If you haven’t been using your enterprise accounting software for very long, you may be making some mistakes. These errors are very common, and they can really hurt your bottom line. The key is to recognize these mistakes and to fix them quickly and effectively.
Human error
Accounting software can help avoid the most common errors. While human error is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to ensure you don’t make a costly blunder.
One of the simplest ways to prevent mistakes is to ensure you use the latest and greatest enterprise accounting software. This will not only reduce the risk of error, but will also help you manage your workload. In addition, error-reducing features will minimize the number of mistakes made by your employees.
The first step in reducing the likelihood of a mistake is to ensure your employees understand the risks they are taking. If they aren’t sure what to do in certain situations, they’ll simply keep making the same mistakes over and over again.
Reconciliation errors
Reconciling accounts is essential to ensure that a company’s financial information is accurate. If a company fails to perform this task, they may face serious problems. For instance, they could get an overdraft, be mistaken about the accuracy of their accounts, or lose control of their finances.
Account reconciliation is a crucial part of the month-end close process. It is also a good way to catch errors. But the process can be time-consuming. Especially for businesses with multiple bank accounts. Using accounting software can help eliminate this problem.
FP&A tools can do tasks related to account reconciliation, including comparing accounts and removing duplicates. They can also unify different accounts.
Principle errors
If your enterprise accounting software isn’t working properly, you may be experiencing one or more principle errors. These errors violate the fundamental accounting principles that should be followed to ensure accurate financial statements. There are a number of ways to identify these errors. Developing internal controls, maintaining a high level of automation, and monitoring your employees are all important steps towards eliminating errors.
Errors in principle are often the result of a person or staff misapplying basic accounting principles in a particular situation. Typical examples of these errors are treating revenue expenditure as capital expenditure, allocating assets to the wrong account, or ignoring outstanding liabilities.
Omission errors
Accounting errors can be a result of a number of factors. One of the most common accounting errors is omission errors. These are transactions that are left out of the accounting records. In some cases, they can be a result of the bookkeeper’s negligence or the employee’s lack of attention.
The best way to avoid omission errors is to have a routine for entering transactions. This will help ensure that the transaction is entered correctly and reduces the likelihood of forgetting to enter it.
Another common type of error is reversal. It happens when an invoice is recorded incorrectly. For example, if an invoice is entered as a payment, but is then reimbursed.
Duplications
The accounts payable department keeps the financial wheels rolling, but when the wheel turns wrong, it can leave a mark. The department must search through hundreds of thousands of transactions to find the ones that need to be paid. Using automation software, you can keep track of payments and duplicates while preventing them from slipping through the cracks.
Duplicate invoices are a pain, not just because they can cause significant spend leakage, but also because they can be difficult to trace. Even if you can identify them, they can slow your accounting software’s performance. When your accounting software is working at full capacity, you can’t afford to have multiple entries in the system.
Paying your employees correctly
Paying your employees is no small feat. Not only is it important to establish clear rules of engagement, but you’ll also want to ensure you’re distributing proper compensation to your staff. Luckily, there are a number of tools to help you out, from automated timekeeping systems to enterprise accounting software. However, you will need to make sure you do your homework first. This is especially true if you’re just starting out. You don’t want to end up paying your employees too much or too little. Here are a few tips to keep in mind, courtesy of the pros.
Firstly, don’t forget to request your new hire’s banking details. This is an important step for both payroll and other administrative departments. Secondly, have them fill out an employee questionnaire. If you don’t, you may end up in a sticky situation in the future. Thirdly, make sure you’re implementing the most basic security measures. For example, don’t just give your new hire a checkbook and a name badge, or you’ll have a hard time securing their services once you’re up and running.