Page 19 - Accounting Best Practices

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How to Use Best Practices
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with high-level corporate planning is required to ensure that the correct projects
are completed.
Given the large number of issues to resolve in order to give an implementa-
tion project a reasonable chance of success, it is apparent that the presence of a
manager who is very experienced in the intricacies of project planning is a key
component of an effective project team. Consequently, the acquisition of such a
person should be one of the first steps to include in a project plan.
This section described in general terms the key components of a project plan
that must be considered in order to foresee where problems may arise in the
course of an implementation. We now proceed to a discussion of the impact of
time on the success of a best practices implementation.

TIMING OF BEST PRACTICES
Both the timing of a best practice implementation and the time it takes to com-
plete it have a major impact on the likelihood of success.
The timing of an implementation project is critical. For example, an installa-
tion that comes at the same time as a major deliverable in another area will
receive scant attention from the person who is most responsible for using the best
practice, since it takes a distant second place to the deliverable. Also, any project
that comes on the heels of a disastrous implementation will not be expected to
succeed, though this problem can be overcome by targeting a quick and easy pro-
ject that results in a rapid success—and that overcomes the stigma of the earlier
failure. Further, proper implementation timing must take into account other pro-
ject implementations going on elsewhere in the company or even in the same
department, so that there is not a conflict over project resources. Only by care-
fully considering these issues prior to scheduling a project will a best practice
implementation not be impacted by timing issues.
In addition to timing, the time required to complete a project is of major
importance. A quick project brings with it the aura of success, a reputation for
completion, and a much better chance of being allowed to take on a more diffi-
cult and expensive project. Alternatively, a project that impacts lots of depart-
ments or people, or that involves the liberal application of cutting-edge technol-
ogy, runs a major risk of running for a long time; and the longer the project, the
greater the risk that something will go wrong, objections will arise, or that
funding will run out. Thus, close attention to project duration will increase the
odds of success.

IMPLEMENTING BEST PRACTICES

The actual implementation of any best practice requires a great degree of careful
planning, as noted earlier. However, planning is not enough. The implementation