The-Accountant-July-Aug-2018

BUSINESS AND PRACTICE DEVELOPMENT
United States, Canada, Asia Pacific, and
17 countries in Africa. He is presently the
Managing Director of African Process
and Performance Institute (APPI) at The
United States International University
(USIU) Chandaria School of Business.
The Accountant interviewed him to
establish how Accountants can benefit
from APPI and how good processes can
improve businesses.
Below are excerpts from the informative
interview;
How do businesses benefit
from good processes?
Specifically how can
accountants gain from them?
The roles and responsibilities of an
accountant as I understand it, is to among
other things, compile, examine, document,
prepare and analyze financial records and
transactions for their clients. In doing so,
accountants require end-to-end visibility
to understand all client processes and
activities to provide timely and accurate
financial reports. This in turn enables
organizations to understand their business
positions and performance.
Businesses gain visibility, transparency,
accountability, and a much stronger
understanding of their business operations.
A business with good process-oriented
views of their operations translate to
a more clear view of the business for
accountants. In essence our output is an
input for the accounting profession.
What should accountants
or any business person
do to boost their client’s
businesses and their own?
Accountants and businessmen who desire
to boost their businesses must do three
things. First, Think-CREPES at all
times. Second, strive to Be-CREPES
at all times. Third, have a vested interest
in enabling and facilitating their clients to
Think-CREPES and Be-CREPES
at all times. So what do I mean by
CREPES?
CREPES is an
acronym for Consistency,
Responsiveness,
Efficiency, Profitability,
Effectiveness, and
Sustainability. To
enable businesses,
i n c l u d i n g
Responsiveness
enables accountants
to adapt to
ever changing
clients, markets,
and regulatory
requirements.
It empowers
them to run a
flexible and agile
organization and to
take advantage of
opportunities. To be
responsive requires
accountants to
listen, understand,
and be empathetic
to each client’s
situation.
accountants and their clients across Africa
to thrive, APPI designed and developed
an approach for organizations to orient
their strategy and operations around
these six concepts that we call CREPES-
Thinking. APPI delivers this approach
through hands-on workshops to convey
and adopt these fundamental principles:
Consistency enables accountants to
build trust, confidence, and branding.
When accounts are consistent, they build
trust and they instill confidence for clients
to rely on their financial reports and
information to make decisions. Ultimately,
they establish their brand as the most
trusted brand in the industry.
Responsiveness enables accountants
to adapt to ever changing clients,
markets, and regulatory requirements.
It empowers them to run a flexible and
agile organization and to take advantage
of opportunities. To be responsive requires
accountants to listen, understand, and be
empathetic to each client’s situation.
Efficiency enables accountants to
constantly seek innovative ways to save
time and cost; achieve goals faster;
optimize resources; improve productivity
and quality; and to ultimately ensure
positive client satisfaction and experience.
Profitability enables accountants to spur
economic growth; generate investment
income; create jobs and reduce youth
unemployment; and ultimately to improve
standards of living and quality of life in
their ecosystem.
Effectiveness enables
accountants to align efforts
to objectives, achieve
measurable results,
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