When people see a nice house they’re going to say, “Wow, that’s a really nice house.” You never hear “Wow, that’s a really nice foundation” because the foundation is unseen by outside viewers. However, a house’s foundation is crucial to the stability of the house.
Businesses also need a strong foundation. That foundation is formed by a good accounting process. A good foundation, for houses and businesses, provides immediate benefit as well as long-term stability.
Just like passersby can’t see a house’s foundation, customers and clients can’t see an accounting process and how it affects the success of a business. Customers see the advertisements, the sales people, the storefronts, etc., so if they like what they see they might say, “Wow, I love what this business is doing.” Behind all of those public parts of the business is a solid accounting process.
Don’t ignore the process
It doesn’t matter if a house looks really nice; if its foundation wasn’t laid properly or if there are cracks starting to form that house is in trouble. The stability of a house depends on the integrity of the foundation. Guess what? The same is true for businesses. Ignoring the accounting process makes for an unstable business.
In a previous post, we talked about how King Louis XIV of France chose to start ignoring the accounting processes of his kingdom which resulted in the bankruptcy of France. This is a pretty heavy example, we know, but it really supports what we’re trying to get at! If King Louis paid better attention to his accounts, he and his country would have been in much better financial shape.
The difference between the foundation of a house and the foundation of a business
A house’s foundation is permanent, unmoving, stationary, unchanging (insert more synonyms for “static” here) - but that’s exactly what it needs to be in order to provide stability for the house. Today, an accounting process can’t be static because the digital world would render it irrelevant and outdated.
The way the accounting world has generally worked before was very static, and we are trying to disrupt our own in-office bias that a good process doesn’t need to be altered. Change is hard, guys, but the dynamic digital world we live in doesn’t leave room for static processes. This is a great benefit though, because it means that through technology accounting processes can constantly be refined to become as relevant and efficient as possible.
Improving the foundation of a house is a lot of work and a lot of money. Another benefit of a digital business foundation is that improvements are easy to make, and they’re inexpensive. If you’re committed to the process of refinement then you’re making constant adjustments to keep the foundation strong.
Refining your digital foundation
A one-size-fits-all foundation isn’t the solution for houses; beach houses are built on stilts because that is the best way for them to not sustain damage (thank goodness, because we love ourselves a good, stable vacation at the beach). In our digital world, the same is true for businesses. Now there are endless solutions to create accounting processes, and it’s all customizable.
A business foundation has two components. First, there needs to be a good accounting process. Second, there needs to be a commitment to the constant refinement of the process.
Where is your business at in its digital transformation? Can you really afford to delay any longer? The way to continually refine your accounting process, or digital foundation, is to work with an advisor (that’s us!) and use quality software.