• 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

Techie ‘Deepthroat’ exposes how IT really feels about Finance

Jennifer Azara
by Jennifer Azara
September 19, 2008
  • Accounting
  • Finance Technology
2 minute read
  • SHARE ON

OK, so IT gripes about every department. But there are some finance-specific bugaboos that really get their goat.

With the amount finance departments depend on technology, having a little intel on what’s going on in your techies’ minds could pave a smoother working relationship — and get Finance to the top of the to-help list.

We found a techie “Deepthroat” who was willing to ID the three things that irk tech folks most. Here’s what makes the list:

Annoyance No. 1: Spreadsheets

You know spreadsheets aren’t the perfect solution, but they’re the lifeblood of most Finance departments. But what happens when a given process outgrows Excel (and many do)?

That’s where the trouble comes in for IT. At some point, you may want IT to turn it in to software. But IT often doesn’t understand the “business of finance,” and chances are you aren’t well versed in modeling a business process in software.

Your best compromise: For any future projects — even “wish list” ones — be sure to involve IT early so they can suggest ways to set things up. They have incentive to make time for you — it’ll save them a lot of headaches down the road.

With projects already in the works, be prepared to offer a lot of background and explanation how what goes into that particular process you want automated. It couldn’t hurt to document what goes into creating those spreadsheets too (a good control for Finance anyway).

Annoyance No. 2: Reorganization

“Moving accounts around in the ledger,” “Having a certain department’s expenses capitalized” — all noble plans. And probably some of which you’ve tried to do before. But the more automated Finance is, the more critical it is you alert IT when you make changes like that. It can open up a rather messy can of worms otherwise.

Your best compromise: If you’re going to want that flexibility (and you most likely do), it needs to be built in from the start. That’s something you want to bring up when you first start talking to IT about new software, programs, etc.

Annoyance No. 3: Accounting rules

Think of the fits that ever-changing accounting rules and regulations give you and your finance staff.

They also do a number on IT, who pride themselves on being able to explain the basics of a ledger and double-entry accounting. When it comes to SOX, GAAP, FASB and IASB, they barely have a clue.

Those rules really do affect the way software has to be designed. If you initially ask for a simple chart of accounts, but during the testing phase you realize that the accounting rules require your company to amortize monthly P&L changes, the entire system may be a write off.

Your best compromise: Talk with IT about features that would be nearly impossible to add in down the road. If the software hasn’t captured time-series data, for example, that’s the kind of thing that’s very tough to add in later.

Jennifer Azara
Jennifer Azara
Jennifer, a member of the CFO Daily News staff, has covered business and finance for more than 22 years. She has written for CFOs, credit and collections professionals and accounts payable practitioners and has spoken at industry conferences on sales and use tax compliance.

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