Have you ever found yourself frustrated at the lack of relevant and timely reporting in your company?
Ideally, your organization should be able to generate operating reports which provide management with up-to date information on their key performance metrics. While your financial statements may be a good start, for most companies they are simply not enough. This is because they only show one dimension of your business. They are typically too high level for ongoing decision making and they focus on what happened in the past. Most companies do have other reports which they rely on, but often because of poorly designed processes, inadequate technology or a lack of time or expertise, what results is imperfect information that could lead to suboptimal or even worse detrimental business decisions.
The question then becomes how do you ensure that you’re getting the best information possible? This starts with identifying the numbers and information that matters to you and your business – your Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s). This is going to be different for every business, but every business has them.
The next step is to develop and document the process you need to put in place to get the desired information. Questions you should consider at this point should include:
• How often do I want to receive updated information?
• How do I want it presented?
• What inputs do I need to make sure that I get accurate and complete data?
Involving your employees in this discussion will not only help you recognize things you may have overlooked, but will also help to encourage buy-in at all levels of your organization. Remember, if your employees don’t see the value in the process, they may not take the time to record the information completely or accurately.
Next, depending on the size and nature of your company, various software options are available to help you track your success. For some companies, a complete dashboard reporting package may be beneficial, whereas for others, a well laid out Excel spreadsheet workbook will do the trick.
After you’ve implemented your reporting process, it’s critical to monitor and revise the process as necessary until you get the information you want.
To learn more about dashboard reporting, please contact Bryden McMaster at bmcmaster@welchllp.com.
-Bryden McMaster, CPA, CA, Manager