Outdated Processes: The Silent Killer of Company Growth

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Bonus episode #88: Your internal business processes are either empowering your team or quietly sabotaging your organization's success. As finance leaders, we must ensure our systems add value rather than create obstacles to growth and profitability.

Monthly close procedures provide a perfect example of process challenges. While the goal remains consistent across organizations—producing accurate financial statements and comprehensive business performance snapshots—execution varies dramatically. Many finance teams struggle with inefficient sequences, excessive approval layers, and outdated methodologies that transform what should be a streamlined operation into a dreaded monthly ordeal. The growing interest in "day zero close" reflects this widespread frustration with traditional approaches.

Episode outline:

1. Do your processes cause frustration?
2. Are your senior leaders receiving what they need?
3. Do your processes encourage long-term growth?
4. Are you reviewing your processes?

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For more resources, please visit Finance Leader Academy:  financeleaderacademy.com.

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Episode Transcript

Stephen McLain (00:00):
Hi. This is Stephen McLain of the finance
leader podcast. This is bonusepisode number 88 it's another
amazing day to be leading a teaminfluencing positive actions and
elevating the people around us.
That's leadership. One of ourcore responsibilities as leaders
is to achieve results, to getthings the right things done on
time and to a high level ofexpectation. Leaders set

(00:24):
priorities, establish clearguidelines and expectations, and
set up their teams to succeedwith the resources and training
that they need. That's what weare supposed to do every single
day this week, I want to talkbriefly about our internal
processes, which also includesystems you use your routine
tasks, recurring meetings andanything else you use to conduct

(00:48):
daily business. These processesare set to help guide us to a
standard or the way we want tosee something completed. They
should always be used to guideinstead of to hinder progress.
We don't let processes stop usfrom growing the business. If
that's happening, we need toupdate our processes. A great

(01:09):
example is how we conductmonthly close every organization
almost does it differently. Theconcept might be the same, but
the processes, I bet, have lotsof variation. The end product of
monthly close are accuratefinancial statements, a better
understanding of criticalmetrics and a complete snapshot

(01:29):
of business performance for allstakeholders to use in their
duties. To achieve that, theinternal processes for monthly
close have to be correct andtimely. Are yours now, let's
discuss a few issues regardingyour internal business
processes. Number one, do yourprocesses cause frustration?

(01:51):
Your business processes shouldcreate easy to execute tasks
that save time and not causefrustration. Are there multiple
layers to your processes, orrequired manager approvals for
every single task, or evenhorrible micromanagement?
Monthly close is especiallynotorious for having archaic

(02:12):
processes that often sloweverything down because of how
the steps may be assignedmonthly clothes, particularly on
the accounting side, has to becompleted in the proper
sequence. But does your sequencemake sense? Are people waiting
on one process to end beforethey begin theirs? Or do the
files move around the staff in afrustrating way? All this and

(02:37):
more can make monthly closedreadful. I am also very curious
about our profession moving to aday zero close in the future for
this very reason, and I'm verycurious how we are going to
accomplish that. More to follow,I'm sure. Number two, are your
senior leaders receiving whatthey need to make better

(02:58):
decisions. Our processes mustsupport timely decision making.
If we are not properlysupporting decision makers, then
we need to start by consideringeverything we are doing.
Decision makers, our seniorleadership, need timely and
accurate information so theymake better decisions. It's our
duty and responsibility asksenior leaders, if they are

(03:19):
getting what they need, it'salso possible that they really
don't know what they need, soit's a great time to manage up
to help them. Number three, doyour processes encourage or
hinder long term businessgrowth? What I don't like
hearing is an excuse whysomething can't be done due to a
process or system issue. Ifthere is a great opportunity for

(03:41):
the company to increase growthby adding a new line of
business, and then someone onthe finance team says we can't
support that due to ouraccounting structure, or maybe
the Chart of Accounts doesn'thave the right account set up,
well, then we have some updatingto do. We have to get
uncomfortable for a short timeso we can support long term
growth, fix and update theprocess to support what needs to

(04:04):
be tracked, recorded andanalyzed to better support long
term business growth. And numberfour, are you reviewing your
processes on a regular basis? Wehave to review our systems, our
processes, our workload, ourrecurring meetings and really
everything on a regular basis,so that you know that your team

(04:26):
is focused in the rightdirection and that the structure
in place supports your team andsupports senior leadership in
what they need. Don't let oldprocesses hinder growth and
profitability. Don't let yourteam members, or your leadership
gets stuck in old ways,continually challenge how
something is done. Now, ourprocesses should be adding

(04:47):
value, not taking away value.
They should be supporting thebusiness and the team in a
positive way. If they are not,you need to review everything
and make the necessaryadjustments. We. Ultimately
talking about having a growthmindset. So we focus on
improving in everything we do,never becoming too comfortable,
always challenging the statusquo and continually striving to

(05:11):
achieve positive results. Ourmindset is the gateway in
becoming better in performanceand in leadership. One last
thought, and I'll mention againnext week, we are approaching
the end of the quarter, so it'sa great time to review our
goals. Ensure you schedule sometime with your team members so
you can help coach them onperformance and goal

(05:32):
achievement. And don't forgetabout yourself too. Now thank
you again for listening. Pleasevisit finance leader academy.com
to find more resources. Thankyou. Applause.