Accounting Best Practices, Fifth Edition

Implementing Best Practices

The actual implementation of any best practice requires a great degree of careful planning, as noted earlier. However, planning is not enough. The implementation process itself requires a number of key components in order to ensure a successful conclusion. This section discusses those components.

One of the first implementation steps for all but the simplest best practice improvements is to study and flowchart the existing system about to be improved. By doing so, one can ascertain any unusual requirements that are not readily apparent and that must be included in the planning for the upcoming implementation. Though some reengineering efforts do not spend much time on this task, on the grounds that the entire system is about to be replaced, the same issue still applies—there are usually special requirements, unique to any company, that must be addressed in any new system. Accordingly, nearly all implementation projects must include this critical step.

Another issue is the cost-benefit analysis. This is a compilation of all the costs required to both install and maintain a best practice, which is offset against the benefits of doing so. These costs must include project team payroll and related expenses, outside services, programming costs, training, travel, and capital expenditures. This step is worth a great deal of attention, for a wise manager will not undertake a new project, no matter how cutting-edge and high-profile it may be, if there is not a ...