Why Weak Accounting Leadership Stymies Great Accounting Software

June 5 2012

About Mark Polino

Mark Polino is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a former Microsoft MVP (2007-2018) for Business Solutions. He is the author or coauthor of 5 books related to Microsoft Dynamics GP.  Mark also maintains the Dynamics GP focused website DynamicAccounting.net. He speaks and writes regularly about ERP related topics. Mark has been a controller and CFO for a division of a publicly traded company and he has  worked as a consultant implementing ERP solutions. Mark holds additional certifications including Certified Information Technology Professional (CITP), Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF) , Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA). Dynamics Credentialed Professional for Dynamics GP 2015 (Core Install and Core Financials), Xero Certified. He holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Central Florida and an MBA from Rollins College. Mark lives with his family in Florida.

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Comments

heatherr's picture

I can completely relate to this Mark - the one that I always find amazing is the number of sites that do not check their GL control account balance vs the sub-ledger. Or worse - they know that it doesn't balance but don't do anything about it! We have definitely found that we need consultants in the team who have indepth understanding of accounting processes. I am not a qualified accountant (on paper) but I often find I have more accounting know how than some of the qualified people I work with.

sueconrod's picture

He mentions the customers who are accountants but aren't strong accountants. What I find even more reprehensible, is the number of consulting firms who have "Implementation Specialists" who have no accounting background and no current certifications. Not everyone has to be certified in a consulting company, just a limited number. I had someone go in and decide that the sales deposits feature was not working in GP because it didn't show in the A/R Trial Balance. It isn't supposed to, this is unearned income. The proper way is at month end to print the trial balance showing all deposits and match this up to your orders that have not been transferred to invoices (quick smartlist). If this is not done before more orders are transferred to invoices it is almost impossible to reconcile. Makes for more consulting fees for good companies, but makes the client question all GP consultants and well they should. Customers should be asking if the person who is implementing their system 1. Has an accounting background. 2. Has current certifications and in what.