Creating Accounting Policies and Procedures
![]() |
Aditi Bansal |
Updated on Sunday, July 09, 2017
The importance of proper accounting policies and procedures cannot be overstated. Every organization should have this manual in place to ensure compliance with governmental and grant requirements.

tags #Accounting Policies and Procedures #Organised Writing #
Accounting policies and procedures are critical because they act as a guiding tool in ensuring that your employees work without supervision. Again, they are easily understood, which means that in situations where your business doesn’t accept checks, it would be impossible for any of your employees to accept checks – even when you are not around to monitor them. Drafting accounting policies and procedures aren't easy, but once they are in place, they should enable you to keep the processes simple and standardized.
Here is what to consider:
It’s important to always have an organized writing
This means having a separate section for fixed assets, accounts receivable, and accounts payable. Also, consider using number systems when organizing your documentation and ensure that each policy and procedure is given a number. For instance, the accounts payable can be labeled as 1 and accounts receivable given a 2. That means if you are searching for a document relating to bill payments then you can easily find it on the 1s series.
Consider using a template when drafting the policies and procedures
It makes it easier to write or understand the documentation. It’s also vital to have a format that is labeled at the top with the document number, date, and name. Additionally, create a “purpose” section which describes the goal of the policy and procedure.
Use the correct grammar and spelling
Given that policies and procedures are utilized by a lot of people, makes it concise and accurate to avoid misinterpretations. Try and avoid using people’s names but instead use their position and ensure that you are consistent with your writing to avoid any confusion. For instance, if you have a filling bill named “Accounting clerk,” you shouldn’t rename it to “Filing clerk” or “Clerk I.”
Ensure that your policies are designed with internal control in mind
For instance, it shouldn’t be the task of the bookkeeper to sign off checks. In fact, any disbursed check should be followed with a sign-off from the manager or owner and should acknowledge authorization of goods and services that were received through the proper channels.
This page has a focus on Accounting Policies and Procedures, Organised Writing was shared by Aditi Bansal.
- 7 B2B Marketing Strategies Examples For Long-term Success
- Six Steps for an Effective B2B Content Marketing Strategy
- Five Steps To Making Sales Through Social Media
- Why B2B Marketers Still Struggle at Conversion Optimization of Leads
- LinkedIn lead generation. 3 Simple Steps that can Swiftly Increase Linkedin Lead Generation
- A 3 step guide to get started on LinkedIn Sales Navigator
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator, GMail & CRM: Working Together to Boost Sales
- The Top 12 LinkedIn Tools to Improve Sales Prospecting
- 6 Advanced LinkedIn Prospecting Tactics that help Sales Reps to boost sales
- How Your Team Can Make the Most of LinkedIn Sales Navigator
- How to use LinkedIn effectively as a personal CRM system
- Quality features to look for in a B2B CRM System
- Tools and services for B2B marketers on Social Media Marketing
- 5 Ways of using B2B CRM To Achieve Best Marketing Growth
- Important Lessons for B2B technology PR from Donald Trump’s Campaign
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator Cost: How to decide if It's Worth It
- Which B2B Social Media Network is Best for your Marketing Strategy?
- How to Leverage CRM for B2B Content Marketing
- 10 Essential B2B Social Media Tools for Efficient Marketing
- B2B MARKETING IDEAS: THE SKYSCRAPER TECHNIQUE
- B2B Lead Generation Tactics in Commercial Insurance Markets
- B2B Social Media Marketing: Smart Ways to Generate Leads
- B2B Video Marketing: Best Practices to engage customers and improve conversion
- B2B SEO: Best Practices
- B2B Social Selling: Making a Foolproof Plan
- B2B Marketing Automation Market Trends
- B2B Marketing Automation: 6 Steps to Select the Best Platform
- 6 Important Tips to Use Twitter for B2B Social Selling
- B2B Magazines: Top Trends and Challenges for Marketers
- B2B Websites: Best Practices to Increase Traffic and Conversion Rates
- B2B Lead Generation Company: How to choose to get the best results?
- B2B Telemarketing: 7 Tips to Boost Lead Generation
- B2B Email Marketing: 10 Quick Tactics for Lead Generation
- B2B Email Marketing Strategy: 6 Best Practices for Sure-Shot Results
- Top 5 B2B Marketing Tools to Leverage for Automation
- A Few Ways Marketers Fail in B2B Telemarketing
- 5 B2B Content Marketing Strategies for Effective Lead Generation
- Buying Email Lists for B2B Email Marketing? Bad Idea. Build an Email List of Your Own
- Top 9 Effective B2B Facebook Marketing Strategies
- Marketing Strategies for Optimum B2B Lead Generation
- 7 Ideas to Engage a B2B Audience via Instagram
- Aren't You Using Quora for B2B Marketing?
- 7 Actionable Tips for B2B Reddit Marketing
- 5 Benefits of Business Process Management that you must consider
- 5 Essentials for a successful Business Process Mapping
- 5 Major Business Problems that Business Process Automation Solves
- Marketing Stats of 2016 Offer Clues to Actionable B2B Marketing Strategy for 2017
- Trends in Marketing Automation Technology- Asia that you must know
- Synchronizing Sales & Marketing for a Successful B2B Marketing Campaign
- 5 Important Components of Client Relationship Management
- Why Readership on Your Digital Publishing Platform is Dropping
- 7 things to know about B2B commerce
- Digital Ecosystem Maps for Digital Marketing Success
- Advantages of Business Process Mapping
- Supplier Relationship management for procurement challenges
- Are you a Business Owner? 5 Benefits of Using CRM Software
- B2B Lead Generation Strategies for 2020
- Generating Leads Using LinkedIn
- Digital ecosystem for e commerce players
- What is a B2B e commerce platform
- Top 10 Benefits of B2B E-commerce