Techie ‘Deepthroat’ exposes how IT really feels about Finance

OK, so IT gripes about every department. But there are some finance-specific bugaboos that really get their goat.

With the amount finance departments depend on technology, having a little intel on what’s going on in your techies’ minds could pave a smoother working relationship — and get Finance to the top of the to-help list.

We found a techie “Deepthroat” who was willing to ID the three things that irk tech folks most. Here’s what makes the list:

Annoyance No. 1: Spreadsheets

You know spreadsheets aren’t the perfect solution, but they’re the lifeblood of most Finance departments. But what happens when a given process outgrows Excel (and many do)?

That’s where the trouble comes in for IT. At some point, you may want IT to turn it in to software. But IT often doesn’t understand the “business of finance,” and chances are you aren’t well versed in modeling a business process in software.

Your best compromise: For any future projects — even “wish list” ones — be sure to involve IT early so they can suggest ways to set things up. They have incentive to make time for you — it’ll save them a lot of headaches down the road.

With projects already in the works, be prepared to offer a lot of background and explanation how what goes into that particular process you want automated. It couldn’t hurt to document what goes into creating those spreadsheets too (a good control for Finance anyway).

Annoyance No. 2: Reorganization

“Moving accounts around in the ledger,” “Having a certain department’s expenses capitalized” — all noble plans. And probably some of which you’ve tried to do before. But the more automated Finance is, the more critical it is you alert IT when you make changes like that. It can open up a rather messy can of worms otherwise.

Your best compromise: If you’re going to want that flexibility (and you most likely do), it needs to be built in from the start. That’s something you want to bring up when you first start talking to IT about new software, programs, etc.

Annoyance No. 3: Accounting rules

Think of the fits that ever-changing accounting rules and regulations give you and your finance staff.

They also do a number on IT, who pride themselves on being able to explain the basics of a ledger and double-entry accounting. When it comes to SOX, GAAP, FASB and IASB, they barely have a clue.

Those rules really do affect the way software has to be designed. If you initially ask for a simple chart of accounts, but during the testing phase you realize that the accounting rules require your company to amortize monthly P&L changes, the entire system may be a write off.

Your best compromise: Talk with IT about features that would be nearly impossible to add in down the road. If the software hasn’t captured time-series data, for example, that’s the kind of thing that’s very tough to add in later.