Product Tips
Five Tips toward Smoother Accounting ProjectsBy: Sandi Smith, CPA
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Situation
More and more accountants have an opportunity to use project management skills in their daily jobs. Audits, accounting system installations, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance (see related tip), and corporate mergers and acquisitions are just a few examples of accounting projects where it is useful (if not required for survival) to have formal project management skills.
Response
Here are five top project management tips to help smooth your accounting projects.
1. Get Formal Project Management Training
If your employees lack formal project management training, make it a part of their training plan to attend classes and to begin to develop their project management skills through giving them increased project responsibility. It's routine these days for technology staff to learn project management skills in a formal training class. It's not as common to see accountants sitting in on these classes.
In today's world, project management knowledge for accountants is an essential skill. If your employer has not offered this training, you may have to take your training needs into your own hands and ask your boss to send you to class.
One resource for project management training is the Project Management Institute, the industry's professional association. You can become active in the local chapters and/or earn your PMP, Project Management Professional, the industry certification.
2. Manage the Stakeholders
"On many projects, decisions are made at very high levels that are nowhere near the levels at which the project will be implemented," says James T. Brown, Ph.D., PMP, and president of Seba Solutions.
"Executives often underestimate the magnitude of the changes that will be required by the new system at the process level of the organization. It's critical that the project leaders educate the executives on the amount of work that will need to be done so that the project will be a success." Dr. Brown cites examples of large accounting installations that didn't heed this warning and couldn't cut checks when the new system was turned on.
The author remembers relentless pressure from top management in her project management days at a Fortune 100 company. Executives were always asking to accelerate the project end date. I was constantly pushing back at them. I probably spent 20 percent of my project time pushing back at top management. They knew how much it would save if the project was implemented early. What they overlooked was how much it would cost if it didn't work right on implementation day.
It's essential that executives not only understand the scope and magnitude of the project, but that they support the project team every step of the way.
3. Understand Your Processes
"Before you can make major changes to your processes, such as installing a new system or complying with SOX, you have to know what the processes are," says Dr. Brown, who practiced project management at NASA and is a recipient of the NASA Public Service Medal.
The first step is to map the current processes. This can be done using any of the numerous process-mapping tools available today. "Often an accountant will know their part of the process, but not the big picture. Good project management requires that members know the entire process from beginning to end and across people and departments."
If your company processes are not well-documented or mapped, build this task into your project scope.
4. Create and Celebrate Milestones
Set clear milestones to measure progress during a project. Each milestone should include a solid due date in which deliverables are due and approvals from all departments have been collected. Milestones should be designed to be a clear indication of whether the project is truly on track or not, and not just a paperwork party.
They can also be a reason for celebration and psychological relief. By breaking down a large project into smaller components, it's almost always more manageable, and people can more easily see progress.
5. Expect Murphy
Numerous tasks arise during a project which weren't planned for, especially if it is the first time you have done this type of project. Employees might need training; they might get pregnant, or they might leave the company and get replaced. Additionally, tasks will come up that weren't anticipated, such as a program interface that doesn't work as documented, a missed process, or an overlooked department link.
To handle this kind of challenge, plan some extra time into the project. Three to seven percent of the total project time is not an unreasonable range of time to estimate for unplanned occurrences. With some cushion, you won't have to keep postponing the final project due date as often, or at all.
A Smooth Accounting Project
Being a team member of a large accounting project can be a high-stress position. Lower your stress and reduce your unknowns by learning and practicing great project management. Chances are that project management skills will come in handy at numerous times in your accounting career.
Sandi Smith, CPA, is a freelance writer and professional speaker located in Dallas, TX. Her web site is http://www.sandismith.com.
Last Updated: 05/03/2007
