Process Improvements Drive Business Results
Experts help optimize efficiency, productivity, and cost savings
Efficient business processes are important assets that give companies a competitive advantage. But if you’re using outmoded methods, your processes can hurt your productivity and lead to unnecessary losses due to waste and even fraud. If you’re dealing with delays in project completion, sporadic collections, and late payments, you could benefit from process improvements. But where are you lagging in best practices, and how can you fine-tune your methods? North American Forensic Accounting can help you find the answers. Our experienced business, accounting and internal audit leaders perform value-added assessments that pinpoint deficiencies. Our consultants have industry-specific knowledge across a variety of economic sectors, so we can assess your performance vis a vis similarly situated companies, and suggest remedies for areas of improvement. NAFA can show you how to get the most from your resources to enhance performance and boost your bottom line.
Scrutiny of processes to discover and remedy areas of concern
Many business leaders, especially owners of small businesses who operate in a traditional manner, are resistant to changes in their business methods. “That’s the way we’ve always done it,” they’ll say. But in today’s competitive market, where literally every business is competing globally, force of habit is not a strategy. Your business processes must enable you to reliably replicate and deliver your products or services:
- In a timely manner
- With consistent quality
- While controlling costs
Do your business processes pass that three-point test? Ask yourself these questions:
- How long do orders wait in your pipeline for fulfillment to begin?
- How long do projects wait between each stage of the process?
- How often do you deal with shortages of supplies or materials?
- How high are your storage costs?
- Are late fees a semi-regular expense?
- Do you pay too much overtime?
- Do you regularly have to replace items due to breakage, spoilage, or theft?
- How often do customers cancel because they waited too long for fulfillment?
- How much merchandise gets returned?
- How much difficulty do you have collecting amounts owed?
Candid answers to these questions will reveal areas of concern. A close examination of your processes in these areas can give you the information you need to correct the problem and enhance your efficiency.
Reviews that target business process deficiencies
Our consultants draw upon years of industry experience in order to ask the right questions. We don’t use fancy consultant speak. We use everyday language to get to the bottom of things and our recommendations are unique to your organization’s needs.At NAFA, we perform the deep dive that reveals patterns of inefficiencies and discrepancies indicating where your system is weakest. But we also know that processes are highly dependent on the people implementing them. How we handle the human element truly distinguishes us from other consultants. We conduct interviews with key staff members to elicit information that deepens our understanding of the data we’ve collected. This additional information helps us formulate targeted recommendations that reduce risk and improve performance. Areas of improvement we often suggest include:
- Process documentation and monitoring — We offer process solutions to effectively track every facet of your business.
- Process development and modification — We work with many businesses that are overdue for an update of their processes. Having gotten to know your business, we can suggest new software, improved materials, and staff retraining. We might also recommend searching for different suppliers if quality and reliability have been an issue. Perhaps your job costing needs an overhaul.
Implementing changes can be challenging. But once again, our management of the human element delivers value. We work closely with your staff to develop accurate benchmarks and to implement industry best practices. We show them how to tighten up internal controls and monitor activity, so management receives crucial, timely data to enable sound decisions.
Contact North American Forensic Accounting for process assessments that boost efficiency
North American Forensic Accounting conducts assessments of business processes to help organizations of all sizes improve their efficiency. To learn more, call us at 347-286-4860 or contact one of our offices online to schedule an appointment. NAFA serves clients from offices throughout the United States, including in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New York City, Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami, and the Tampa Bay Area.