I remember having to study Accounting 101 when I studied Information Systems. At the time I had wondered what the purpose of it was. The rationale given was that 80% of software is written either for or because of bean counters. More time goes by, I am seeing businesses becoming agile and learning new ways to deliver services faster and in a more competitive way.

Sadly, the accounting and HR systems seem not to have caught up with this. When you and a customer can commercially agree a mutually beneficial business model, it becomes a chore to then translate that into the internal system. More often than not, It cannot be done, as the processes have not thought about these ‘revolutionary’ possibilities. These are systems that are sticklers for process and you end up working your existing systems to somehow shoehorn these new models.

Organisations must realise they can only be as agile as their least agile part of the business. Otherwise you get into a tangle trying to respond quick with your front office, but end up inventing process to placate your back office.

Anyone else grapple with similar issues?

Image credit: dwmbeancounter.com

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