Heard Management

An accounting or “fiscal” audit examines your accounting records and procedures; the emphasis is on the accuracy of your records. A management audit examines the procedures you use in managing and operating your business; the emphasis is on the completeness of your business operating process.

Small businesses often fail because owners are unaware of the many elements that can prevent the business from growing and being successful. Often, small businesses are organized around the manager’s specific area of expertise, such as marketing, accounting or production. This specialized expertise often prevents the business owner from recognizing problems that may arise in others parts of the business.

In a successful business, all important parts of running the business are covered adequately, if not necessarily brilliantly. No major area can be left unattended. A management audit helps you gauge the quality of your management, spot areas where improvement is needed, and make sure that there are no glaring omissions to trip you up.

Your aim is to establish the right balance for your business. Your business is an assembly of systems, each of which has to work well for the whole business to be profitable. A management audit helps make sure that your business has all its necessary parts, that they are all working together towards the same goals, and that the goals are suitable for the resources of your business.

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BUSINESS PLANS

The business plan is a succinct document that specifies the components of a strategy with regard to the business mission, external and internal environments and problems identified in earlier analyses. A business plan is not written each time a modification to a strategy is made. It should be written when you develop a new venture or launch a major new initiative. The business plan serves several important purposes:

- It helps determine the viability of the venture in a designated market.
- It provides guidance to the entrepreneur in organizing his or her planning activities.
- It serves as an important tool in helping to obtain financing

A well-written business plan also will provide broad parameters upon which progress toward goals can be assessed and control decisions made at a later time.

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PROCEDURES & PROCESS IMPROVEMENT

Formal documentation provides a tool for developing internal controls, increased standardization of the control efforts, clarification of responsibilities, and consistent application of management’s policies and procedures.

DETERMINE how to do it right
DOCUMENT how to do it right
DISTRIBUTE the news on how to do it right
TAKE ACTION on those who won’t do it right

Building on the knowledge of your staff, Ms. Heard facilitates the documentation of procedures impacting administrative operations. Heard Management uses an interview, interaction and observation method that has proven successful in the past and has led to increased efficiency and effectiveness. The process of documenting existing procedures will provide insight for evaluating the completeness of internal controls and thereby identify areas in which internal control procedures need to be developed.

Documenting the specific internal controls currently in place will assist staff in ensuring reliable reporting, compliance with laws and regulations, and safeguarding of assets. The resulting manual can serve as a resource for training and evaluation as well as a reference manual. The “team” approach to procedures is recommended for implementation to assure that the quality of procedures is maintained even after the initial project is completed.

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