Continuous Improvement of the Finance Function: Accept the Things You Cannot Change… But Change the Things You Can!

Posted on July 27, 2019May 10, 2022

Listen to Podcasts:

The most thriving nonprofits are those that have a continuous improvement culture. Continuous improvement ensures systems and processes scale with growth; systems integration and integrity is maintained or improved; highly-manual processes and lengthy/overburdened close cycles are eliminated; and meaningful data is available on-demand for decision-making. In this informative session, members of AAFCPAs’ Managed Accounting Solutions and Business Process & IT Advisory practices provide two case study examples, demonstrating two approaches to reduce costs, create efficiencies, and/or achieve more effective internal control over your finance function.
These audio sessions were recorded live at AAFCPAs’ April 25th, 2019 Annual Nonprofit Educational Seminar. Slides may be downloaded by clicking here. >>

Watch the Full Video of this 24:03 Session

About the Authors

Robin Kelley, CPA, CITP, CGMA, CSPM, CCSFP

Robin is a leader of AAFCPAs’ Managed Accounting Solutions practice, providing strategic finance and accounting guidance, and leveraging state-of-the-art cloud-based solutions to support clients’ most critical business and operational processes. She provides high-level CFO oversight and strategic planning, enabling clients to drive efficiency, reduce the cycle it takes to close books, and develop better benchmark and baseline financial processes to meet regulatory requirements and achieve growth in revenue & profits. Robin advises many organizations in meeting grant & lender compliance requirements, and identifying and addressing risks within their internal control environment.

Joyce Ripianzi, CPA

Joyce is a Partner in the Consulting Division of AAFCPAs and a member of the firm’s growing Managed Accounting Solutions (MAS) practice, which provides “right-size” outsourced accounting solutions, from cloud-based bookkeeping to CFO deliverables, designed to optimize the effectiveness of the modern finance function. Joyce has 30+ years of diverse experience in public accounting at national and regional CPA and consulting firms. She is also a former CFO of an 18-million-dollar organization.

Robyn Leet

Robyn brings over 20 years of continuous business process improvement and internal controls experience to AAFCPAs’ diverse clients. From her beginnings as an auditor in public accounting, she learned the fundamentals of business requirements and frameworks. This knowledge was applied to further her impact in her roles as Controller in private, closely-held businesses. These opportunities have bolstered her broad exposure to businesses in multiple stages of growth and with varying levels of needs to validate her insight into the inner workings and requirements of business operations and functions, always looking at the big picture and keeping the client in scope.