(Stock-Sanford corollary to Parkinson’s Law)
Parkinson’s Law states: “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion”. This principle explains a common observation in accounting. Given 2 weeks to close the books? It takes 2 weeks + a closing rush. Extend the timeline to 3 weeks? The work expands to 3 weeks + a closing rush. But taking longer doesn’t necessarily mean better quality.
But what if the timeline is shortened? I shared with my team before in an attempt to shorten the closing timeline: We can close the books in 2 weeks, we can do it in 3 weeks, or even in a week. No matter how long the timeline, there will always be a last-day rush. Why not shorten it to 1 week and enjoy the rest of the month?
I reckon the last sentence was what really drove us to shorten the closing timeline in the end. No one likes constant suffering.
Now consider the Companies Act: Companies have up to 6 months (or 5.5 months, depending on your definition of due date) to produce financial statements. Yet, many organisations only start rushing towards the end of this generous timeline. It becomes a frantic process that feels inevitable—but it’s not.
With our solution, producing financial statements doesn’t take 6 months. It doesn’t even take 6 days. It takes minutes. Efficiency doesn’t mean cutting corners—it means doing things smarter.
“If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute to do.”
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