Five (5) Guaranteed, Proven Ways to Beat Your Deadlines; Improve Your Performance

It’s only a few days from now and you need to submit your reports again.

The 10th and 15th day of every month is our most stressful deadline.

Do you agree?

Based on experience, the periodic preparation of reports is also a constant source of stress and anxiety among government Accountants as well as Budget Officers, State Auditors and other finance staff.

This is the reason why we find it timely to write this article to help you cope with the challenges and well, improve your performance in the submission of reports.

In this article, we give you these five (5) proven, guaranteed ways to beat your deadlines, which we find helpful in the preparation of your reports.

These are not of course true to all preparers as we also know that each of us has our own unique techniques, challenges and distinct situations. (That’s why we encourage you to share your techniques in the comments section so others may adopt the same).

Here we go.

1. Make a Checklist

Some call this as “To-Do-List”.

This tip is extremely helpful as it helps you program not only your time but also your mind.

The mind is a powerful tool when it is programmed in a way that we require it to do something. It becomes more powerful when it knows the correct order of the things we want it to do. For this purpose, a checklist is helpful.

A Checklist is a list of all the reports you are required to submit, be it either to the DBM, COA, BTr, BIR, etc., on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly basis.

To make a Checklist, you need to identify all the reports you need to submit on a particular time. For example, FAR No. 1, 1A, and 1B or FAR No. 2, 2A, 2B, among others, are required to be submitted on a quarterly basis, while FAR No. 4 is required to be submitted on a monthly basis.

After you’ve identified the reports, identify the correct order as to which should be prepared first, second, and so on.

Prioritizing is the key.

Learning how to prioritize is the key to this technique.

After you have listed all the reports, identify the specific date the reports are required to be submitted. Then plot them in your calendar.

In this way, your mind is programmed to do specific sets of reports on a particular time without worrying on all reports at one time.

Try this more often and you’ll see that you’ll worry less about what reports are needed to be prepared.

2. Mark your Calendar, Earlier than the Deadline

Take note, earlier.

With so many reports you prepare periodically, this technique may seem hard to do. But when you’ve done your Checklist effectively then this technique becomes easier to do.

In your Checklist, indicate the prescribed deadline for each of the reports. Then, depending on what is doable for you, set a deadline earlier than the prescribed deadline. Say, two, three, or four days before the deadline.

Gradually, adjust this until such time that you have set a deadline that is comfortable for you.

In most Agencies, this is easy to do since they already do this through their Office Performance Commitment and Review (OPCR).

In the OPCR, the Agency puts corresponding success point for a particular set of action.

For instance, a report submitted on the deadline is given 3 success points (standard score) while a report submitted 4 days before the deadline is given 5 points (highest score).

The score is used by the Agency to measure the performance of its employees through the Individual Performance Commitment and Review (IPCR) and the corresponding accomplishment report.

Thus, the earlier you set your personal deadline the higher your score in your accomplishment report.

3. Again, more than organizing, prioritize.

When your reports are always late, that’s an indication that you need to re-organize no matter how much you think you are already organized.

To re-organize means you have to prioritize (see Tip No. 1).

To prioritize means putting more time on the most important reports (usually those near the deadline) and less time to least important reports.

Again, you can use your Checklist here.

In your Checklist, list the reports based on their level of priority. For instance, list the most important report as No. 1, 2, 3, and so on.

When you are able to practice this you’ll be more organized and speedy the next time.

4. Set a cut-off.

Another proven technique that you can adopt is to set a cut-off. This means setting a cut-off for your financial transactions.

The premise for this is because you cannot prepare your reports until there are financial transactions being processed. Thus, you need to set the time as to when financial transactions are captured.

For instance, certain transactions (take note, not all transactions) received on the 28th or 29th of the month will be processed but will already be dated the 1st working day of the succeeding month.

The Agency must determine which transactions may be processed next month. In this way, the preparers will have sufficient time to prepare their reports.

This technique however is a matter of Agency policy, considering as well DBM and COA rules and regulations on the recognition of expenses.

For instance, salaries expense is more appropriately recognized in full at month end. Thus, the Agency cannot set a cut-off on this expense.

The Accountant, Budget Officer, Auditor, or other preparers cannot impose this alone. There must be a policy (preferably written) in order to enforce this.

4. Don’t prepare what’s no longer required.

Check all the reports you are currently preparing and check if they are still required by your oversight agencies such as the COA, DBM, BIR, etc.

For example, you may still be preparing the old Statement of Allotments, Obligations, and Balances (SAOB). This was required before but this report is no longer needed as FAR No. 1A or FAR No. 2A have already replaced the same.

What you can do is to have an inventory of all the reports you prepare and ask the oversight agency concerned (or check their latest Circulars) if the reports are still needed.

Contrary to what other preparers know, some offices of these oversight agencies find it cumbersome to call or write you a letter informing you that they no longer need some of the reports you submit to them. So, it pays to ask them what they really need from you.

5. Spend time mastering how to use Excel/Other Similar Office Applications

When you have an available electronic accounting system, good for you, but most preparers still use Microsoft Excel or other similar apps in preparing their reports.

There are tons of benefits Microsoft Excel can do such as the ability to summarize big data, link sheets, prepare charts, simplify formulas, etc..

There are also useful materials which you can find in the Internet on how to use Excel such as the following:

• How To Create a PivotTable To Analyze Worksheet Data
• How To Create Better Reports
• How To Make Graphs or Charts in Excel

Learning techniques in Microsoft Excel can be hard at first but once you figured out how to do it, it can give you amazing things in your reports, not to mention you can actually make some things automatic.

Our last tip. Protect your health.

Don’t stress yourself out by doing unnecessary things. Try these proven and guaranteed tips and techniques and you’ll see improvements in your performance.