Improve District Financial Management with a Process Review

Business Managers have plenty of tasks that keep them busy, and it seems like more are added each year. Between monitoring grants, managing staff, getting vendors paid, and putting out the daily finance fires that pop up, every business manager wants to be more efficient and get more done. But where should you start? And who has the time to think about improving efficiency when daily work takes up all your time?   

The best place to start is with a process review!  

What is a Process Review?  

A process review starts by gaining an understanding – from start to finish – of all your financial processes and internal controls through staff interviews and a review of policies and procedures. The review helps us identify bottlenecks, manual data entry, internal control gaps, or duplicative work. Once we have this information, the Maner team creates a customized report highlighting specific concerns and areas for improvement.   

The report offers detailed, realistic suggestions for addressing any issues. These recommendations may include leveraging technology for electronic invoice approval or streamlining the bank reconciliation process. If board reporting is a concern, we may suggest and help design a reporting dashboard that delivers clear, digestible reports. Every district is unique, so our recommendations are always tailored to your unique needs.     

In addition to the narrative in the report, we include Maner’s risk and efficiency matrices. Complete overhauls rarely succeed, so these visual tools help you focus on the improvements that will have the most significant impact. Finally, each report includes detailed process maps—visualizations that show your current processes and what they could be after implementing our recommendations.   

What About My Audit?  

We often hear that a process review isn’t helpful or necessary because districts are required to have annual audits. Audits are undoubtedly valuable, as they are the highest level of assurance a CPA can offer and provide reasonable assurance that your financial statements are materially correct. Great audit teams may even provide a management letter with general suggestions on internal control improvements. However, audits don’t dig into the root causes of inefficiencies or internal control breakdowns. They can only take you so far.  

A process review fills in the gaps left by the audit, offering a comprehensive look at your finance office’s operations and helping you identify practical solutions that improve workflows, reduce redundancies, and support long-term success.  

When to Start Your Process Review  

While there’s never a bad time for a process review, there are times when it’s especially important:  

• Upcoming Retirements: One of the best ways to ensure continuity of activity and capture institutional knowledge is through a process review.  
• Recent Finance Staff Departures: With tighter budgets and fewer candidates, we can’t always replace a position when someone leaves. This presents an excellent opportunity to streamline without sacrificing internal controls.  
• Audit Findings: Audit comments often relate to the separation of duties or timeliness of reconciliations.  A process review can help the district find effective ways to address these comments and make the audit process smoother.   
• Software Sunsets: Technology changes daily, and many legacy software packages are sunsetting. Software implementations can be stressful, but a process review can ensure you optimize workflows and avoid transferring inefficient processes into a new platform.   

If any of these apply to your district or if you just need some time back in your day, the consulting team at Maner Costerisan is here to guide you. Reach out to us at maner@manercpa.com or call us directly at 517.323.7500 for more information.