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Kevin Lalor's headshot
Kevin Lalor CEO

Time management course for finance?

Asked on Dec. 28, 2013

Can anyone recommend a time management course that would be good for a controller type? My controller is having a hard time keeping up with her duties. She does fine on the daily and weekly stuff but the monthly, quarterly and annual tasks seem to get away from her. (I just received notice that we had not filed our quarterly sales tax report since June.) I don't think the load is too much. She is very "social" and she has an assistant who she is not utilizing. Also, our previous controller was able to manage the workload fine. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Answers

Wayne Spivak's headshot
Wayne Spivak President & CFO • December 29, 2013

Why not teach her what a "Tickler File" is, and reinforce the financial penalties for failure to file. Add to this a check-off sheet so that she doesn't miss items in the monthly close.

If she can't manage after these tools are introduced/reinforced, maybe she really isn't Controller material...

Kevin Lalor's headshot
Kevin Lalor CEO • December 29, 2013

I have heard the term but I was not familiar with this concept. I have investigated and I just ordered such a file folder system.

Thank you.

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Wayne Spivak's headshot
Wayne Spivak President & CFO • December 30, 2013

Can also be done with any computer calendar system, such as Outlook or iCal.

Good luck!

Regis Quirin's headshot
Regis Quirin Director of Finance • December 30, 2013

The issue may not be a time management situation. I had an experience with a Controller that I managed. He assumed all responsibility; delegated nothing; worked very late continually; and could be characterized as providing terrible customer service to internal customers. As a result, the staff would allow that individual to do more and more work, i.e. pass requests off to him. The solution that worked for me – establish documented policies and procedures; provide full job descriptions to staff; and develop an Accounting calendar. As soon as the staff understood clearly their roles, responsibilities and accountabilities, missed deadlines stopped and customer service increased.

If nothing I wrote relates to your situation...a calendar sounds good.

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Wayne Spivak's headshot
Wayne Spivak President & CFO • December 30, 2013

Sounds like Gilda Radners' SNL's Roseanne Roseannadanna closing line in every skit:

"Never Mind..." LOL!

Gary Johnson's headshot
Gary Johnson IT Audit Project Manager • December 30, 2013

I picked up an older book, "Managing Management Time" by William Oncken, at a library sale, and am re-reading it. It has some great ideas on time management as a manager. The company also offers seminars at http://www.onckencorp.com.

Kevin Lalor's headshot
Kevin Lalor CEO • December 30, 2013

This is great stuff guys. I love that I can get this kind of feedback here.

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Wayne Spivak's headshot
Wayne Spivak President & CFO • December 31, 2013

That's the concept :) and compared to LinkedIn (where you can occassionaly also get good info) it's without all the SPAM !

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