering all departments within your organization can become a quality manual for the whole company.  This will help ensure optimum operations and consistent delivery of the finest in product or service from your company.

It empowers your employees to make decisions independently without the need or time delays of involving various levels of management.  A well thought out company manual will enable just about everyone in your organization the ability and flexibility to make the right decisions in his or her job responsibilities.

For example, a customer service representative should be able to handle a customer’s problem and have the authority to resolve the problem right on the spot or a production team should be able to diagnose a quality problem and formulate and resolve the problem in conjunction with engineering without having to go through various channels up and down the corporate ladder.

The goal of a policies and procedures manual is to identify the ways and means of communicating, getting the service performed, or the product manufactured at the least cost in the minimal amount of time.  Not only will it be used to empower your organization but it will also have the added benefit of increasing job satisfaction and employee morale.

Try it, it works!

That’s when your boss says, “Process? Did I say ‘process’? I meant processezzz! Plural!”  And before you can blurt out, “What do you mean?”, the boss says you need to develop procedures for all accounting processes, not just the one.  Oh, and he wants them by the end of the month!

A weak “Sure, boss…” escapes from your lips as “el jefe” turns and leaves, but an instant later, you’re thinking, “No way!”  You can’t possibly get all your accounting processes documented that quickly!  Or can you?

Break Down the Documentation Process into Its Component Parts

Start by mapping out the business process you need to document.  The process map acts as an outline for your procedure writing: you have to know the steps in the process that need documenting before you start writing.  With process maps in hand — one for each business process — you’re ready to start writing procedures.  Here’s where using pre-written procedures can save you time.

How You Can Use a Pre-Written Procedure to Save Time

If you’re looking for sample accounting procedures for your accounting processes, the Bizmanualz CFO Accounting Policies-Procedures Manuals set contains many sample accounting procedures you can use as starting points.  The CFO bundle contains 239 prewritten accounting procedure templates and 373 accounting forms, organized into five functional areas, or business manuals.  The CFO set covers the ten core accounting cycles.

Once the manuals arrive, the next step is “find an example procedure – a model for the one you need to write”.  All Bizmanualz procedures are in Microsoft Word format and can be easily tailored to fit your specific business process.  Let’s say you’re writing a procedure for vendor acquisition, or the “new vendor” process.  Where would you start?

The vendor process map you wrote shows eight steps:

1. Evaluate business requirements;
2. Identify qualified vendors;
3. Interview, Inspect and test vendor;
4. Review results and approve vendor;
5. Order from vendors;
6. Log orders and delivery performance;
7. Review performance against specifications; and
8. Vendor-related corrective and preventive actions.

Accounting Manual Index

The Accounting Policies, Procedures, and Forms manual contains a Vendor Selection procedure that you can customize.  How do you find it?  In the back of the manual, you’ll find the “Index”.  Search the index for your keyword, “vendor”.  (You could also look through the table of contents in the front of the manual.)  You find the Vendor Selection procedure, containing three steps, or activities (Vendor Selection, Vendor Inspection, and Vendor Files), in the “Purchasing” section.

Your process consists of eight activities, so you expand the prewritten procedure, adding the other five steps, or otherwise modify the Bizmanualz procedure to reflect your actual situation.  Add your process map (a handy visual aid) to the front of the procedure, and you’re done!

Writing a new procedure can take between 4 and 40 hours, depending on the complexity of the process you’re documenting and whether forms are required.  The complexity of a process, as well as your level of expertise in that subject, determines the amount of research — into standards, laws or regulations, references, and the like — you need to do.  Forms also require time and effort to research and produce, assuming you don’t already have them.  The Bizmanualz Vendor Selection procedure contains six pages of forms, including a detailed vendor inspection checklist.  Many Bizmanualz procedures also include a “References” section, which can help you as you research certain topics.

Let’s say this is a 40-hour procedure to create, with forms.  If you use the Bizmanualz procedure, with minor modifications you could have the same procedure ready in less than a day, saving yourself a great deal of time (and your eyes, a lot of wear).  Using a single procedure, saving 38 hours of time off the 40 you planned on, practically pays for the entire five-manual CFO series.

And you’re going to find more than one procedure you can adapt to your business requirements.  Most companies find dozens of useful procedures, which translates to hundreds of hours of time saved, before you factor in the opportunity cost of waiting for the procedures to be completed.

So, the next time you need to write procedures fast, take a look at the complete collection of Bizmanualz business policies and procedures.  Get your procedures project done now…before the end-of-month deadline your boss gave you.

St. Louis, MO – June 18, 2009 – Bizmanualz, Inc., a business publications, training, and consulting company based in St. Louis, MO, today announced the release of the updated ISO 9001 Policies and Procedures Manual. The company has greatly improved its product by modeling its policies and procedures on the Deming (“Plan-Do-Check-Act”) Cycle.

“The updated manual reflects our lean philosophy in multiple ways,” said Christopher Anderson, Managing Director of Bizmanualz. “For example, rather than borrow the text of the standard verbatim in the quality manual, we stripped it to the bare essentials. Putting in a lot of verbiage not required by the standard can make your Quality Manual less user-friendly, less useful, and less likely to be improved.”

The updated ISO 9001 Policies, Procedures & Forms Manual conforms to the ISO 9001:2008 standard, which was updated for the first time in eight years and released in November, 2008. ISO 9001 requirements for procedures and records are clearly identified throughout the updated manual. Recently ISO 9001 certified by using lean principles, the company has used a similar approach in the update process.

“We carried procedures over (from the old to the new ISO 9001 QMS manual) that most organizations consider critical,” said Steve Flick, Bizmanualz Product Director. “Similarly, we removed procedures that customers didn’t consider a high priority, or had little-to-nothing to do with 9001 requirements, or didn’t amount to more than simple work instructions.”

Twenty-three QMS procedures are included in the updated ISO 9001 manual. A forms list at the end of each procedure points out if the filled out form is a “required record” and which ISO 9001 clause requires that record. Bizmanualz redesigned its ISO 9001 QMS manual to help companies easily establish an effective quality management system, as well as to simplify the certification journey for organizations wishing to comply with ISO 9001:2008.

Bizmanualz also offers manuals for Accounting, Finance, Computers & Networks, Sales & Marketing, Human Resources, ISO 22000, Disaster Recovery, and Security. All of Bizmanualz® Policies & Procedures manuals are available via instant download or in hard copy form, with easily editable MS-Word documents included on CD.

Each manual provides prewritten policies, procedures, and forms that enable executives to create and maintain internal controls and implement best practices for all departments in their business.

Bizmanualz® ISO 9001 QMS Policies, Procedures, and Forms: How to Quickly Create an ISO 9001 Quality Management System with easily editable Policies, Procedures, and Forms. (400 pp/trade binder/$495.00) is a Knowledge Management title from Bizmanualz, Inc. It is available through the company’s website, www.bizmanualz.com, or by calling the publisher at 800-466-9953 (outside the USA, call 314-863-5079), faxing your request to 314-863-6571, or by e-mailing sales@bizmanualz.com.

This obviously includes the accounting department. We know from COSO and Sarbanes Oxley compliance that accounting procedures are an important element of internal control. Organizations spend a lot of effort to produce an accounting manual containing accounting policies and procedures. So, if you are going to produce an accounting manual with accounting policies and accounting procedures, how can you make the most of the effort you put into them?

There are two important questions you should ask about your accounting procedures:

1) How well do your accounting procedures accurately capture your accounting cycles or processes?

2) How can your use your accounting procedures to benefit your organization?

A Positive Contribution from Accounting Procedures

Your accounting procedure probably describes an accounting process as a collection of process steps and associated rules. For example; a collection process might send out collection notices, make phone calls, collect money, deposit money; and then repeat.

Where in this accounting process, however, do you collect data that measures how effective the accounting process is? When are you comparing results to objectives? In a more broad view, control is more that just a set of steps and/or a list of rules. Control is awareness of how well your accounting processes are carrying out important functions. On this path the accounting processes your accounting procedures describe can really provide an important contribution to your business.

The legal, regulatory and ethical concerns surrounding accounting processes only emphasize the importance of having good accounting procedure documentation. But the difference between a controlled accounting process with measurement and review and an uncontrolled accounting collection process can be described with one word: success.

A Different Version of an Accounting Control Procedure

Controlled processes collect data as in integral part of the business process steps. Now, at regular intervals, the data can be reviewed and accounting process effectiveness evaluated. Are objectives being reached? If not, why? Are the objectives meaningful and reflect importance and risk? Now, the necessary corrections can be identified and implemented as a result of the review.

For example; a controlled accounting collection process might send out two different collection notices to test the response rate of different notices, you may also make phone calls at defined intervals to determine the response rate. Collecting data means making reflective and meaningful adjustments to the business process.

Typically, auditors accept accounting procedures that list steps and rules, with lots of inspection and verification steps, as an adequate internal control system. What value, however, does that internal control system provide for your organization? As a business owner, CFO, Controller, or accounting department manager, is an internal control system that does the bare minimum good enough?

Using Process Analysis to Develop Standard Accounting Procedures

Understanding the accounting processes is the first step in being able to document them with well-written accounting procedures. Besides noting the steps of the accounting process, consider the following:

• Who is the accounting process owner?
• How do accounting processes interact? What are the inputs, outputs, customers, suppliers?
• What are the most important facets for process and organizational success?
• What are the risks associated with the accounting process (what could go wrong and how material would it be?

You might find process maps, flowcharts, or similar tools useful during this phase. Be sure to identify accounting process objectives, key metrics and how they are recorded, as well as how frequently they should be reviewed.

Once you start reflectively analyzing your process, you may notice better approaches or waste that can be eliminated. You might, however, want to avoid introducing too much change too quickly. One strategy is to introduce the most important changes first (according to risk, return, etc…,) then introduce more process improvements over time through other improvement activities. Once you understand your process and incorporate process improvements, data collection, and review, you are ready to start writing your accounting procedures.

After planning and analyzing an accounting process, writing an accounting procedure to document it should seem easy. One tip is to focus on describing the accounting process and avoid too much mundane detail (i.e. computer instructions). Too much detail makes the accounting procedure unfriendly to users, and those details are only needed by beginners anyway. Keep that information in training materials or work instructions.

Remember, simplicity and consistency (even with other organizational procedures) is a positive attribute of an accounting procedure. It is easier to add necessary information later as needed than it is to identify and strip out useless information and needless detail.

Accounting Procedures to Benefit Your Organization

This approach to writing an accounting procedure that describes a well-defined, controlled accounting process aligns with the concept of accounting policies we presented last week. The accounting policy clearly communicates goals, and the accounting procedure communicates the accounting process in order to execute it and reach the goals. The periodic review of accounting process objectives provides feedback for the accounting policy ensuring it is still current in reflecting what is important to your organization.

To learn more about Bizmanualz Accounting Procedures go to http://www.bizmanualz.com/accounting/ and check out the Accounting Policies and Procedures Manual or sign up for the Bizmanualz Newsletter and download a free sample accounting procedure right now.

Accounting Policies Communicate Strategy

Accounting policies are an important way to communicate management’s philosophy or vision for running the organization.  It is within this framework that employees use accounting policies to guide decision making as well as establish effectiveness criteria, key performance indicators, or metrics that help determine the organization’s level of success.  Implementing accounting policies and procedures is one method of creating the internal controls needed for a successful and compliant (i.e. SOX) organization.

Accounting policies that don’t communicate management’s vision for operations, but simply state hard and fast accounting rules without explanation are less useful in communicating with employees.  Let’s take a look at a credit policy that expresses overarching goals:

The organization should provide credit in a timely manner to maximize sales and minimize risks in collections.

In other words: The organization provides fast credit to customers who will pay.  This is an example of management’s philosophy.  In order to fulfill the goal with objectives, we will need to establish effectiveness criteria based on stated goals: timely manner, maximize sales, and minimize risks.  This, however, is what a well-defined process does.  It establishes specific effectiveness criteria that can be modified to the changing conditions that all businesses and departments face.  The specific, measurable objectives have flexibility because the overarching goals of the policy remain constant.

A rule based accounting policy could be written as:

The organization provides $5,000 in credit to first time customers.

Does this leave the credit staff any latitude to make decisions to fulfill the mission?  Do you want your credit staff to follow accounting rules even when they are wasteful or detrimental to sales?  In this instance they could turn away a potentially great customer with an excellent credit rating because of this rule.

This is an example of a ballistic process focused on static credit criteria.  There is no way to judge how effective the policy and process are because people just follow the rule with no method of measurement or evaluation.

There are always exceptions to the rules, but when rule-based policies are given (instead of an overarching strategy or philosophy behind the rules), then employees are not empowered to make those decisions.  Accounting management should always be looking for ways to empower staff members to make good decisions, and a big impediment to making good decisions is the lack of information. Creating an accounting manual of clearly written accounting policies and procedures that express management philosophy is one way to communicate important information to the staff.

Accounting Policies Lead to Performance Criteria

Viewing accounting policy as way to communicate information about the overall mission or strategy of a particular function or accounting process does aid and inform organizational members.  When these overarching goals of the accounting process are translated into specific metrics or effectiveness criteria, now the puzzle is complete.  Your accounting policies should provide the guidance that helps establish criteria, but the accounting policy itself should not be the criteria.

In terms of an accounting manual for internal control, which method provides better internal controls: a set of accounting rules that may or may not be followed; or expressed guidance that fulfills organizational goals and leads to establishing criteria, which in turn clearly demonstrates how effective accounting processes are carrying out accounting policies?

Rules may be followed, and one could claim that they provide control.  But expressed rules will never play a role in improving the organization, and improvement should always be an organizational goal of any accounting manager or organizational leader.  Thinking of accounting policies as an expression of mission or strategy is a positive step in establishing clear communication with your staff and starting down the path of continual improvement.

To learn more about Bizmanualz Accounting Procedures go to http://www.bizmanualz.com/accounting/ and check out the Accounting Policies and Procedures Manual or sign up for the Bizmanualz Newsletter and download a free sample accounting procedure right now.

The Typical Accounting Manual

When exploring accounting manuals on-line you can see the table of contents and perhaps samples from accounting manuals available for purchase, and you can also see actual accounting manuals developed by public entities like universities and state/local governments. No matter where you find a sample accounting manual, they seem to have a lot in common.

Almost all of these accounting manuals are a set of accounting procedures that provide rules and guidance for various accounting functions and operations like petty cash. They typically employ what we could call the “Thou Shalt” approach. Sometimes they provide particular information like cost center account codes. At times these accounting procedures do an adequate job of describing the accounting process, and other times they read more like a list of accounting rules.

In almost every case, the accounting procedures have a ballistic approach, meaning that the accounting procedures may list the accounting steps to be carried out in the process, but rarely are any criteria established that would indicate whether the process is being carried out effectively and fulfilling organizational goals.

A Managerial Accounting Approach

Does an accounting manual that just consists of a set of accounting policies meet your needs as the accounting manager? What information do you need to establish and convey in your accounting department? If one reason you need an accounting manual is Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, then it is hard to see how a set of ballistic accounting procedures provides the internal control required by SOX Section 404. Plus, it is particularly difficult to see how a set of ballistic procedures can help management assess the effectiveness of the internal control system as required by SOX Section 302.

A different approach would be to include additional materials besides accounting procedures in the accounting manual. As an accounting manager you may want the level of consistency that “Thou Shalt” style accounting procedures provide, but that doesn’t need to be the entire content of the accounting manual.

Selecting an Accounting Manual Approach

In a recent article we talked about using risk management to create internal control systems. An accounting manual is one place you could begin to assess accounting risks by defining core accounting processes and the interaction between processes (i.e. inputs and outputs). With core processes identified, risk assessment can be applied by addressing what could go wrong, along with the likelihood and materiality of these risks.

Another approach to creating an accounting manual is to follow an ISO 9001 approach. While often associated with manufacturing and production, ISO 9001 is really an approach to creating effective management systems that can be universally applied. Using an ISO process approach, the accounting manual would include information on organization structure (your org chart), designated responsibilities of management and staff members, as well as identifying core accounting processes and their interaction. Also, following the ISO example, accounting procedures would employ the PLAN-DO-CHECK-ACT approach to processes (as opposed to the ballistic process approach of simply writing down the rules).

A Different Approach to Accounting Manuals

The Bizmanualz Accounting Policies, Procedures & Forms takes a hybrid approach that combines elements of risk management along with elements of an ISO style quality management system. The Accounting Manual section is completely separate from the included accounting procedures. The Accounting Manual includes information such as the following:

• Detailed descriptions of scope and purpose
• Typical accounting organization structures
• Establishes core accounting processes and the interaction of sub-processes (that constitute the core processes)
• A list of accounting policies
• The accounting resources required

Listing all accounting policies in one place (as well as in applicable accounting procedures) allows accounting managers, controllers and department leaders to recognize where policies align and where there are inconsistencies and conflicts between policies that require resolution.

The procedure sections in Bizmanualz Accounting Policies, Procedures & Forms are divided into the core accounting cycles (processes):

• General and Administrative cycle
• Cash cycle
• Inventory and Asset cycle
• Revenue cycle
• Purchasing cycle

Each section includes 5-10 procedures documenting in detail the sub-processes that constitute these core accounting cycles.

A set of ballistic accounting procedures may not meet your long term organizational needs for an accounting manual. There are alternatives to the ballistic approach but before you decide what goes into your accounting manual, decide why you need an accounting manual in the first place. Then deciding what goes in your accounting manual becomes much easier. Let us know your thoughts and comments about what you need or would like to see in your accounting manual.

To learn more about Bizmanualz Accounting Procedures go to http://www.bizmanualz.com/accounting/ and check out the Accounting Policies and Procedures Manual or sign up for the Bizmanualz Newsletter and download a free sample accounting procedure right now.

Today is Cyber Monday! Most online retailers provide free or reduced shipping today. At Bizmanualz, we’ve decided to take this concept a little further and offer free worldwide shipping on all policies and procedures manuals throughout December.

Yes, shipping is free to anywhere in the world. Now that’s a great Cyber December for you!

So if you need policies and procedures manuals for your business or organization, this is a great time to make your purchase.

Enjoy Significant Savings!

Our customers already enjoy significant savings on shipping charges. Now with free worldwide shipping, you can save even more!

Combine free shipping with a heavily discounted offering like our nine-manual CEO  Company Policies Procedures Manuals set and your savings are even greater! With a discount of over 45% on the purchase price and a combined weight of 48 pounds, you could save your company thousands of dollars!

Make Use of This Special Offer Today!

Order today! This holiday special ends December 31, 2008! Choose from our large selection of policies and procedures manuals. To order, simply go through the online order process and you’ll notice that shipping charges have been zeroed out.

St. Louis, MO — November 24, 2008 — Bizmanualz, Inc., a business publications, training and consulting company based in St. Louis, MO, today announced the release of a new series of hard-back books covering topics like Finance, Accounting, Computer & IT, Sales & Marketing and HR. Published under the series title The Professional’s Ready to Use Procedure Series, these books provide practical guidance and concrete examples of effective policies and procedures for a wide range of business areas.

“These books are excellent references for professionals involved in developing policies, procedures and forms for their department or company,” said Christopher Anderson, Managing Director of Bizmanualz, Inc. “Prewritten policies, procedures and forms in these books not only include concrete examples of what a well-written procedure should be, but also provide an excellent starting point to begin the procedure writing process.”

Contents of the newly released books are identical to the policies and procedures manuals that Bizmanualz offers in three-ring binder format. However, unlike the ring-bound manuals, books in the Ready to Use Procedures Series do not include CDs with editable content in MS Word.

“We have repackaged our content in an entirely different format to give customers a more reference-oriented version,” said Don Reed, Director of Technical Writing at Bizmanualz. “By not including the editable content in CD, we can offer these books at a price point attractive to casual users. And, after buying the books, if anyone sees the value in obtaining the content in editable format, they can deduct the entire price of the book when purchasing a three-ring binder & CD version.”

The release of the Professional’s Ready to Use Procedure Series comes just three months after Bizmanualz launched a new website offering over two hundred downloadable policy and procedure templates. Chris Anderson is a firm believer in giving the customers what they want. “Different consumers consume information differently and we’re just trying to serve them by providing the right medium and format,” he said.

Books in the Ready to Use Procedures Series will be available from online retailers like Amazon for $99. Five books in the series are already available for purchase, while others will be available in the next few weeks. Currently available books cover polices and procedures for Accounting & Bookkeeping, Finance & Treasury, Computer & IT, Sales & Marketing, Business Security and Disaster Recovery. Books for HR, ISO 2200 Food Safety and General Business Procedures will be available by the end of the year.

In recent weeks we have covered general Sarbanes-Oxley compliance as well as how using risk management techniques can provide a baseline for starting an internal control system required by SOX Section 404.  This week let’s continue the discussion by talking about writing accounting procedures.

Accounting Procedures Should Document Important Processes

The decision to write an accounting procedure to document a process should not be taken lightly.  Once your accounting processes are documented in an accounting procedure there is a commitment by the organization, the accounting department, and its members to execute the process in a consistent manner each and every time.

In many cases, however, this is exactly what the organization wants and needs – a high level of consistency in key financial processes, as well as a certain level of planning in how accounting processes should work.  When written and implemented correctly, your accounting procedures should provide this level of internal control.  While creating the accounting procedure each accounting process should be reviewed reflectively.  Decisions can be made by accounting managers and process-owners about how key financial activities should be carried out, and what goals, checks, and measures should be part of the accounting process.

When it comes to internal controls required for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, accounting procedures that meet these criteria (documenting key process steps and checks/metrics) are an important part of your accounting internal control system.  Creating the accounting procedure, however, is only the beginning. 

The accounting process and its associated procedure must be communicated to all affected parties through training, meetings or other types of communication or events.  Then, regular internal audits are needed to ensure that personnel are aware of the accounting procedure and the process requirements that it documents. Writing accounting procedures without the necessary awareness and follow-up is counter productive.

This is why the decision to write an accounting procedure is an important one.  Hastily cranking out accounting procedures without properly defining and understanding your accounting processes or without the proper follow-up (training, audits) is actually a detriment to your accounting internal control system.  Using a casual approach to creating accounting  process documents increases the chance of not capturing key aspects of the process, associated financial risks, or needed internal controls/metrics.  That is the opposite of the control that SOX intended to encourage.

Writing Accounting Internal Control Procedures for Compliance

There are several important keys to writing useful accounting internal control procedures for the Accounting Department or any department.  We have already talked about one: take time to do the necessary research and gather the appropriate information to ensure that your accounting procedure properly captures the goals and key attributes of the accounting process.  Other important elements to keep in mind include:

Keep It Simple – Accounting procedures should document the overall process being executed.  It is not necessary to document every single detail of every single action.  That information belongs in accounting work instructions or training materials.  Including minutia and too many details leads to an overly long and confusing accounting document, which ensures that your accounting procedure will be neither used nor followed.

Use More Than Text - Why create accounting procedures that rely solely on text?  Graphics can illustrate accounting process flow, inputs/outputs, and important relationships or risks.  We all know that a picture can be worth a thousand words; using graphics can improve simplicity and usability, which can lead to better internal control.  Take advantage of how easy it is to integrate graphics (including photos) into your accounting procedures.

Be Consistent – accounting procedures should be consistent in format and design, and in the use of language and terms.  They should be highly recognizable and familiar in an organization.  To a degree, they should even be similar in length.  That is to say there is a consistency problem if one accounting procedure is four pages long and another procedure is 25 pages. (Refer to “Keep It Simple” above.)

Maintain Them – Keeping accounting procedures up to date means you are properly maintaining the internal control system.  A change in the process means a change in the accounting procedure.  This aligns with the first point as well.  The more basic and simple you keep an accounting  procedure then the easier it is to maintain.  Checks and metrics should also be evaluated regularly and modified if they do not truly monitor the effectiveness of the accounting process or provide the needed internal controls.

Which Accounting Policies and Procedures to Develop for SOX Compliance?

As discussed last week, developing accounting procedures to document processes as part of an internal control system that meets the Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 requirement should be done in iterations according to the risks that your accounting operations face.  For the purpose of SOX compliance, the mission is financial statements without material errors.  What are the most important accounting processes that need to execute properly to complete the mission, and what business processes contain the most financial risks to the mission?

For each iteration, focus only on the number of accounting processes (selected by priority of importance and risk) that your organization has the resources to develop, deploy and maintain properly.  Don’t try to develop/integrate accounting procedures for 15 processes if your organization can only handle five at a time.  Over reaching is a sure path to failure.  Generally, a system with five functioning, well-controlled processes provides more accounting internal control than a system with 15 poorly controlled accounting processes.  Once the organization has defined and created accounting documentation for five processes, then identify the next five accounting process.

Remember, useful accounting procedures should be simple and clear, as well as known and maintained.  Otherwise, they are a detriment to the required SOX internal controls.

We would like to hear from you about accounting policies and procedures required by SOX.  Our mission is to help companies improve through improved accounting processes and training and developing accounting policies and procedures in a way that enhances that goal.  One way to be successful in that mission is to know what you think.

To learn more about Bizmanualz Accounting Procedures go to http://www.bizmanualz.com/accounting/ and check out the Accounting Policies and Procedures Manual or sign up for the Bizmanualz Newsletter and download a free sample accounting procedure right now.