Speeding up the close :: essays research papers

                    Speeding up the near     The article I choose to review is Speeding up the close by Gaye cutting edge den Hombergh and Laurie Streling from the magazine Financial Executive June 2004 issue.Companies with a 12-month accounting breaker point otherwise known as a fiscal form atomic number 18 coming up with alternative ways to reduce beat and swiftness up the routine to meet the impending 60-day deadline. This article discusses fiscal year and the abilities of companies to close the books quickly to access real-time fiscal results, which, in turn, lead-in to better decision making. Companies spend or invest funds in projects that hopefully muddle the firm to a greater extent than(prenominal) profitable, having real-time financial results would make this more efficient. Faster closings means more time for the company to process the numbers, also a rapid clos e is a sign of the talent and success of management and the company. If management has real-time financial results it allows them to respond more efficiently to changes in the market, which, in turn, help investors make crucial enthr mavenment decisions. The article goes on to discuss the pressure mounting for virtual close, barely how urgent is it, and is it worth the investment? A survey was conduct of financial executives in companies to see if the pressure mounting for virtual close is significant often to proceed with further action. The Johnsson Group found less than one out of five respondents reported a fully automated close, more than half said that their close process is semi-automated and requires some manual intervention, and a quarter replied that their systems need significant manual intervention. Speed up the close should not be viewed as a vital step to be taken all at once, barely as an evolutionary process. The opinion of virtual close shows us how far the fi nance organization induce come in the pass couple of years in the time it takes to performing closings. Two-thirds of companies closed their books for the quarter in 4 to 7 headache days, 16 percent are accomplishing their closings in 1 to 3 days, but on other hand 21 percent of the companies reported needing more than 7 business days for closing. Although companies have to be prepared to continue certain issues while obtaining faster closing, like less emphasis on training, leaving companies with fewer finance historians who in fact know the precept behind the processes and have a deeper understanding of the business.The next carve up in this article discusses a more strategic role for finance.