Necessity is the Mother of Invention

If we look back historically, bad events such as recessions, tsunamis or hurricanes have triggered the need for innovative MacGyver-type of solutions to our immediate problems. For many of us in the finance profession, having to work at home suddenly creating a whole host of new challenges, from taking care of home-schooled kids or to trying to get your medication delivered to you, to making sure that data is encrypted and secure whilst being downloaded from home to making sure all of the intercompany reconciliations get prepared and reviewed on time for each month end close

How can we make sure that the assumptions on the 3 year cashflow forecast used for the goodwill impairment test are consistent with the assumptions used for the non-current deferred tax asset? Sending emails could create timing and version issues. Setting up a sharepoint site and letting both the senior finance accountant and the senior tax accountant to access the same data source during the entire process could be a neat solution. Getting creative with MonkeySurvey to understand the views of the Board of Directors around the future could save hours of videocalls. Sending teabags to a group of clients ahead of a videocall is a great way to have a 'tea' session with your client with a personal touch.

Necessity is the mother of invention.