Sponsor: Quick Consols

Consider the fact that according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) up to 88% of charter planes that fallout of the sky are caused by human error. That number only drops to 50% when looking at commercial airliners.

Of course airplanes that stop flying, especially mid flight, tend to create a fair amount of noise (pun intended) because the impact on us is graphic and devastating on a human level. But what about all the other professionals out there including the accounting profession? The financial reporting requirements out there now are as complicated as the cockpit of an Airbus A380.

While most companies excel at tracking their financial performance through clear metrics like profit and loss, they overlook measuring how employees spend their time. In many finance departments, particularly in larger companies, time is only ever considered during month-end closings and audit deadlines.

In our experience with every finance department across companies that Quick Consols has served, there's a consistent pattern of overtime during month-end reporting cycles. But why? Month-ends haven’t changed in the last 30 years. Interestingly, the process of data collation for management or shareholders hasn’t changed either.

Consider the fact that according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) up to 88% of charter planes that fallout of the sky are caused by human error. That number only drops to 50% when looking at commercial airliners.

Of course airplanes that stop flying, especially mid flight, tend to create a fair amount of noise (pun intended) because the impact on us is graphic and devastating on a human level. But what about all the other professionals out there including the accounting profession? The financial reporting requirements out there now are as complicated as the cockpit of an Airbus A380.

While most companies excel at tracking their financial performance through clear metrics like profit and loss, they overlook measuring how employees spend their time. In many finance departments, particularly in larger companies, time is only ever considered during month-end closings and audit deadlines.

In our experience with every finance department across companies that Quick Consols has served, there's a consistent pattern of overtime during month-end reporting cycles. But why? Month-ends haven’t changed in the last 30 years. Interestingly, the process of data collation for management or shareholders hasn’t changed either.