The challenge
A Denver cemetery and mortuary was facing an organizational crisis. Executives and owners were managing the businesses without the financial information they needed to produce budgets, forecast performance, and concentrate on critical operational issues. Their challenges stemmed from three areas:
- Delayed and inaccurate financial statements: Which resulted in ineffective cash management and the inability to monitor daily activities, make financial management decisions, and achieve increased profitability.
- Lack of internal controls: Which led to the inability to detect and prevent fraud and potential liability if customer financial information is compromised.
- Unnecessarily complex software systems: Where a lack of training and experience resulted in work being done outside the system (i.e., in Excel).
The solution
Our experts quickly provided support and an accounting solution that allowed executives/owners to focus on strategic areas of business performance. Our outsourced accounting team:
- Conducted accounting evaluation interviews to document processes, identify areas for improvement, and formulate recommended changes.
- Restored balance sheet accuracy, designed financial reporting, and agreed to new accounting systems through our reporting transformation and process implementation process.
- Provided ongoing mid- to high-level accounting support, including verification of oversight of internal accounting staff data entry and production of month-end close, controller-level financial statements and reports, and CFO-level revenue and profitability analysis.
The benefit
Following the engagement, the cemetery and funeral home saw several benefits, including:
- Timely, accurate, & useful financial statements.
- Cost savings through reduced internal staffing needs.
- Reduced risk through internal controls over cash receipts/disbursements.
According to our client's Executive Vice President, "We like to be seen as more than just a cemetery and funeral home. We view Plante Moran as more than just an accounting services provider. Our previous accounting process was archaic and time-consuming. We streamlined our processes, allowing us to focus on our business growth goals. We trust their skills and expertise. We rely on their insights and advice. And we truly enjoy working with their responsive and collaborative teams.”
