Accounting and HR

“Human resources (HR) and accounting are both crucial areas in most companies, yet they often operate in silos, functioning independently. But more and more businesses are realizing this practice needs to change, and there’s a growing recognition of the critical role that employees play in the financial success or failure of a company,” said Sal Gervasi and Stephen King.

Achieving this is difficult because usually, neither of the departments likes to hand over their responsibilities and tasks to the other. What's more, they don’t want to share their confidential information either. Fortunately, one of the benefits of the pandemic has been inter-team connectivity and virtual integration, and companies must take advantage of this new habit.

Today, we got used to connecting digitally with other departments and working together daily to pursue the same goals. We have also adopted and increased the use of software and information clouds. Today more than ever, this collaboration between HR and Accounting is possible and easy to achieve.

As Scott Bowen says, “That sort of integration is possible now, in this era of cloud-based global human capital management (HCM) systems. Such systems not only simplify cross-border workforce management but they can also be used to combine HR and accounting data and intelligence, helping organizations better navigate increasingly complex regulatory, hiring and compensation matters.”

Achieving a good relationship between both departments is not an easy task. It will require patience to understand each other's jobs and processes, but the target remains the same for both, meeting the company's goals.

“Rather than Human Resources vs. accounting, aspiring HR managers should understand both areas. Successful HR professionals in today's competitive global market need to be financially intelligent. Like their counterparts in sales and marketing, they benefit from fluency in the language spoken by accountants,” says Trudy Brunot.


How can Finances collaborate with Human Resources?

“In many organizations, human resources and finance are two distinct business areas. Finance helps allocate resources to support an organization's goals, maintaining a balance between costs and revenue. HR hires, recruits and motivates people to advance those same goals. This part of HR is often an organization's biggest expense. While they are two different operations, it's important to have collaboration between HR and finance within an organization. Without that, it will be difficult for those respective entities to fully support organizational objectives,” says Victorio Milian.


4 Benefits of the HR and Accounting Intersection

According to Trudy Brunot, some of the benefits are:

  1. Fiscal Oversight: Accounting can help HR budget items such as staffing, incentives and performance evaluation in terms of their cost and dollar benefit to the organization.
  2. Developing Proposals: When HR wants to introduce a policy, service or program, the cost of the proposal must be justified. Accounting will demonstrate its viability in dollar terms.
  3. Return on Investment: Accounting can help HR wisely spend money on decisions that will make more money for the organization.
  4. Performance Measurement: Accounting helps HR grow comfortable with crunching numbers and interpreting performance measurements related to inventory, customer satisfaction, sales and quality control.


HR and Accounting: First Steps For Successfully Working Together

According to the CFO Selections Team, HR and Accounting departments can start with these 4 steps to converge successfully:

  1. Help each team understand where they fit into the broader organization from a revenue perspective.
  2. Give both teams equal access to the CEO to feel like their interests will be fairly considered.
  3. Encourage teams to engage in shared business interests to keep them from becoming siloed.
  4. Urge each team to learn more about the other group’s perspective.


HR and Payroll: Best Strategies for an Effective Relationship

Payroll and human resources departments are the backbone of any successful organization. The efforts put forth by these departments are essential for the smooth functioning of a company. However, the relationship between payroll and HR can be tricky to navigate and, when not handled correctly, can negatively impact the company's development.

For this reason, we asked the 17th Floor members to share their best strategies for achieving a good relationship between payroll and HR that benefits the company's development. Discover what they had to say about the HR and Payroll relationship.


What is the relationship between HR and Accounting in your company? Do both departments cooperate with each other? Please let us know in the comments below.  


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