Being the owner of a growing franchise has a number of benefits. While growth can be exciting and fun, it also creates a number of risks. Rapid growth requires a sophisticated approach to financial management; your lenders and investors will demand a higher level of information and analysis. Your current financial management tools may no longer adequately serve your growing needs.
Parting ways with the technology that has gotten you this far can seem daunting, especially since these solutions and tools have contributed to the franchise’s growth. Integration issues, data migration, end-user training, cost and potential for downtime are all elements of a technology upgrade and can dissuade even the boldest franchise owner.
However, having a robust financial management solution in place is critical to support you in your growth for many reasons. Reliable and timely financial data is crucial for informed business decision-making. A franchise accounting and financial management solution provides accurate, up-to-date financial information that can guide your decisions about operations, strategy, investments and more. Transparency and accuracy in financial management can boost the confidence of investors, lenders and other stakeholders. This can improve a company’s ability to attract future investment.
But how do you know where you stand? Are you close to maximizing what you have? Does your current tech stack adequately meet your needs?
Here are a few examples of common inefficiencies that, if present in your business, could indicate the need to reassess your tech stack to ensure it’s helping you achieve your franchise accounting and financial management goals..
Manual Processes
Many growth-oriented franchises find themselves struggling to eliminate the manual processes that have been created out of necessity. Limitations inherent in accounting tools may have required manual workarounds. However, these tedious activities can be eliminated with automation and AI currently available in many solutions. The process fluidity and transaction acceleration (real-time) that can be achieved are significant. In turn, optimized processes can result in better cash management, spend control and risk mitigation.
Time-Consuming Monthly Close
Is your monthly close a time-consuming grind? Almost nine out of 10 business owners report it takes up to 14 days to complete the financial close every month. Challenges to the process abound — three areas that present the biggest obstacles in the monthly financial close are data inaccuracies, spreadsheet-based close processes and technology limitations. Speeding up your monthly close provides more timely visibility into the financial health and performance of the business. Every day saved is one day faster in making informed decisions.
Time-Consuming Reporting
Robust and accurate financial reporting that is automatically generated from your financial management solution should be the norm. However, in practice, many multi-unit franchise owners rely on spreadsheets or ancillary solutions to produce financial reports. Automation in financial reporting is not only possible but easily within reach. Many cloud-based financial management solutions feature consolidated financial reporting and dashboards that eliminate the need for manual spreadsheets.
Don’t Let False Technology Assumptions Hinder Your Franchise Accounting
There is an unprecedented amount of technological advancement occurring within the financial management and accounting sector. It is difficult to keep up with the pace of change let alone adopt new technologies. But keeping an open mind about the impact of automation on your franchise business is critical!
The team at RKL Virtual can help you assess your financial management system. Contact your advisor or use the form below to let us know you are interested in learning more.
