Standard Operating Procedures for Accounts and Finance

Standard Operating Procedures for Accounts, Tax and Finance

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are clearly defined and documented set of instructions for any specific tasks and processes. They help to govern and standardize the operational roadmap of an organization. SOPs are normally laid down for all the business departments in an organization, i.e. Accounts & Finance, HRD/ HRM, Production, Purchase/ Inventory, Planning, Legal, Marketing & Branding, Sales, Corporate Communication, etc.

Importance of SOPs for Accounts & Finance Department

Accounts and Finance are the nerve center of any organization through which business performance can be measured internally and externally. These departments manage cash inflows and outflows associated with routine tasks like supplier and rental payments, staff salaries, monthly interest payments to financial institutions, etc. Importantly, SOPs in accounting and finance are necessary directives to ensure day-to-day transactional governance, implementation of statutory compliance measures, consistency in customer experience (CX), and a reduction in employee training time. This leads to profitability, growth, and increased goodwill for the company.

Financial management refers to the strategic planning, organizing, directing, and controlling of financial undertakings in an organization or an institute. It also includes applying management principles to the financial assets of an organization, while also playing an important part in fiscal management. Take a look at the objectives involved:

·        Maintaining enough supply of funds for the organization;

·        Ensuring shareholders of the organization to get good returns on their investment;

·        Optimum and efficient utilization of funds;

·        Creating real and safe investment opportunities to invest in.

Here are the essential SOPs for Accounts & Finance, all of which can be automated through custom-built software solutions. We will explore the typical responsibilities of finance department in the rest of this article

·        Receipt of Bills

·        Entry of Bill in the Books of Accounts

·        Issue of Cheques

·        Dispatch of Cheques

·        Cash Payments

·        Fixed Asset Register

·        Direct Taxes

·        Indirect Taxes

·        Employee Insurance

·        Delegation of Authority Matrix

·        Bank Payment

·        Tours & Travel Statements

·        Compliance of Audit Queries

·        Cash payments and Journal Vouchers

·        Responsibilities of Finance Manager

·        Responsibilities of Accounts Officer

·        Responsibilities of Accountant / Cashier

·        Insurance Requirements

·        Various Governing Acts

·        Intellectual Property Rights

·        Cost Reduction Initiatives

·        Asset Management

·        Accounting Metrics

·        Collection Policies

·        Inventory Management

·        Annual Budgeting

·        Tracking Credit Card Auto-Payments

·        Accounts Receivable

·        Accounts Payable

·        Financial Statements finalization

·        Internal Reporting

·        Cash-flow Management

Why Smart Start to define SOPs.

Smart Start plays a key role in optimizing business processes, eliminating manual steps by automating process workflows, and implementing an overall process improvement mechanism. To this effect, Smart Start, a division of Perspective Tax Consultant, specializes in business process management, process consulting and process outsourcing services. We facilitate an organizations’ transformation journey, making them process-oriented and organized, and helping them achieve operational efficiencies with a core business focus.

Specifically, we define Digital SOP – a Virtual Business Trainer which ensures Process Automation, an increase in team productivity, and a reduction in error rates. Digital SOPs are Standard Operational Procedures which can be effectively integrated into IT systems and automated BPM tools and which are audio-visualized in a digital format. These SOPs have been increasingly adopted by a majority of IT, Retail & Manufacturing organizations in recent times.

The following are the advantages of our Virtual Business Trainer:

·        Reduction / Elimination of Manual Trainers

·        Enhanced Information Preservation & aids Digital Transformation

·        Ease of Access to SOPs

·        Ready Referencer

·        Easy to retain and understand as these are in Audio-visual format

Therefore, digital SOPs are essential for driving an organization’s upward growth trajectory. Helping to optimize operational workflows, these process guidelines don’t follow a ‘one size fits all approach and have to be tailored according to the needs of every organization, continually evolving and adapting to prevailing market conditions.

To help you create digital SOPs and boost your finance & accounts department’s overall performance, get in touch with our experts today and stay ahead of the curve.

Disclaimer: Content posted is for informational & knowledge sharing purposes only, and is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice related to tax, finance or accounting. The view/interpretation of the publisher is based on the available Law, guidelines and information. Each reader should take due professional care before you act after reading the contents of that article/post. No warranty whatsoever is made that any of the articles are accurate and is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for tax or accounting advice.

You can access Law including Guidelines, Cabinet & FTA Decisions, Public Clarifications, Forms, Business Bulletins for all taxes (Vat, Excise, Customs, Corporate Tax, Transfer Pricing) for all GCC Countries in the Law Section of GCC FinTax