Southern New Hampshire University
ACC 340 Final Exam
Essay questions
1. Discuss at length at least four things you could do to help shorten the close process as a new
controller.
The close process is one of the most important processes of the accounting cycle, in which all the
financial statements are completed, and in the case of a new controller who does not know how the
company works, it is important that they follow a series of steps to guarantee that the process is
efficient, and the desired results are obtained, in this case shorten the close process. The first thing is
to be able to collect all the necessary information to be able to close the processes, and from this to be
able to determine which area of the company needs to be optimized or which process represents a
bottleneck.
The second thing that the new controller could do is to look for processes that can be outsourced.
since with this it is possible to drastically reduce times and errors. For example, one of the most time-
consuming processes is payroll, and currently there are many companies that are exclusively in charge
of this process, therefore payroll can be outsourced. The third thing that the new controller could do is
look for new technology that optimizes information processing, such as accounting software, which is
very useful to reduce costs and saves a lot of time.
Finally, the new controller can review all the financial documents and establish an efficient
communication channel with the different areas of the company, and with this, be able to find a more
efficient way to close these reports, since time is often wasted doing the same report twice due to lack
of communication between the different areas of the company. Thanks to effective communication,
ACC 340 Final Exam
Southern New Hampshire University
the accountant will be able to not only speed up the closing process, but also reduce the number of
errors made during this process.
2. Name at least two documents a public company would be required to file under the SEC. How
often must they be file? Describe what they are and what information they would provide to the
public.
A public company is one that allows the general public to own equity shares, so it is under the
obligation to fill out certain documents under the SEC, in which they record information about their
finances or future plans, so that investors have access. Among the documents that these companies file
with the SEC are: Form 10-K and Form 8-K.
The form 10-K is a comprehensive report filled annually by a publicly traded company about
its financial performance and is required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (Kenton.
2020). The information that this document must include is the organizational structure, financial
statements, earnings per share, among other relevant data. This document is very important since it
helps investors know the financial situation of the company, and thus make decisions regarding