Lean Accounting Series : Article 3 - Slow and steady wins the race only if you are a turtle, not for the accounts department

Efficiency is not the lack of inefficiencies, it is rather a lack of optimization. Lean Accounting focuses on the elimination of waste and also optimization of the process. Accounts and Finance functions in all organizations focus on the period-ending closures. These closures give a snapshot of the organization’s performance to inform the stakeholders. This process takes place 12 times a year. The time spent on each closure can be up to one week. So if the process is slow due to the inherent process inefficiencies, like no clear set responsibilities, non-identification of data points, lack of communication among departments, uncertainty in decision making, more than half of the month will be utilized in closure.

Lean accounting brings about the required speed and accuracy in the rather repetitive tasks and results in timely closure of the month-end and reporting that matters.