AcctTwo Blog

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.

Creating accurate forecasts, reliable predictions, and strong strategic insights has always been a goal of accounting. But considering how much time, focus, and manual labor it requires, it’s a goal that's rarely realized.

That's all changing thanks to a new wave of data-driven technologies. The confluence of artificial intelligence and machine learning have made large-scale data management accessible to any accounting department. As a result, finding insights takes less time, and developing and applying strategy becomes the focus of finance.

The concept of "Digital Transformation" using technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotic Process Automation (RPA), and Blockchain can be overwhelming for any organization to sort through, much less implement an adoption strategy for.

As an example of the difficulties organizations have had with digital transformation, a recent Gartner survey shows that even though companies have made data and analytics a priority in recent years, 91% of companies don't feel that they've reached a "transformational" level of maturity in that area. Companies are eager to embrace the potential of integrated technologies and analytics, and they recognize that in many industries digital transformation is essential for remaining competitive. The problem is that wanting to change and actually transforming can be miles apart.