The scope of this book does not encompass all of the best practices that acompany should consider, only those used by the accounting department. Thisarea is especially susceptible to improvement through best practices, since it is heavilyprocedure-driven. When there are many procedures, there are many opportunitiesto enhance the multitude of procedure steps through automation, simplification,elimination of tasks, error-proofing, and outsourcing. Thus, of all the corporatefunctions, this is the one that reacts best to treatment through best practices.Chapter 2 covers a variety of issues related to the implementation of bestpractices, such as differentiating between incremental and reengineering changes,circumstances under which best practices are most likely to succeed, and how toplan and proceed with these implementations. Most important, there is a discussionof the multitude of reasons why a best practice implementation can fail,which is excellent reading prior to embarking on a new project, in order to beaware of all possible pitfalls. The chapter ends with a brief review of the impactof best practices on employees. This chapter is fundamental to the book, for itserves as the groundwork on which the remaining chapters are built. For example,if you are interested in modifying the general ledger account structure for use byan activity-based costing system, it is necessary to first review the implementationchapter to see how any programming, software package, or interdepartmentalissues might impact the project.

Chapters 3 through 17 each describe a cluster of best practices, with a functionalarea itemized under each chapter. For example, Chapter 8 covers a varietyof improvements to a company’s commission calculation and payment systems,while Chapter 17 is strictly concerned with a variety of payroll-streamliningissues related to the collection of employee time information, processing it intopayments, and distributing those payments. Chapter 13 is a catchall chapter. Itcovers a variety of general best practices that do not fit easily into other, morespecific chapters. Examples of these best practices are the use of process-centering,on-line reporting, and creating a contract-terms database. Chapters 3 through 17are the heart of the book since they contain information related to nearly 300 bestpractices.

For Chapters 3 through 17, there is an exhibit near the beginning that showsthe general level of implementation cost and duration for each of the best practicesin the chapter. This information gives the reader a good idea of which bestpractices to search for and read through, in case these criteria are a strong consideration.For each chapter, there are a number of sections, each one describing abest practice. There is a brief description of the problems it can fix, as well as noteson how it can be implemented, and any problems one may encounter while doing so.Each chapter concludes with a section that describes the impact of a recommendedmix of best practices on the functional area being covered. This last section

2 Introductionalmost always includes a graphical representation of how certain best practicesimpact specific activities. Not all the best practices in each chapter are included inthis graphic, since some are mutually exclusive. This chapter layout is designedto give the reader a quick overview of the best practices that are most likely tomake a significant impact on a functional area of the accounting department.The book ends with Appendix A. It lists all of the best practices in each of thepreceding chapters. This list allows the reader to quickly find a potentially usefulbest practice. It is then a simple matter to refer back to the main text to obtainmore information about each item.

This book is designed to assist anyone who needs to improve either the effi-ciency of the accounting department, reduce its error rates, or provide betterinformation to other parts of a company. The best practices noted on the followingpages will greatly assist in attaining this goal, which may be part of a grandstrategic vision or simply a desire by an accounting manager to improve thedepartment. The layout of the book is extremely practical: to list as many bestpractices as possible, to assist the reader in finding the most suitable ones, and todescribe any implementation problems that may arise. In short, this is the perfectdo-it-yourself fix-it book for the manager who likes to tinker with the accountingdepartment.

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