Building the Right Financial Team

It is rightly said that finance is the lifeblood for any
company. And to ensure its steady flow in the company it is imperative to have a
proper team that is efficient and committed enough to manage it competently.

The success of any team depends on the person leading it.
While putting in place the financial team, it is important to keep it limited.
Rather than having several people heading this department the management should
repose its trust in one professional who can ensure that payments are received
on time and the cash flow is uninterrupted.

Processes should be defined ant put in place on how the funds
have to be collected and maintained. For instance, if a project is completed, a
deadline should be established for collection of its payment. Even the
responsibility for getting this payment should be made clear right at the onset.
This will ensure that there is no passing of the proverbial buck.

Relying on a single person

It is very important that there is a single person who will interface with
the top management when it comes to financial issues, in case of any mishandling
of the data. But in the end, the company's head honcho should also check the
crucial financial transactions on a daily basis. One must be cautious not to
become too dependable on this single person. In due course if somehow he is
unable to continue his services, things should not come to a standstill in the
organization.

To ensure that there is not too much reliance on one person
for the financial aspect of a business, it is optimum that the job is rotated
periodically. The period should not be too long like ten years, or too short,
like one year. It is best to have someone for tenure of five years in which time
he can train the next rung on sound financial practices and have his successor
in place. This kind of motivational grooming will also mean that the head can
also scale up in the corporate hierarchy.

Having a new person in a rotational fashion will infuse fresh
thoughts into standard procedures and a new way of managing finances. The new
person can also correct any mistakes his predecessor might have made during this
tenure.

As the company grows it is very important to appoint one
financial management consultant to provide specialized advice or guidance. This
will especially come in handy if the company proposes to raise funds by going
public or merge with another corporation.

When it comes to finance, transparency is of utmost
important. And transparency can be best achieved of technology is implemented. A
good ERP system will streamline and interlink all processes. There are several
financial software that can allocate funds where and when they are needed and
also generate MIS reports. The sales guys can also see the accounts report, so
they know where to get more business.

More and more companies are now considering it. An ERP system
will also ensure that the entire process is not dependent or driven by a single
person, making the entire process more automated and person-independent.

Milon Chakraborty is the MD of Syntech Group, Kolkata