COVID Accounting: How Finance Teams Can Adjust

Businesses always operate under various types of risk. One of the most unpredictable types of risk is those from natural disasters and situations outside of our control. Since the novel Coronavirus outbreak, there have been obvious detrimental effects on both lives and businesses. As such, working from home has become a new norm for many organisations. For those operating in the finance industry, COVID accounting has taken hold and finance teams have had to adjust. 

As a leader of any organisation, there are some best practices to reduce risk and help your team function during these times. 

Here’s a look at some ideas for how to maintain control during such an uncertain time.

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Take Action and Prepare for the Future

• Create a crisis team: Firstly, you need to make sure you have people and systems in place to help ensure order. A crisis team should consist of senior management and cross-functional teams who are well-equipped to lead employees through this time. If you hadn’t yet had a crisis team set up and ready to go, you likely have found yourself creating one on the fly to suit these needs. 
  

• Establish facts: While a crisis may be unavoidable, measurement is not. Most businesses rely on big data to make decisions these days. In the same way, it’s important to keep an eye on data and analytics during crisis time. This way, when the crisis ends and workflows go back to normal, you can address any pitfalls and better plan for the future. Automation software like Solvexia can help with data management, processes and analytics. In fact, you can even use predictive and prescriptive analytics to predict future decisions and reactions before enacting them. 
  

• Plan for communication: During normal work circumstances, communication is key. This becomes more clear in a crisis. While it’s easy to neglect key stakeholders, like vendors and less active customers, you should devise a clear and well-crafted communication strategy that addresses every player within your business. It’s important to maintain open and transparent communication with your internal team. At the same time, be sure to address financial stakeholders and customers alike. 
  

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How to Set Up a Remote Team

Finance teams work under strict protocols and regulations. Preparing a financial team to work remotely requires extra care in terms of security, procedures and expectations. As such, leaders and managers need to do the heavy lifting to prepare their teams. 

To keep your team engaged, here are some work from home tips: 

• Teach how to work from home: Working from home is different from being in an office with set work hours. Many employees may have trouble sticking to a work schedule that also allows time for them to log off and have time for themselves. To avoid burnout, it’s important to set expectations for work hours with your team and encourage them to log off when the work for the day is done. 
  

• Prioritise employee engagement: A successful organisation requires an engaged workforce. Traditional offices grant employees time for social interaction and the ability to chat digitally with coworkers during the day. Just because people are working from home now doesn’t mean that these daily rituals should end. Greet your team each morning and check in with them on a personal level, too. 
  

• Embrace online learning: Within a workspace, there are lectures and learning opportunities. From events to conferences and meetings, employees often have the opportunity to add skills to their repertoire while on the job. Luckily, there are ways to still achieve these enhancements through online learning. Perhaps, as a team leader, you can set up a video conference call for a lunch and learn lecture about finance amidst COVID-19. Or, you can share resources for your team to enrol in online learning programs at their convenience. 
  

• Practice patience: Adjusting to working from home, especially amidst a global crisis, takes time. Be open and communicative with your team to find out where they have pain points or what aspects of the job are working well. Elicit honest feedback and make changes according to what’s being said. If there’s something that is draining them and reducing their productivity, see if there’s a better way to serve your team so that they can better assist the business. 

Leverage technology to aid: Now more than ever, technology is crucial for businesses working remotely. From online chat to video conferencing and more, the way processes flow depends on digital communication and software programs. Solutions like Solvexia can aid in both enhancing productivity and reducing bottlenecks. For any processes related to finance, automation solutions can take care of repetitive and monotonous tasks so that your team can focus on human analytical thinking and high-level needs.

How to Maximise Productivity and Ensure Efficiency 

COVID-19 presents a unique challenge for business leaders. The amount of unknown information can feel overwhelming and daunting. However, PwC’s Global Crisis Survey has found that nearly 70% of business leaders have experienced some form of crisis within the last five years that have greatly affected their business. 

Although the Coronavirus is a heightened form of crisis, these strategies to remain effective under less than optimal circumstances still ring true. 

• Review locations and travel: This pandemic has shone a light on the importance of geography and travel since most of the world has shut down. As such, employees who are working abroad and are forced to work longer in foreign countries will find themselves potentially facing different tax requirements. Additionally, your team is likely responsible for caring for dependents, both children and parents, during work time. As such, it’s important to address these types of issues and be open about your expectations under these conditions.
  

• Revisit continuity plans: While you may have a crisis plan already, a pandemic can test these plans because of their global impact. One of the biggest concerns during a time where global teams are all working remotely is the flow of information. Make sure that technology is in place to help data flow properly. 
  

• Evaluate supply chain: Explore backup plans for your supply chain. Get down to details if you work with raw supplies and manufacturing because border closures and delayed deliveries will impact your supply. 
  

• Communicate using online tools: Accurate messaging and a communication strategy from the top of the business will be necessary during times like these. Be sure to be open and honest in all communication with your internal and external stakeholders. 
  

• Use scenario analysis: It’s hard to prepare for an unknown future. However, by using predictive analytics and software tools that use data to help inform decisions, you can explore contingency plans. This way, you can add a level of knowns to your equation of unknown variables to best plan for your next course of action. 
  

• Don’t forget other risks: When you’re caught up focusing on such a widespread crisis like the Coronavirus, it may be easy to lose sight of other risks that your business faces. From compliance risk to cybersecurity, many other forms of risk have remained unchanged. Continue business as usual and remind your team that these risks should still be well looked after. 
  

• Health and wellbeing: The health and wellbeing of your team is always a top priority, especially when a virus is threatening lives. In this setting, you can urge your team to care for their wellness by taking breaks from work, practising stress-relieving techniques, and balancing work and life, even from home. 
  

How Automation Can Help Finance Teams

Along with implementing these solutions to help manage your finance team, there is an influx of new information when it comes to COVID accounting. These measures are unprecedented, but they will impact your business’ day to day operations. 

To stay as productive as possible with changing information, automation tools can help manage the repetitive tasks so that your team can spend their time focused on keeping up with new information and procedures. 

Here are just a few of the big benefits automation software can bring to your team, especially when working from home:

• Centralised data: When teams are working from different locations, it’s imperative that everyone has access to the data they need to get their work done. Automation tools connect with all your data sources even legacy systems. It does all the work of pulling together all data that’s necessary to properly track and monitor processes.  
  

• Increased efficiency: With process automation and more, your team can get tasks done in a fraction of the time it takes to manually perform repetitive tasks. This frees up time to focus on the work that really matters, like client communication and analysis. This improves the job satisfaction of staff, removes human error, improves accuracy, and enables your team to get to the tasks that really matter.
  

• Foolproof compliance: Finance teams always need to focus on regulations and compliance, but this can get complicated when people are working from their own homes. With tools like Solvexia, you can rely on access controls and audit trails. 
  

• Real-time analytics: Business leaders can check in on live time dashboards and pull reports whenever needed to check in on how their business or a process is running. Reports can also be sent automatically to team members of business leaders on a regular and scheduled basis.
  

The Bottom Line 

While different industries are facing different challenges, every business is under pressure because of COVID-19. The economic impact grows with each day and finance rules and regulations are being adjusted to follow suit. From finance teams working remotely to the influx of small business loans, there’s a lot of change to keep up with. 

As a business leader in these uncertain times, it’s up to you to keep your team engaged and productive under undesirable circumstances. When it comes to COVID accounting from practising good communication to leveraging the right software solutions, businesses can still make it through these times by staying proactive and engaged.