• FREE RESOURCES
        • Accounts Payable
          Finally! The trick to securing greater T&E compliance
          Benefits
          Rooting out folks who don’t belong on your health plan: A 6-point dependent audit checklist
          IT
          3 costly misconceptions about biz email compromise
          Credit and Collections
          Collecting via email: 4 must-make moves in your subject line
          Accounts Payable
          5 Tough-to-spot signs that an invoice is fake
  • PREMIUM CONTENT
        • Staff management
          120 Proven Communications Tips for Today’s CFO
        • Payroll
          Handling Nonexempt Employee Pay: Stay Compliant and Avoid DOL Audits
          Accounts Payable
          T&E Best Practices: Complete Guide to Ensure Compliance
          Payroll
          Payroll Best Practices: 4 Ways to Save Time and Money
        • Staff management
          Email Best Practices: A 6-Question Quiz
          Staff management
          Innovative Communications Strategies: An Email Case Study
          Staff management
          A 5-part Framework for Successful Workplace Communications
        • SEE MORE
          PREMIUM RESOURCES
  • CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES
  • LOGIN
  • SIGN UP FREE

CFO Daily News

  • FREE RESOURCES
        • Accounts Payable
          Finally! The trick to securing greater T&E compliance
          Benefits
          Rooting out folks who don’t belong on your health plan: A 6-point dependent audit checklist
          IT
          3 costly misconceptions about biz email compromise
          Credit and Collections
          Collecting via email: 4 must-make moves in your subject line
          Accounts Payable
          5 Tough-to-spot signs that an invoice is fake
  • PREMIUM CONTENT
        • Staff management
          120 Proven Communications Tips for Today’s CFO
        • Payroll
          Handling Nonexempt Employee Pay: Stay Compliant and Avoid DOL Audits
          Accounts Payable
          T&E Best Practices: Complete Guide to Ensure Compliance
          Payroll
          Payroll Best Practices: 4 Ways to Save Time and Money
        • Staff management
          Email Best Practices: A 6-Question Quiz
          Staff management
          Innovative Communications Strategies: An Email Case Study
          Staff management
          A 5-part Framework for Successful Workplace Communications
        • SEE MORE
          PREMIUM RESOURCES
  • CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES
  • Accounts Payable
  • Credit and Collections
  • Payroll
  • Accounting
  • Benefits
  • Finance Technology
  • More
    • Employment Law
    • Strategy
    • Policy and Culture
    • Fraud
    • Payments and Transactions
    • Budgeting and Forecasting
    • Banking
    • Staff Management
    • Cost Control
    • Supply Chain
    • IT

4 tips for a clear, well-followed Finance policy manual

4 tips for a clear well followed finance policy manual
Alyssa Evans
by Alyssa Evans
January 23, 2020
  • Policy and culture
3 minute read
  • SHARE ON

The clarity of your finance department’s policy manual can be the difference between polished processes and confused chaos.

Of course, the language about payments, taxes and deadlines makes perfect sense to you and your well-trained staffers. But is it as straightforward for busy invoice and timesheet approvers? Does it make sense to employees in various departments? Is it clear enough for those who are newer or only deal with Finance occasionally?

When reviewing your finance department’s policy manual, you want to verify not only that it’s current – but that it’s worded well. That way, everyone reading it gets your processes right the first time.

Here are four tips from workplace expert Robert Lentz that you can share with your staff to refine and enhance your current policy manual:

1. Create detailed section headers

When separating subjects or topics, your finance staffers will want to avoid broad headers like Mail or Direct Deposit. They should use more descriptive language, like Processing incoming payables mail or Steps for direct deposit sign-ups.

Vague headers can mean too many things, Lentz says. Being specific helps users find what they need quickly. And if they have a positive, painless experience with reading Finance’s policy manual, they’ll be much more likely to follow the rules inside it.

2. Chop up process descriptions

Long paragraphs detailing multiple steps will make users’ eyes start to glaze over. Before you know it, impatience takes over. They close your manual and decide to just “wing it” or “figure it out as they go.”

Encourage your staff to replace lengthy descriptions in your policy manual with bulleted points or numbered lists whenever they can. And if they’re detailing a really long or complex process, have them bold or highlight the phrases that are most crucial, Lentz suggests.

3. Explain your instructions

When users learn new procedures, they instinctively think about how they can take shortcuts, Lentz says.  It’s important to show people the logic behind instructions, so they aren’t tempted to work around them and ultimately cause problems for your finance department.

Take this example: Send P.O.s and supporting documents to ap@company.com
A better revision would be: Send all P.O.s and supporting documents to ap@company.com as soon as they’re received. This will help prevent confusion and delays that occur when items are sent to various, decentralized locations.

4. Be mindful of references to time 

Advise your finance staffers to watch their use of words like old and new. They have no meaning in a constantly evolving document like your policy manual, Lentz says. 

Instead, it can help to add dates when possible. For example, if your staff needs to reference an old system, they can tack on: (retired as of January 2019). Or when discussing a new system, they may add: (effective as of March 2019). This clarity will also show users that your department’s on top of things and providing a fitting, updated policy manual.

Alyssa Evans
Alyssa Evans
Alyssa, a member of the CFO Daily News staff, has written extensively on business and finance for several years. She has produced content for accounts payable professionals and finance executives and has developed whitepapers and infographics for the finance and accounting industry.

Keep Up To Date with the Latest Finance News

With CFO Daily News arriving in your inbox, you will never miss critical stories on accounting, benefits, payroll & employment law strategies.

Sign up for a free CFO Daily News membership and get our newsletter!
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
CFO Daily News Logo
  • ABOUT CFO DAILY NEWS
  • ADVERTISE WITH US
  • WRITE FOR US
  • CONTACT
  • Accounting
  • Benefits
  • Payroll
  • Policy and Culture
  • Employment Law
  • Fraud
  • Finance Technology
  • Accounts Payable
  • Credit and Collections
  • Strategy
  • Payments and Transactions
  • Budgeting and Forecasting
  • Banking
  • Staff Management
  • Cost Control
  • Supply Chain
  • IT

CFO Daily News, part of the SuccessFuel Network, provides the latest Finance and employment law news for Finance professionals in the trenches of small-to-medium-sized businesses. Rather than simply regurgitating the day’s headlines, CFO Daily News delivers actionable insights, helping Finance execs understand what Finance trends mean to their business.

Privacy Policy Terms of Service
Copyright © 2021 SuccessFuel

WELCOME BACK!

Enter your username and password below to log in

Forget Your Username or Password?

Reset Password

Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.

Log In

preloader