Accounting Best Practices, Fifth Edition

13–6. Issue Activity Calendars to All Accounting Positions

The bane of any accounting department is disorganization. This department, above all others, is responsible for consistently completing the same tasks, day after day and year after year, with a great deal of reliability. If the employees cannot organize themselves properly so key tasks are completed on time, the entire function can fall into disarray, resulting in payments and billings not being completed on time. Also, financial statements, the most subject to delays if there is disorganization, will be released much later than expected, possibly containing a large number of errors. Clearly, some instrument of organization must be found.

An excellent tool for straightening out the timing of accounting work is the calendar. One can create a calendar on the computer, either with a scheduling software package or an electronic spreadsheet, and load it with all of the tasks to be completed each day. An example of such a calendar is shown in Exhibit 13.4. Though some employees are naturally well-organized and will already have it in place, many others will be in desperate need of this simple organizational tool. The best way to distribute these calendar schedules is to keep the schedules for all employees in a single location, update them at the end of each month, and have a staff meeting to distribute them so the controller ...