Executive Summary
Our Executive Management Team at Atha has set a goal to double sales company wide. There have been exciting changes within the company that now give us the opportunity to expand our technology and capacities. These new resources make it possible for us to take the company to the next level. We will be hiring new staff and making changes to the all of the departments, primarily focusing on the Account and Finance as well as Human Resources. We need your help in ensuring that our work remains quality, accurate and safe. We are looking forward to showing you that we will rise to the occasion and prove that we can handle anything that comes our way. It is an exciting time for our company. We are pushing boundaries with new technology and leading the competition in growth. In this plan you will find our recommendations for improving daily functions in accounting, as well as staffing plans that will make it easy to attain our demanding goals. This plan will detail the necessary steps to improve the department, organize the newly increased staff to efficiently use resources through the creation of a new organization chart, lead the employees by providing a clear mission and goals through carefully crafted communications, and create adequate controls and communicate performance to the company to ensure organizational focus.
Executive Plan
Account & Finance Department
The Account and Finance department focuses on the processes to ensure that accounts receivable and payable are being handled accurately. There are many functions within these departments that require strategic management. The purpose of planning helps the department to set measurable goals and ways to achieve them thus promoting success for the department. A comprehensive plan helps managers to assess each aspect of the accounts receivable, payable, and monthly reporting. An assessment helps to determine the areas of strength within the department. It also determines areas of weakness and ways for improvement. These assessments help the department to craft goals and objectives that will be very specific and directive in nature. The goal of planning strategically gives the department a map to follow to reach the company’s overall goals. It also allows them to follow chain of command accurately in ensuring any questions or answers are being directed to the right person for an efficient response. As we continue to make improvements through out the department, our mission to motivate our employees and retain existing ones continues to be a goal. With a revised purpose statement stating, “In a spirit of excellence, integrity, and dedication, The Finance Department is committed to providing timely, accurate, clear, and complete information and support to all departments. Our goals with a revised purpose statement are to not only to encourage our employees but to also allow them to be aware of the expectations set fourth.
Not only was a new purpose statement implemented, there was also additional employees added to help with the overflow of the new expectations. Each employee was interviewed with a round of serious questioning, to understand their background, experience, and what help the individual would be able to offer our department. Each of the interview questions pertain specifically to our department and ensuring an individual can handle the volume of work that our department will be managing. It allowed for strategic methods in developing a plan to hire new employees that would appropriately fit the department. The Account and Finance Department is committed to exceed the expectations of the company with the highest standards, service and quality work. We value the company’s goals and strive to maintain long-standing relationships with all vendors, as well as timely service.
Human Resources Department
The function of the Human Resources department is to ensure that company policies are current as well as properly distributed to the workforce. Additionally they are tasked with recruiting, interviewing, and hiring employees. The Human Resources Department is committed to recruiting, developing, and retaining a high performing workforce for every department within the company. We desire to promote an environment that is productive and efficient for our employees and establish Atha Corporation as an employer of choice. In hiring of new employees for the Human Resource department, candidates were asked questions specifically related to the job functions of this specific department. It allowed the managers to gather a general understanding of the individual’s knowledge, job experience, and goals for the company. Since developing a larger Human Resource department it seemed only appropriate to also develop a new purpose statement. The new statement states, “ The Atha Corporation Human Resources Staff employees, develops, and protects company’s most respected resource-
it’s employees. We are committed to attracting, retaining, and supporting qualified diverse workforce in order to meet the needs of our employees. We do this by providing quality service to all of our staff, and adhering to open, equitable and ethical standards”. The new statement reflects how this department is to function at all times and sets the standards for our employees moving forward. The Human Resource Department has developed goals. Some of the goals include retaining existing employees, hiring new employees, assisting department managers with the improvement of employee performance, create new training schedule for human resource employees, update the employee benefit and compensation package, and to update company policies and procedures. These specific goals give the department a direction of what to do. Having a plan to accomplish each of these goals gives the department a focus on how it should be done. Without a plan the Human Resource Department would have no clearly defined goals and ways in which to accomplish their goals.
Conclusion
Creating this project was an enlightening experience. It allowed the opportunity to see the work that goes into specific departments and the details we don’t see as a manager on a day-to-day basis. It gave me the knowledge going forward on how to strategically plan things and break them down into necessary category and timelines. It provided the opportunity to do necessary research to understand the function of a specific department, and functions that are contained within the department that I was not aware of.
It was a great learning experience. I’m able to take a lot away from this project and I have more insight into how to properly run a department and the work required to keep a department smoothly running. I’m grateful for this class and the experience.
Appendices 1
Account & Finance Department SAW
1.0 Goals and Activities. Develop goals and activities for the accounting and finance Area. Submit this section in Unit 2.
Goals
Activities to support this goal (add more rows if needed)
1.1 Retain existing employees.
What are the supporting activities?
How will this activity achieve the goal?
What is the achievement deadline?
Quality of supervision
Make sure employees feel they can trust their managers
90 days with continuous progress
Show Appreciation
Give rewards, and recognition for employees who continue to work hard 90 days with continuous progress
Maintain Positive Employee Relations
Make sure there are no unresolved negative issues between employees and management 90 days with continuous progress
Implement Good Management
Show employees that managers are also receiving proper guidance to ensure trust can be built in relationships 90 days with continuous progress.
1.2 Hire three new employees.
What are the supporting activities?
How will this achieve the goal?
What is the achievement deadline?
Identify specific area needing new employees
Which department is short staffed and adding a new employee would benefit this area 90 days
Determine Salary
What would be the offered salary for the position (also based on employees experience) 90 days
Review Resumes
Review submitted applications and Resumes in order to narrow down who should be interviewed 30 days.
Conduct Interviews
Interview the individuals that were selected and choose the one that feels most appropriate for the job. 30 Days
1.3 Create new organization chart for the accounting and finance area. What are the supporting activities?
How will this achieve the goal?
What is the achievement deadline?
Create a functional organizational
This includes four major components to improve this department. 90 days
Chain of Command
Including chain of command on chart allows employees to new where they need to go for help or assistance 90 days
Promotions
Promote employees, who have exceled in their specialized areas, adding this to the chart ensure employee recognition in that department. 90 days
Training
Providing education and trainings is a part of the chart because employees
need to stay educated about their jobs and improvements that could be made to their job. 90 days
1.4 Improve employee performance.
What are the supporting activities?
How will this achieve the goal?
What is the achievement deadline?
Set Goals
Set the goals for employees so they are motivated to work towards something 90 days
Educate/ Train
Provide trainings so the employees can feel like they are understanding their positions clearly 90 days
Provide Supervision
Make sure managers are properly supervising employees and listening to their concerns 90 dys
Implement Performance Evaluations
Have employees performance reviewed every 30, 60, or 90 days so the employee can know where they are doing great and where they need more work. 90 days
1.5 Improve Accuracy of accounting and centralized functions What are the supporting activities?
How will this achieve the goal?
What is the achievement deadline?
Establish systematic reviews
Reviewing the system every so often can address concerns in regards to the system and ways to make it more efficient 90 days
Establish end of the month procedures
End of the month is always a rough time, addressing the employees in ways to make the process more efficient 90 days
Establish End of Year procedure
Continued review of procedures allows for more efficiency.
90 days
Develop a written manual to include account codes for proper classification This is to ensure all accounting codes are being used properly and in the
even a staff doesn’t understand they can refer to the manual for clarification 90 days
1.6 Establish regular Financial Reporting
What are the supporting activities?
How will this achieve the goal?
What is the achievement deadline?
Produce managerial reports
Train department heads on how to gain access to these reports and how to improve such reports 90 days
Establish regular report packets
Allowing the availability for these packets for employees allows them to know where the budget is every so often 90 days
Publish financial reports
Report financial reports in compliance with state and federal regulations 90 days
Identify non financial reports needed for other departments
Clarify reports that are non financial can take some stress of the staff by outsourcing to other departments that should be responsible for certain reports 90 days
1.7 Establish Cross Training
What are the supporting activities?
How will this achieve the goal?
What is the achievement deadline?
Identify Areas of improvement
Include staff’s desires to learn more and areas that need to be improved in 90 days
Assign key functions
Allow key functions to be assigned to other employees in the event an employee with a specific role is out 90 days
Develop trainings
Develop training plans consistent with department objectives 90 days.
2.0 Interview Questions. Write interview questions for the accounting and
finance area. Submit this section in Unit 3. Add more rows if needed.
Interview question
Rationale for including this question
2.1. Describe a tough financial analysis problem you faced on the job and how you resolved it. This allows me to get to know the individual and learn a little bit about how they handle pressure 2.2. What motivated you to pursue a career in finance?
Gives me some background information on the individual
2.3. What computer accounting programs have you prepared in the past? Let’s me know where the individual is with experience and technology 2.4. What types of accounting reports have you prepared in the past? Allows me to see how much experience they have compiling reports 2.5. What is the largest volume of work you have experience in? Lets me know if they can handle large amounts of work.
3.0 Purpose Statement. Write a purpose statement for the accounting and finance area. Submit this section in Unit 4. Most of us are aware of the term purpose statement but are unsure of what its real meaning is within an organization. It is a statement describing the organization’s purpose, or the reason for its existence. The purpose of an organization reflects a desired position in the marketplace. It should accurately answer to the questions below. The purpose statement is the written summary of those answers. The most effective purpose statements are short, concise, and direct. A good purpose statement is between 2–3 sentences.
Purpose Statement
Who are we?
What do we do?
For whom do we do this?
How do we know when we are getting it done?
Finance Department
Provide accurate information
For all departments
Timely
Compile the answers to the four questions into a concise 2–3-sentence statement summarizing those questions. This statement is your Purpose Statement. In a spirit of excellence, integrity, and dedication, the Finance Department is committed to providing timely, accurate, clear and complete information and support to all departments.
4.0 Performance Standards. Identify performance standards for the accounting and finance area. Submit this section in Unit 4. Add more rows if needed.
Performance Standards
Rationale for including this performance standard
4.1 Employees are expected to interact professional, courteously, efficiently, and friendly when working with consumers in the general public and co-workers. Employees must respect one another
4.2 Process documents daily with no errors
Makes sure employees double check their work for inaccuracies 4.3 Complete task by deadline
It’s important for employees to complete projects with in the time frame given or it can be determined they are not capable of handling tasks. 4.4 Report to work at scheduled time.
Being on time is important to the procedures in company and maintain professionalism 4.5 Demonstrate poise, maturity, and a positive attitude.
It’s important for staff to handle themselves in a professional way at all times.
Appendices 2
Human Resource Department SAW
5.0 Goals and Activities. Develop goals and activities for the human resources Area. Submit this section in Unit 2.
Goals
Activities to support this goal (add more rows if needed)
1.8 Retain existing employees.
What are the supporting activities?
How will this activity achieve the goal?
What is the achievement deadline?
Quality of supervision
Allow employees to feel heard and gain trust in management
90 days with continuous progress
Show Appreciation
Give awards and recognition
90 days with continuous progress
Maintain Positive employee relations
Make sure managers are building trust among their employees
90 days with continuous progress
Implement Good Management
Show employees management is also being worked on
90 days with continuous progress
1.9 Add two additional human resources generalists.
What are the supporting activities?
How will this achieve the goal?
What is the achievement deadline?
Develop a job description
Develop key roles/functions of position
90 days
Who to hire
Define what type of skills in a person you are looking for to hire for the position 90 days
Develop Salary
Determine salary employees would receive (also based on experience) 30 days
Trainings
Develop proper trainings to acclimate them to their new roles 30 days
1.10 Assist department managers in the hiring of new employees. What are the supporting activities?
How will this achieve the goal?
What is the achievement deadline?
Identify job position
Pin point specific department in which the employees are needed for 30 days
Review Resumes
Narrow down what applicants to interview
60 days
Interview
Conduct interviews for potential new hires
60 days
Background Checks
Perform background checks to ensure no previous records were acquired by potential new hire 30 days before employee is offered position
1.11 Assist department managers with the improvement of employee performance. What are the supporting activities?
How will this achieve the goal?
What is the achievement deadline?
Set goals
Motivate employees
90 days
Education/Training
Provide education and training to employees to ensure they understand their job functions 60 days
Provide proper supervision
Ensure managers are properly supervising employees to make sure there are no negative unresolved issues 90 days
Implement Performance Evaluations
Review Employees every 30, 60, 90 days to show areas they excel in and areas that need improvement 90 days
1.12 Create new organization chart for the human resources area. What are the supporting activities?
How will this achieve the goal?
What is the achievement deadline?
Chain of command
Make sure they chain of command is understood by employees
90 days
Promotions
Ensure employees are being promoted to further their careers 90 days
Specialization
Focus on employees that excel in certain areas and allow that position to be developed into a further career path 90 days
Training
Ensure all employees are receiving continuous training
90 days
1.13 Discover New Methods to move the company forward
What are the supporting activities?
How will this achieve the goal?
What is the achievement deadline?
Implement Better Software
Software updates can be used for efficacy
120 days
Hear Employees
Discuses with employees who they feel processes can be made easier or more efficiently 120 days
1.14 Develop Communication Skills
What are the supporting activities?
How will this achieve the goal?
What is the achievement deadline?
Provide Training
Provide trainings for all employees to ensure proper communication 120 days
1.15 Invest in leadership development
What are the supporting activities?
How will this achieve the goal?
What is the achievement deadline?
Trainings
Provide leaders/Managers Supervisors with trainings that allow them to become
the best manager to address employees 120 days
6.0 Interview Questions. Write interview questions for the human resources area. Submit this section in Unit 3. Add more rows if needed.
Interview question
Rationale for including this question
2.6. What are your career goals for the Human Resource position? Lets me know if the individual is driven to achieve more
2.7. What do you know about our organization?
Lets me know if they are organized and willing to do research to learn new things if needed 2.8. What are you looking for out of this position?
Gives me a general idea if they are serious about the position, or if they are there for a paycheck 2.9. Tell me about yourself.
Lets me to get to know the individual and see if she is easy to make a connection with and if she can connect with employees. 2.10. What are you most proud of in your career?
Let’s me know some of the things they have accomplished and how far they have gone in their career
7.0 Purpose Statement. Write a purpose statement for the human resources area. Submit this section in Unit 4. Most of us are aware of the term purpose statement but are unsure of what its real meaning is within an organization. It is a statement describing the organization’s purpose, or the reason for its existence. The purpose of an organization reflects a desired position in the marketplace. It should accurately answer to the questions below. The purpose statement is the written summary of those answers. The most effective purpose statements are short, concise, and direct. A good purpose statement is between 2–3 sentences.
Purpose Statement
Who are we?
What do we do?
For whom do we do this?
How do we know when we are getting it done?
Human Resources
Attract, retain employees, adhere to standards
Whole Company
Retention of staff
Compile the answers to the four questions into a concise 2–3-sentence statement summarizing those questions. This statement is your Purpose Statement.
The Atha Corporation Human Resources staff employees, develops and protects the company’s most respected resource – its employees. We are committed to attracting, retaining, and supporting a qualified diverse workforce in order to meet the needs of our employees. We do this by providing quality service to our all of our staff, and adhering to open, equitable and ethical personnel standards.
8.0 Performance Standards. Identify performance standards for the human resources area. Submit this section in Unit 4. Add more rows if needed.
Performance Standards
Rationale for including this performance standard
4.6 Develop and implement appropriate plan for action to enhance effectiveness Allows HR to continue to develop policies and procedures that most appropriately adhere to the company 4.7 Accep suggestions for improving quality of work
Allows employees to know their will be supervisions.
4.8 Ensure breaks and lunch periods are taking according to schedule and policy Ensures staff are not abusing the allotted break times giving. 4.9 Attend all required meetings
It’s important for HR to be involved in meetings, to update and circulate important information and track meeting minutes. 4.10 Report to work at scheduled time.
It’s important for each employee to follow the standards of the company policies.
