Problem

“Transactional Load” is the problem. It is when it takes so much time and energy to get through processes that there isn’t time or attention to focus on higher level things.

Transactional load comes from the number of transactions and standard that auditors, owners, and other departments hold to the Accounting Department.

This transaction load creates mental fatigue. Then lower ranking employees are “sloppy,” because they’re tired.

Then this causes a lot of stress on leaders. A long day at the office can make someone come home with a crabby attitude.

Solution

The solution to transactional load is to:

1. Control to manage anxiety.
2. Automate to free up mental resources to focus.
3. Document to reduce the mental load of remembering.
4. Delegate to engage employees in more interesting, challenging work.

Control

The first step is control better. Controlling is about getting a process to output accurate results again and again.

Typically, ex-auditors focus on coaching notes and a manual review process. This causes longer feedback loops, decreases quality, requires higher competence employees, decreases trust, and creates more stress for employees.

I focus on a “Discover First” approach. The preparer can follow an automated, comprehensive review process that takes under 5 minutes. This identifies all errors so that the preparer has ownership of the results. The reviewer then does the same comprehensive review.

This shortens feedback loops, increases quality, increases trust, and reduces stress for employees.

Automate

I maximize the work automated by focusing on the automation ratio: How many hours will it take to automate one hour of manual work?

To do this, I automate in Excel, Google Sheets, the ERP, the Desktop, or the Browser depending on what has the best automation ratio.

Consistently, I have found by focusing on this I can automate 80-95% of work in 1/2 to 4 times the time it takes to do the task manually.

Document and Delegate

The biggest problem with automating is denser complexity. When you automate, the process doesn’t become simpler. The process is just faster. So all of the problems that could happen in 10 hours, now happen in 1.

To reduce complexity, I write good documentation. Documentation makes complexity digestible. And it enables the Lowest Ranking Professional Possible to do the work.

I’ve found every accounting process needs the following:

1. Narrative: What is being done, and why is it being done?
2. FAQ: What are the key things the preparer and reviewer must know?
3. Technical Procedures: How do I do this?
4. Troubleshooting: When this goes wrong, what do I do?

Each of these are written with measurable standards so that its readable.

This creates the best training process for employees to do the work. Typically, employees can be handed the process, and they can perform at the level of their max competency.

Complimentary Structure

While described as independent elements, each of these compliments each other:

1. Better control allows better documentation, which allows for the Lowest Ranking Employee Possible to do the work.
2. By better delegating and more automating, more automating can occur, and people have more capacity to do more work.
3. By focusing on a good automation ratio, the things easier to review by humans can be handled by the Discover First review approach.

For an example of how this works, see the case studies. For the cost, see pricing.