Accounts Payable From A To Z: Fill & Download for Free

When a company gets too large, certain accounting functions are segregated and performed by a department dedicated to that function.Payroll processing is one of those departments.Other departments typically include accounts payable, accounts receivable, cost accounting and/or inventory control, fixed assets, tax, and sales audit (for retailers).What remains is a department called 'general accounting', which does journal entries, financial statements and everything else.Payroll, as you can imagine, is the department responsible for getting all the employees paid in a timely manner. Their responsibilities include making sure all the times worked are accurate so hourly employees may be paid properly (i.e. regular plus overtime), new hires are in the system, correcting any timekeeping mistakes and omissions, payroll tax filings, setting up direct deposits, filling out W-4 forms for new hires, preparing termination checks, and so forth — basically everything from A to Z that has to do with employee paychecks.

Early tell tale signs* FD or CFO starts to have more lunch meeting than usual* Blame culture starts to kick in* Mid level roles gets chopped so the board gets "closer" to the business* Directors don't renew their car leases for next 3 years* Key individuals start to carefully update their linkedin profiles* The company Vision is either too vague or hinged on one thing happening* There's triple the amount of reporting implemented (to get control)* Employee benefits are introduced to replace cash increases and bonus* Customer dissatisfaction increasing or above average levels* Accounts Payables and Accounts Receivables above average levels* Consultants are brought in for an outside view* Too much innovation in a desperate attempt to find new revenue or cost cutting without a coherent plan and vision* Lack of enthusiasm to own projects at senior management levelTime to get out when ...* A cashflow committee is formed* Jobs don't get replaced when a person leaves* The business runs on voluntary additional hours* Thing get sold off when perceived as valuable* Pay structures are re-focused heavily on performance results* Key customers get frustratedMind you it depends on what you enjoy in a role as some might see it as more of a challenge to improve the business :)I also like the Altman Z Score system (from the 60's) as still fairly reliable to this day ... http://www.creditguru.com/CalcAltZ.shtml

Back in 1983 I had worked for a company for 2 years in the accounting department. I was a lowly entry-level accounts payable clerk and I worked with a gal in my same position. The two of us split the alphabet. She was responsible for vendors names who started with “A” through “L” and my vendors' names started with “M” through “Z”. When it came time for our annual performance reviews, I was overheard telling my coworker that I hoped I would get at least $7 when we got our raises. The Controller called me into her office and the Assistant Controller shut the door and sat down next to me in the other chair across from the Controllers desk. The Controller began our little meeting by asking me how my coworker knew how much I made per hour. I said I didn't know that my coworker knew how much I made. Then I was told that I needed to read the company handbook again because it was company policy not to discuss your salary, and since I had been overheard discussing my salary she would have to let me go. So I lost my job for saying how much I wanted to get in the review but I hadn't told my co-worker what I was currently making. Since my boyfriend at the time also worked at the company I attended the company picnic with him after I had lost my job. One of his co-workers said to me, “ I heard you got fired because you were telling “company secrets””. I corrected him but there was no getting my job back. Much later in life I found out that from an employment attorney that the company policy violated the free speech amendment to the Constitution and therefore they should not have fired me, but by then I was the Controller of another company and responsible for top secret payroll for the executives of my company. Lesson learned.