3 ways construction companies can optimize their financial departments

Construction finance isn’t easy. Ask any member of a construction financial department and they’ll tell you just how many problems they’re facing regularly. This is particularly problematic when one considers the key role the financial department plays in a business's success. 

If leadership is steering the ship then it’s the financial department that’s drawing the map. The data and insights the financial department provides to the business are invaluable to making the right business decisions. Without understanding project budgets, cash flow, financial forecasts, and profitability, you won’t be able to make the right plays. 

Conversely, a well-equipped financial department can bring profit to every area of the business. The power of data-driven financial analysis is huge for construction companies. It allows businesses to stay adaptable, competitive, and capable no matter the economic situation.

So, what can you do to ensure that their finance departments are running smoothly and productively despite the workload they have to handle? 

Here are three key ways you can optimize their financial departments.

1. Use the cloud to clear up clutter

One of the most time-consuming tasks the financial department has to deal with is sorting out documentation. Whether it’s verifying the numbers on a spreadsheet, amassing invoices, or updating the budgets, documents stack up fast in the department. When the financial team doesn’t have easy access to the documents they need to do their jobs, it slows the team down and creates frustration. Take advantage of emerging cloud technology to upload all of your relevant data to an organized database. Give the department the information they need with a real-time, intuitive data flow supported by the cloud.

2. Analyze workflows

While implementing a cloud-based solution is a good first step, it’s far from the end of the work. Without a critical analysis of interdepartmental workflows, things won’t move as smoothly as they can. What documents take the longest to process? Why do they take as long as they do? How can we be communication be improved to get things processed faster? These are just a few of the questions that need to be addressed for the financial department to prosper. It’s essential to find the pain points where the business is slowing down and work to solve them. Making a few changes in the present will save time in the future. 

3. Automate repetitive tasks

Financial professionals are skilled at analysis and planning. That’s what you want them to be doing. However, far too much time right now is lost on mundane, repetitive work. The hours that your accountants could be spending using their analysis skills are instead lost to Excel formulas. Implement automation that performs the data entry, calculations, and organization for your team. When companies do this, they can spend more time analyzing their forecasts than they do making them.

These are just a few of the many ways your financial department can be improved. With a growing fintech sector in construction, there’s more processing power available to companies than ever before. Briq is here to put that power in the hands of your financial department and construction business as a whole. 

Want to learn more about using technologies like Briq to improve your financial planning? Check out our recent eBook.

Or to try Briq out, schedule a demo with one of our specialists at briq.com/demo.