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The holidays are over and we’re into the final stretch before the milestone of year end. This is a great time to get your project financial records in shape and set up systems to help you breeze through the end of year demands from your corporate finance people. Today I’m looking at filing systems.
A flexible filing system will help you feel more organised and on top of the financial details. Your files can then easily be archived at the end of the project or handed over to the operational team.
You need:
- Somewhere to store paper documents: ring binder with dividers per project or hanging folders.
- Somewhere to lock away paper documents: filing cabinet, lockable desk drawer etc.
- A place to store electronic documents, preferably on a networked drive so if your PC or laptop breaks your files are not lost. This networked drive should not be available to everyone. Some (if not all) of your financial records will be sensitive, and should not be shared.
- A method of scanning in paper documents for electronic storage.
Keep these in paper format:
- Signed copies of contracts including appendices and amendments
- Any insurance policies you have set up as part of the project
- Escrow agreements
- Signed copies of change control notifications to contract terms
Keep these in electronic format:
- All the above – scanned in and stored electronically with the rest of your project files
- Service level agreements and other contract appendices – keep paper copies as well. The electronic records will be good for easy reference
- Purchase orders
- Invoices
- Quotes
- Contact details for Accounts Receivable, Account Managers and other key financial contacts at your suppliers
Shred these:
- Paper copies of purchase orders and invoices – your corporate finance team responsible for Accounts Payable will also store copies, so you don’t need these
- Paper copies of quotes, once you have stored a copy electronically
Be especially careful with these:
- Financial records relating to project team members.
If your project team members work for you, you’ll probably already have visibility of their salaries, expenses and bonus arrangements. Don’t lump all this in with your ‘project’ records. If the project team works for someone else who has asked for your input to their performance review to award a bonus, or you are responsible for their expenses or timesheets, don’t store this with the project records either. Create a separate, private, ‘Personnel’ filing system for this type of sensitive record.
Posted on: September 08, 2010 04:32 PM |
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