Posted by Early Growth
September 5, 2013 | 4-minute read (687 words)
Rapidly growing companies have a lot to deal with—product development, customer acquisition, raising financing, user scaling issues—just to name a few. HR and finance can seem like daunting tasks that you know are important, but just never have time for.
But if you want to start your company on the right foot, you must take the time to build in the necessary HR and finance infrastructure.
On September 17th at 10am, SharedHR and Early Growth Financial Services will co-present an hour-long, free webinar to provide an overview of the basics so you know what you need to get started from an HR and finance perspective.
We’ll go into greater detail during the webinar, but as a starting point, here’s a handy-dandy checklist for you to use to make sure that you’re focusing your HR and finance efforts in the right direction.
Finance Checklist for Getting Started
Accounting platform.
Find a system or cloud-based option that serves your purposes now and, even more importantly, will grow with you.Accounts payable system.
Set up your system early to help maximize cash flow and create essential financial reportsAccounts receivable system.
Create a clear payment collection process with established credit guidelines and a transparent collection timeline to improve cash collections.Expense report system.
You need a system in place to stay on top of expenses and invoices and to manage your cash burn.Financial projections.
Perform bottom-up projections for potential revenue and market-share—and top-down projections to satisfy investor requirements.Banking solution.
Find the right level of tech platforms and tech integration to help you to manage cash flow and minimize risks.Early-stage tax considerations.
From selecting the correct legal entity for your company to staying on top of payroll taxes and 1099s, understand all of your tax obligations from the get go.
HR Checklist for Getting Started
Understanding employment options.
Make thoughtful decisions about when to hire full time employees versus when to use contractors. If you’re going to use independent contractors, make sure that you’re doing so legally. Misclassified workers are a prime target for audits.Hiring process.
Set up a process that supports effective hires: hiring smart and just-in-time.Payroll solution.
There are many different tech solutions and service options for payroll. Research and establish the right option for your company.HRIS.
You need to find the best HR software platform to support your company. A workable HR software solution will be flexible, logical, integrated, and provide compliant documents.Benefits.
Before you start hiring, you need to think through your benefits package (for top talent acquisition and retention) and system for benefits administration.Policies and procedures.
In the early stages, this especially includes all necessary employee documents for compliance and to protect your company.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, of course. But if you give each of these items your consideration, you’re on the right track to creating the necessary foundation you’ll need to execute moving forward.
To learn more and for a chance to ask questions and hear from other entrepreneurs, please sign up for our free webinar.
Paul Finkle is the President and CEO of SharedHR. He has over 30 years of experience in HR and management consulting and has founded 7 businesses. Paul is a guest lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and an expert witness for complex employment litigation. He advises numerous startups on the intricacies of HR in fast-growing organizations.
David Ehrenberg is the founder and CEO of Early Growth Financial Services, a financial services firm providing a complete suite of outsourced accounting, finance, tax, valuation, and corporate governance services to companies at every stage of the development process. He’s a financial expert and startup mentor, whose passion is helping businesses focus on what they do best. Follow David @EarlyGrowthFS.
What's on your HR and finance checklists? Tell us about it in comments below or attend our free webinar for more information.
