AcctTwo Blog

In 1972, Sharon Johnson went to Haiti to direct a choir that was traveling around the country. As she looked into the faces in the crowds, she fell in love with the people of Haiti. She returned each year with her husband, Bob, and over time, they felt the need to provide the people of Haiti with help every day and not just once or twice a year. In 1983 they formed what is today Mission of Hope: Haiti (MOH).

Officially founded in 1998, MOH has since grown from a small mission located on a barren piece of land, to a fruitful organization that now houses an onsite orphanage, medical facility, school, and church. Through partnerships, MOH also serves outside of its property by helping other orphanages, churches, and schools throughout the country.

A recent article in Forbes highlighted the breakneck pace of consolidations happening right now in the SaaS industry. Companies like Salesforce, Oracle, and SAP are all growing their enterprise app business by 25%-30% per year.

Those numbers are impressive, but it’s important to dive a little deeper to understand what is driving them. These companies are investing aggressively, but much of that money is going towards acquisitions. Rather than developing innovative ideas, the major players are simply buying up smaller companies and incorporating their capabilities. As a result, many enterprise apps are actually suites of products that promise one-size-fits-all utility.

The Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act (HIPAA) is one of the most sweeping sets of regulations on the books, and for good reason. Personal healthcare information is both highly sensitive and highly vulnerable. Keeping it safe and secure is both a legal and an ethical obligation for every organization in healthcare.

The challenge facing these organizations is that HIPAA compliance is notorious for requiring a lot of input without offering a lot of confidence. Protecting every patient record against every potential threat according to every applicable regulation is a major undertaking. And, considering that a single violation can carry a minimum penalty of $50,000, any amount of uncertainty around compliance is a serious liability.

The role of the modern CFO is changing substantially from just a financial gatekeeper to becoming a strategic partner in running the business. This change is driven by advances in technology, evolution in markets, and shifting responsibilities throughout the C-suite. It's both an exciting opportunity and an urgent obligation.

Every accounting department wants to become more data driven, and every CFO is ready to take on a stronger strategic role. Operating based on in-depth information and empirical insights is undeniably an advantage. And soon it will be a requirement for all businesses.

The challenge is that wanting to become more data driven doesn’t mean a company is equipped to operate that way. If the quality of the data, tools, or strategy is lacking, a data-driven approach is likely to fail. Rather than rushing to embrace the new, decision makers must assess whether they are truly ready. Here are some questions to get the conversation started:

There is a reason SaaS has become the dominant approach to business applications: It makes more sense for both the user and the provider. Users get better tools at a lower cost while providers can count on a steady stream of revenue and closer client relations.

The only downside of running a dynamic SaaS company is that performance is hard to track and difficult to define. Success and failure are driven by multiple variables, and it’s easy to mistake positives for negatives and vice versa.

Running payroll is like mowing the lawn: It’s something every business must do regularly, but no business enjoys. And, like lawn-care, neglecting small details can lead to big problems.

This is one business obligation that is overdue for innovation and disruption. Thankfully, advances in technology combined with new service models are transforming payroll processing. 

Better still, this transformation isn’t limited to larger organizations. Accounting departments at small and mid-sized enterprises are enjoying the benefits while saving time, money, and frustration in the process. A new-generation of payroll processing has arrived. These are its most impressive improvements:

I-SCOOP, an online publication that provides educational resources and services around digital business, transformation, and organizational processes, defines "Digital Transformation" as:

"The profound transformation of business and organizational activities, processes, competencies and models to fully leverage the changes and opportunities of a mix of digital technologies and their accelerating impact across society in a strategic and prioritized way, with present and future shifts in mind."

That's a mouthful, but I thought it was worth trying to define the concept before we talk about it. The potential of digital transformation has been discussed extensively. What often gets lost in the conversation are the factors that are driving the transformation. We tend to focus on the potential of a tech-driven approach, without diving into why that approach is so critical. As a result, companies view better technology as an upgrade rather than an obligation. In reality, it’s both.

Rolling out a next-generation, enterprise-class software solution is a major undertaking. As a result, the day the software goes live often feels like crossing the finish line. In reality, it’s more like the halfway point of the race.

The closer you observe something the better you understand it. Unfortunately, when companies try to track their own profitability they are often forced to take a broad view. They know how profits and losses total out but not what is really driving those outcomes. As a result, it’s difficult to make strategic changes that drive profitability upwards.

Taking a deeper dive into company finances is possible, but only when you can account for things at the project level.