Internal and external audits can quickly turn into disasters and lead to dire consequences if organizations are not prepared. Too often, finance teams think that they will ace their audits, but then significant issues arise that lead to unwelcome surprises. In a recent webinar, Nancy Wu with SkyStem walked t...
Heading into the new millennium, Enron was on top of the world. Or at least, most people on the outside thought so. Enron was ranked in the top 10 on the Fortune 500 list for largest companies in the U.S. and their revenue growth was exponential. They were highly touted as a company of innovation and beloved by most an...
Have you ever felt stuck in your current month-end close processes? When close comes around, most professionals feel they are racing a clock. For this reason, most teams can benefit from taking time after the books are closed to assess and improve their month-end close processes. Nancy Wu with SkyStem provided an...
We all have the same amount of time in our day. Those of us with big dreams and lots of responsibilities can benefit from prioritization and delegating tasks to others. Jamar Cobb-Dennard recently led a helpful discussion on this topic in a recent webinar sponsored by Oracle NetSuite. Of course time savings i...
Strategy inspires enthusiasm for future possibilities. On the other hand, the discipline of risk management carries connotations of caution and avoidance. Perhaps these juxtaposing views of strategy and risk are outdated. What if strategy and risk are really two sides of the same coin with capabilities when harnessed t...
According to a recent “Future of Jobs Survey” by the World Economic Forum, 50% of current employees will need to develop new skills by 2025. This information comes at a time when much of the accounting and finance workforce feels burned out in their jobs. How can an already overworked industry develop new skills t...
Each month-end close, Matt Guth and his accounting team at Citizens and Farmers Bank (C&F Bank) found themselves buried trying to complete over 400 manual account reconciliations. Not only was this part of the close process extremely time consuming for the team, it also required a substantial amount of paper docume...
Setting aside any stuffy conflict of interest concerns, have you ever thought that perhaps your auditors might genuinely want to work with you and help make your life better. It’s understandable, after pulling 135 invoices and responding to a constant barrage of audit-related questions, it might be hard to give your au...
Account reconciliations are one of the most cost-effective ways to catch fraud. According to the ACFE’s 2022 Report to the Nation, 5% of occupational fraud is detected through the performance of account reconciliations. When you add in other activities account associated with reconciliations, namely management review r...
We all know April showers bring May flowers. And you know what's made for these busy, rainy April days? Comfort food! We're mixing it up on the Encoursa blog with an easy recipe. Liz Briggson, CPA, CVA whipped this up while on a conference call (aka 15-20 minute prep time) earlier this week and everyone enjoyed it...