The past year has been a rollercoaster with a lot of dips, quick turns and even a few flips. As a business owner, it has been hard to know what to do next. If you didn’t have the right systems and processes in place, this could have been an even tougher year. We’ve talked about your financial base, cleaning up outdated books and integrating software to set yourself up for success in the upcoming year—and it sounds like that should cover it, right? Well, there is a bit more to having a well-oiled financial machine. Let’s take it a step further and talk about your financial workflow!
What is a Financial Workflow?
A workflow is a repeatable sequence of steps or processes needed to consistently complete tasks, including efforts and resources. It is how work and information move from point A to B and who is involved to make sure it is successfully completed. In simplest terms, it is how you get work done. It could include client experience, relationships with subs, software, and all of the pieces that come with running the financial side of your business. Because there are so many details, many steps in the process and likely multiple people involved, incorporating a financial workflow is extremely important to your success.
Do You Have a Financial Workflow?
Not sure? Well, there are indicators that will give you a good idea if you do or not have a workflow in place. Do you find yourself asking any of these questions?
- What needs to be done?
- When do we do this?
- Where do I do this?
- Who is doing this?
- How do we even go about getting this done?
- And even, why are we doing this?
If these are common questions in your business, you need to either revisit your processes or put some in place. You will find that there is always confusion. What seem to be simple tasks take much longer than necessary. When there is no workflow in place, it also leaves so many opportunities for things to fall through the cracks and places for errors.
Types of Financial Workflows
There are many different types of workflows for your financial process and the goal is to get them to work together for you. Here are some examples:
- Receipt management
- Client billing and communication
- Subcontractor requests and purchase orders
- Vendor management
- Month-end reconciliation and reporting
- Software and app workflows
- Employee and operations
- And the list could go on and on
Advantages You’ll Experience
Once you lay out the steps and create your financial workflow, you can expect the process to be clear, simple and so much easier. You and your team will know what needs to be done, who will be doing it and have a better idea how long each step takes. You will then be able to create efficiencies, increase productivity and even see opportunities to streamline and automate certain tasks. Because the entire process and information is clear, you will be able to make quicker decisions and be able to pivot your business when necessary.
Your financials are too important to not have a functioning workflow. If creating and optimizing your workflow seems daunting, rely on experts to help. 24hr Bookkeeper will take what is currently happening in your business, identify where the gaps are and create real-life processes that actually work for you and your team. With extensive experience in the construction financial industry, we understand common issues you face and know what you require.
With our help, you can:
- Trust your processes.
- Have confidence in your financials.
- Grow your business!
Don’t wait—now is the time to get your workflow in place to start 2021 out right!
