would act as a guide in making financials
for decision making.
Return on Investment
All these marketing activities should
eventually lead to sales. It’s expected
that the higher the spend on marketing
the higher the sales. There would be
no justification for declining sales yet
increasing spend on marketing.
This is the Achilles heel to the marketing
department. Invest part of your budget in
prospect follow-up. Get feedback from
the prospects about the products you are
selling to be shared with the research and
development department. Make monthly
reports available to management on the
status of prospect and those that have
converted.
Marketing is an integral
part of the company’s
success
Marketers need to explain that marketing
is part of the overall company strategy
to achieving long term goals and having
a good and sustainable rapport with
customers. This will safeguard marketing
budgets from arbitrarily being cut in case
the company is experiencing a downturn.
On the contrary, more should ideally be
spent on marketing the company.
Proper accounting
On a simple vox
pop of accountants,
some will argue that
marketing is having
a good time at the
full expense of the
company, giving out
company merchan-
dise and generally
partying the entire
week while earn-
ing a salary. This is
while the accoun-
tant is busy crunch-
ing numbers trying
to make sense of
the cents. The one
expense that almost
always never makes
any sense to them is
the marketing ex-
pense.
participate in some of the marketing
activities to feel part of the team. The
finance team can also invite the marketers
to their workshops.
Team work
There is no doubt that all departments
are important in the overall success of
the company as a whole. Often Marketers
will refer the accountants as ‘those people
with dark suits and mean faces’ they see
the finance department as the only place
to get their payslip and get their travel
allowances whenever they want to travel.
The finance department, on the other
hand, see marketers as just spenders.
This kind of attitude will only hurt the
organisation. A culture of teamwork should
be enforced for the good of the company.
Both departments need each other. The
accounting department must work closely
with the marketing department to monitor
trends in the business as well as manage
the efficiency of sales promotions initiated
by the marketing division.
For example, a marketing campaign might
be successful in terms of gross sales,
but the accounting department might
determine that the cost of the campaign
was too high. Marketing departments
should ask for such reports to gauge
their effectiveness. Other reports which
might be helpful are scenario analysis and
contribution per product.
Provide your budget in
advance
It’s even worse if the receipts are not
correct or legible. Some companies will
recover any amount not accounted with a
proper receipt from the employee’s payslip. Having engaged a lot with marketers, I
understand that marketing is crucial to
the success of the organisation. However,
Most companies make annual budgets the not many accountants will understand this
previous year with little room for deviation. without showing proper results from the
This forms a basis for appraisal. As a marketing activities.
marketing department, coordinate with the
finance department on making the budget. Work with the finance department to
Submit your expenditure for a full year or as achieve the overall objective of the firm.
required. Remember to make justification Stop referring to them as ‘those people’
for such expenditure. This budget should be but rather colleagues with other skills.
strictly adhered to. The key is to either be Engage them in your marketing activities.
in line with the budget or spend less and Consult them when you want to see the
effectiveness of your campaign. The next
not more.
time you see an accountant appreciate
their output!
The Kenyan tax laws require that any
business expense be wholly and exclusively
incurred in the process of the business.
Don’t spend on what is not necessary lest
you make the company pay more in taxes
than they should. The laws further require
that the documents should be stored for
5 years. Have the courtesy to scan the
receipts to submit in an electronic form. To remove this negative notion the finance
team has of marketers, have frequent
educational events where you highlight
what marketing is and how it contributes
to the overall success of the organisation.
Some companies would have a Marketers’
week just for this cause. Extend invitations
to the finance departments to attend and
Make the work of accountants easier by
having proper tax receipts and invoices.
When a budget is approved and you are
given cash to spend, make sure every
cent is accounted for. Always ask for Tax
receipts from the events that you have
attended. It is very frustrating to follow
up from the marketers three months after
the event.
Educate the finance team
CPA Nicholas Gachara is a Tax
and Accounting Consultant. You
can commune with him on this
or related matters via email at:
Nicholasgachara@gmail.com.