January 24, 2025

Who’s Watching Your Wallet? Guidance for Entrepreneurs at Year-End


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Who’s Watching Your Wallet? Guidance for Entrepreneurs at Year End by Brian CalifanoFor entrepreneurs, year-end financials are more than just numbers — they reflect the overall health and trajectory of the business. As founders balance multiple roles and responsibilities, ensuring financial accuracy and integrity can feel overwhelming. Implementing strong accounting controls — both detective and preventative — is critical for streamlining this process and creating a foundation for informed decisions, compliance, and sustainable growth.

THIS IS ABOUT TO GET VERY GEEKY WITH ACCOUNTING TERMINOLOGY — YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Accounting controls safeguard a company’s financial operations.

Detective controls identify and address errors or irregularities after they occur.

*Monthly reconciliations
*P&L and balance sheet variance analysis (last year vs. this year, etc.)
*Employee expense report review
*Regular reviews with key executive management team members

Preventative controls work proactively to stop them before they happen.

*Structured approval process
*Automated accounting systems
*Segregation of duties in finance department
*Two-factor authorization for key systems

Together, these controls form a framework that empowers entrepreneurs to finalize their year-end financials with confidence and accuracy. Entrepreneurs often face unique challenges in managing financial processes, particularly when resources are limited. Establishing accounting controls is not merely about compliance — it’s about building a business culture of accountability, transparency, and operational efficiency.

  • For entrepreneurs, the accuracy of year-end financials impacts everything from tax filings to investor relations.

If you think it’s time to implement some procedural changes to your finance function, here’s how to get started: 

      1. Ask somebody with non-finance expertise to review reports and have him or her ask questions about the content. Often, people with an outside perspective will question the status quo and ask unique questions. 
      2. Have department heads and/or key management start to sit down with their operating team and review financial results and reports on a regular basis. This increases accountability and highlights finance controls. 
      3. Have an IT team, either internally or externally, examine your controls in order to ensure data integrity. 

If you made it this far in the article, congratulations! The geeky accounting terms and definitions did not bore you to tears — and we hope they’ll be helpful to you in the future.

Take-away: If you want to learn how to build a solid foundation of business controls in your accounting and finance department, reach out to Brian at info@acceleratingcfo.com


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