Book of Secrets on the Month-End Close

1. Introduction
2. What Is ART? 00:04:15
3. Announcements 00:04:45
4. The Puzzle of Motivation 00:07:56
5. The Candle Problem – Idea Based 00:09:52
6. The Answer 00:10:41
7. The Candle Problem – Task Based 00:11:24
8. The Candle Problem – Idea Based 00:11:59
9. Autonomy - The Freedom Of Self-Direction 00:14:12
10. Mastery - The Urge To Get Better At Something 00:14:20
11. Purpose - Having A Good Reason 00:14:30
12. Autonomy - The Freedom Of Self-Direction 00:14:45
13. Autonomy - Tip #1 - Freedom to Experiment 00:16:09
14. Autonomy - Tip # 2 - Build a Feedback Loop 00:18:03
15. Autonomy - Tip # 3 - Seek External Stimulation 00:19:54
16. Mastery - The Urge To Get Better At Something 00:23:02
17. Mastery - Tip # 4 - Clean Up The Chart Of Accounts 00:23:44
18. Mastery - Tip # 5 - Document Policies and Procedures 00:28:45
19. Mastery - Tip # 6 - Cross Train More Than Once 00:31:18
20. Mastery - Tip # 7 - Always Be Closing 00:32:41
21. Mastery - Tip # 8 - Utilize Metrics 00:35:41
22. Mastery - Tip # 9 - Automate 00:40:13
23. Purpose - Having A Good Reason 00:44:45
24. Purpose - Tip # 10 - Think Organizationally 00:46:47
25. Purpose - Tip # Exercise. Rest 00:50:17
26. Thank You! 00:51:38
27. Last Tips And Takeaways 00:55:09
28. Presentation Closing 00:59:39

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  Nancy Wu

  Nancy Wu has spent most of her career working in consulting and auditing various accounting departments’ financial close processes for public and private organizations ($200 Million to $4 Billion).Her published work around leveraging user behavior to design internal controls is archived in the Cor [...]

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• Audit 00:22:59
• Balance Sheet (BS) 00:48:43
• Balance Sheet Flux Analysis 00:04:26
• Benchmarking 00:21:50
• Chart of Accounts 00:23:58
• P&L Variance Analysis 00:04:28
• Reconciliation 00:48:36
• Wage 00:08:59

Audit: A formal examination of an organization's or individual's accounts or financial situation

Balance Sheet (BS): A financial report that summarizes a company's assets (what it owns), liabilities (what it owes) and owner or shareholder equity at a given time.

Balance Sheet Flux Analysis: Balance sheet flux analysis, also known as fluctuation variance analysis, is an accounting tool that compares balance sheet accounts over time to identify and analyze significant variations. It can help companies make informed decisions, mitigate risks, and conduct balance sheet forecasting.

Benchmarking: A process of comparing the performance of a procurement function with that of its best competitor or the best organization in its industry.

Chart of Accounts: Chart of Accounts is the complete list of all the company’s accounts and balances. In QuickBooks, it represents and organizes the company's assets, liabilities, income, and expense. QuickBooks automatically creates your chart of accounts based on the industry and type of company you choose when creating your company file. If you just created your file, make sure to record the accounts' opening balances.

P&L Variance Analysis: Profit and loss (P&L) variance analysis is a process that compares a company's actual financial results to its expected results to identify differences or variances. The difference between the actual and expected results is called the variance, and it can be positive or negative.

Reconciliation: Payroll reconciliation is when you compare your payroll register with the amount you're planning to pay out to your employees to confirm those numbers match. The simplest way to think about it is double-checking your math to ensure that you pay your employees correctly. Payroll reconciliation should happen frequently.

Wage: A fixed regular payment, typically paid on a daily or weekly basis, made by an employer to an employee, especially to a manual or unskilled worker.