Synopses & Reviews
With price-cutting measures and tough competitive tactics a fact of business life, companies are often faced with a difficult dilemmahow to cut accounting department operating costs without cutting back on services to the company. Many financial and accounting managers do not realize that corporations can drastically cut expenses in all areas of their accounting departmentwithout hiring an expensive outside consultantby implementing the techniques known as "best practices."
Accounting Best Practices, Fifth Edition offers the latest and most important information on these advanced techniques and strategies to help you increase productivity, reduce costs, and efficiently monitor a company's existing systems. This new Fifth Edition has been fully updated to include:
- An all-new chapter on accounting management
- Fully revised chapters on payroll and financial statements
- New best practices added to discussions on accounting management, payroll, billing, and inventory
- The latest tips on how to avoid missed billing
The accounting department that strives to adopt best practices enjoys a host of benefits, not the least of which include improved customer service, cycle times, product quality, and profitability, as well as reduced error rates. Building upon his benchmark resource, renowned accounting authority Steven Bragg shows readers how to successfully improve both efficiency and accuracy in this excellent step-by-step manual of best practices.
Accounting Best Practices, Fifth Edition will not only show you how to cut your business costs but will demonstrate how to optimize your company's effectiveness as well. Whether you've been searching for ways to cut costs in your accounting department, or just want to offer more services without the added expense, look no further-Accounting Best Practices, Fifth Edition is here.
Review
"Bragg, a knowledgeable accounting practitioner and prolific author of accounting practice books, has updated this one-stop source of information…this volume is a comprehensive resource for the accounting profession." (Choice; 11/2007)
Synopsis
Praise for Accounting Best Practices, Fifth Edition"For a comprehensive, yet easy-to-read guide to fixing those all-too-common shortcomings in your accounting department, look no further than this excellent book. Steve Bragg provides hundreds of fixes, many of them requiring surprisingly little time or cost while providing a handy guide to common implementation pitfalls . . . I would recommend this invaluable book to anyone who is looking to enhance their existing processes, whether due to growth in their business, compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley, or just as part of their ongoing improvement process."
—Martyn Webster, CPA, Director of FinanceXenoPort, Inc.
"This book is critical to running an efficient and accurate accounting department. The use of RFID technology to track documents is one of many valuable tools in this latest edition. A required read for the demanding accounting manager's role."
—Jason Charet, CPA
"I've used Steve Bragg's Accounting Best Practices books for years as a source of ideas for improvement. Like the previous editions, the Fifth Edition has a number of new, actionable best practices as well as refinements of those ideas reported in previous editions. The books are broad enough in their perspective so that nearly any organization could find ideas that could pay back the cost of the book many times over."
—John Temmerman, Controller Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
"What a great resource! I have been in the accounting field for over twenty years, and I was still able to gain insight into improving processes within my office. Thanks for putting it all in one book!"
—Tina M. Thomas, CPA, CTP, Controller Goodman & Company, LLP
Synopsis
-Tina M. Thomas, CPA, CTP, Controller Goodman & Company, LLP
Synopsis
Praise for Accounting Best Practices, Fifth Edition"For a comprehensive, yet easy-to-read guide to fixing those all-too-common shortcomings in your accounting department, look no further than this excellent book. Steve Bragg provides hundreds of fixes, many of them requiring surprisingly little time or cost while providing a handy guide to common implementation pitfalls . . . I would recommend this invaluable book to anyone who is looking to enhance their existing processes, whether due to growth in their business, compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley, or just as part of their ongoing improvement process."
—Martyn Webster, CPA, Director of FinanceXenoPort, Inc.
"This book is critical to running an efficient and accurate accounting department. The use of RFID technology to track documents is one of many valuable tools in this latest edition. A required read for the demanding accounting manager's role."
—Jason Charet, CPA
"I've used Steve Bragg's Accounting Best Practices books for years as a source of ideas for improvement. Like the previous editions, the Fifth Edition has a number of new, actionable best practices as well as refinements of those ideas reported in previous editions. The books are broad enough in their perspective so that nearly any organization could find ideas that could pay back the cost of the book many times over."
—John Temmerman, Controller Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
"What a great resource! I have been in the accounting field for over twenty years, and I was still able to gain insight into improving processes within my office. Thanks for putting it all in one book!"
—Tina M. Thomas, CPA, CTP, Controller Goodman & Company, LLP
About the Author
STEVEN M. BRAGG, CPA, CMA, CIA, CPIM, has been the chief financial officer or controller of four companies, as well as a consulting manager at Ernst & Young and auditor at Deloitte & Touche. He received a master's degree in finance from Bentley College, an MBA from Babson College, and a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Maine. He has been the two-time president of the Colorado Mountain Club, is an avid alpine skier and mountain biker, and is a certified master diver. Mr. Bragg resides in Centennial, Colorado. He is also the author of The Ultimate Accountants' Reference and Design and Maintenance of Accounting Manuals, both from Wiley.
Table of Contents
Preface.
Chapter 1 Introduction.
Chapter 2 How to Use Best Practices.
Chapter 3 Accounts Payable Best Practices.
Chapter 4 Billing Best Practices.
Chapter 5 Budgeting Best Practices.
Chapter 6 Cash Management Best Practices.
Chapter 7 Credit and Collections Best Practices.
Chapter 8 Commissions Best Practices.
Chapter 9 Costing Best Practices.
Chapter 10 Filing Best Practices.
Chapter 11 Finance Best Practices.
Chapter 12 Financial Statements Best Practices.
Chapter 13 General Best Practices.
Chapter 14 General Ledger Best Practices.
Chapter 15 Internal Auditing Best Practices.
Chapter 16 Inventory Best Practices.
Chapter 17 Payroll Best Practices.
Chapter 18 Policies in Support of Best Practices.
Appendix A Summary of Best Practices.
Appendix B Supplier Contact Information.
Index.