Sales system audit example. How do you know if work is being done effectively? Sales audit involves the study of issues such as

A sales audit is necessary for a number of reasons:

• High risks due to the fact that the existing sales system is unstable;
• The unused potential of the sales system, which, if properly managed, will help the company reach a new level;
• Wrong approaches in building a sales department in the past;
• Outdated sales methods of the company and so on.

We take everything into account possible risks related to the functioning of the sales department, each recommendation of our specialists leads to the fact that the work at the enterprise becomes more efficient. Unstable sales system, wrong methods of department management can show their disadvantages even in the most unexpected situations. For example, the dismissal of an employee who for many years was a key figure in building a sales department and in existing system sales, can lead to a sharp decrease in the efficiency of the sales department and the entire company as a whole. It is to avoid such situations that the audit of the sales department is carried out: our specialists will provide a report on the work done, an analysis of the situation, and you will also be given a recommendation that will help you improve the company's activities and ensure the development of the enterprise. It may be necessary to rebuild the sales department, in which case you will also be able to get the necessary recommendations from our professionals and draw up a work plan. The sales system will become stable and efficient, which will undoubtedly have a positive impact on the efficiency of the entire company.

Sales audit in our company

The company "Hold-Invest-Audit" will help you organize efficient work sales department of your company: will audit the sales system and consult on possible ways to improve it. Our specialists have the necessary experience and knowledge, thanks to which the work on the audit of the sales department will be carried out efficiently and quickly. If you need to rebuild the sales department due to the company's too unstable sales system, we are also ready to provide you with any assistance: the recommendation of our specialists will help you draw up a plan and complete the work in the shortest possible time and with the highest quality. You can order the service using the order form on our website, the cost of the audit may vary depending on the scope of work, the specifics of the enterprise and other factors. You can calculate the price with the help of our specialist by ordering a callback in the appropriate field of the site. Contact our company: let the sales system realize its full potential, start developing your business and increase sales to an unprecedented level!

The director asked, how are the sales this month?

Whole modern business is built on sales, in fact it is, we all buy something and at the same time sell something while working in companies as employees. It is the sales department that is the source of income for each individual company. As they say, no sales, no normal salary. That is why we conduct an expert audit of the sales department and each individual employee in particular.

It would be better if the director asked, how are the employees in the sales department?

Sales, as you know, depend on sales managers. Let's open a few secrets, the first is the internal ecology of the team itself. The coherence of the team and the relationship in it are of little or no interest to the head of the department. He comes in the morning, does his job, gives instructions, holds meetings, five minutes, makes summary schedules for management, gushing with ideas and this is at best. All this is called important words - Sales Management.

The general director is a very busy person, everything is simple for him, sales have fallen, something needs to be done, for example, call the ROP or someone else on the "organization staff" to the carpet and sincerely discuss the situation with him. Very often, in the end, the sales department managers are to blame, the training manager comes up with new training formats, new regulations are introduced and the nuts are tightened.

- In order for profits to continue to grow, you need the right balance of sustainability, inside the sales department

..How is it?!

Expert audit of sales, or assessment with a fresh look

There is such a beginner effect, if you show your business to a person not from your field of activity, then he will be able to see hidden prospects in it. If you really want to increase sales and take the path of development, then we are ready to help you with all our might. No, we will not point fingers at the presentation, make a smart face and tell you how to strategize and plan budgets. We will take on where we are professionals, namely, the area where the lead is dear to the wallet (application), turns into margin.

In a nutshell, our steps are:

External and internal diagnostics of the selling unit according to our evaluation algorithms	It is important for us to evaluate professional competencies (sales technique) of your employees and understand how the sales team is organized as a whole. We use our proven methodology.
Evaluation of business processes of the sales department	We will measure the effectiveness of working algorithms and regulations, scripts and other important settings, evaluate the work of the training department and the effectiveness of interaction between departments. We will find places where profits are lost, points of growth and many other factors of profitability. We will give recommendations on business diversification. Check out HR.
Formation of an effective team	We measure the loyalty of each employee and departments as a whole. Simply put, we separate random people in the company from loyal friends. A strong team gives growth, even with bad business weather.
Further customized tools	Based on the analysis received, a decision will be made for further actions. This may be the restructuring of the unit, revision of the format of work, training and development of personnel. The next step is to measure the effectiveness of innovations. In any case, an individual approach is applied to the client.

It makes sense to start any change in the sales department with a small or advanced sales audit. At the same time, the majority of specialists involved in sales were divided into two groups: some of them are in favor of an independent audit, the other is in favor of attracting independent specialists.

Tool number 1, or a classic of the genre

Many people know about SWOT analysis, but few people regularly take the time to analyze the entire company or specifically the sales department for 4 reasons.

SWOT analysis is a method strategic planning which will help identify strengths(Strengths), weak sides(Weaknesses), opportunities (Opportunities) and threats (Threats) in the development of the sales department and the company as a whole. The method can be used for both short-term and long-term planning. Gives an initial assessment of the current situation in the sales department, on the basis of which a strategy for further development can be drawn up.

To conduct a SWOT analysis, the following table is filled out:

Positive

Negative

Internal

Strengths

Example:
- Experienced Sales Managers
– high-quality printing materials;
- recognizable brand.

Weak sides

Example:
– gaps in the system of training new employees;
- turnover of sales managers.

Possibilities

Example:
– reduction of the sales department of competitors (the ability to attract new experienced employees);
- Increasing demand for certain products.

Example:
- increase in prices in the market for such services;
– opening of new branches by competitors in the region.

Tool No. 2. Model 7S McKinsey (7S McKynsey)

The McKinsey 7C model got its name because it is based on 7 basic elements that begin with the letter “c”: strategy, structure, management system, relationship style, staff composition, sum of skills, value system. All 7 elements are very closely related to each other, so a change in one of them entails changes in all the others.

The McKinsey 7C model is a tool that is well suited for analysis organizational structure and principles of the sales department. The model is also called the "Happy Atom" because of its visual display:

All 7 elements are divided into "hard" and "soft". "Hard" elements (strategy, structure, management system) reflect the formal side. “Soft” elements (relationship style, staff composition, sum of skills, value system) refer to corporate communications. "Soft" elements are often underestimated, although their role is no less important than the role of "hard" elements. At the center of the diagram is a value system - this indicates how important the influence of corporate values, the company's mission on all other elements.

Typically, the 7C model is used for evaluation and planning in the company as a whole, but with some amendments it can be applied to the sales department as well.

To evaluate the sales department using the McKinsey 7C model, it is convenient to use the following table:

Description

System of values

Describe the system values ​​of the company. To what extent is understanding and compliance with these values ​​expressed in the sales department?

Strategy

Describe the sales development strategy. What actions are being taken to bring this strategy to life? Does the strategy take into account the competitive environment? To what extent does the strategy correlate with changes in demand and market trends?

Structure

Describe the structure of the sales department. How does the sales department interact with other departments in the company?

Control system

Describe the sales management system. What control methods are used in the sales department? How is the quality of the sales department evaluated?

They care about the little things

Sympathize with all the weak.

Relationship style

Describe the management style of the company. Does the management style contribute to the effectiveness of the sales department? What is the interaction between employees?

Staff Composition

Describe the composition of the sales department. What positions need to be filled? Are all employees doing their job or should some of them be replaced?

Amount of skills

Describe the strengths and weaknesses of the sales force. What skills need to be developed in employees to increase the effectiveness of the sales department? How is employee competency assessed?

Tool #3: Sales Team Assessment Checklist

In addition to the two tools described, I recommend using a checklist that we have developed based on experience working with many companies. Filling out the checklist will help identify gaps and omissions in the work of the sales department.

When you evaluate your sales team using the tools above, you will have a ton of information to work with. Do not be afraid of the results of the assessment, because each identified shortcoming is a prospect, an opportunity to reach a new level of development.

As the saying goes, if you can't work harder, it's time to work smarter. The crisis is the time to take this thesis into service. Many probably still have strength (and, thank God, they will last for a long time), and yet it is never too late to think about efficiency. Efficiency is essentially the opposite of efficiency. And if the effectiveness is achieved due to the concentration of forces at one point, then the key to efficiency can be considered a uniform distribution of force over the entire plane.

Sooner or later, every organization needs to balance these vectors of development. Especially important search of this balance sheet is applicable to sales. In general, I believe that sales are the most important activities of almost any company. As wrote Radmilo Lukic If the sales department in your company is not in the first place, then the client in your company is not in the first place. And if you are not customer-oriented, then you need to sit down and think carefully: are you busy with your own business?

Another nuance is also important: given that sales are an activity that a company needs permanently throughout the entire period of activity, the balance of effectiveness and efficiency in relation to sales must be achieved both in the short and long term.

How to do it? In fact, it's simple: you need to move from analyzing and building a sales department to analyzing and building a sales system. In other words, it is necessary to audit the sales system, and, if necessary, its adjustment and debugging. To do this, of course, is much more difficult than to say, and yet not so difficult as not to start it. In addition, having audited the sales system once, you will be able to do it relatively easily and quickly on an annual basis. Maintenance". You don't miss your car's MOT, do you? And if you miss it for a couple of years, then it would be foolish to be surprised that your swallow twitches, smokes, rumbles, and doesn’t really go anywhere ...

When You Can't Do Without a Sales Audit

If all of the above doesn't convince you to check in advance that everything is in place in your sales system, and you are an advocate of fighting fires as they arise, here are seven symptoms of a brewing "fire", that is, seven reasons to audit the sales system without delay.

1. You are not satisfied with the financial results of the company. Globally, regardless of the type and purpose of the activity, the fact of dissatisfaction with the result is a reason to find out if you are doing everything right. True, one “but” appears here: sometimes, as a result of an audit, it turns out that the problem is not so much in the sales system, but in the Wishlist. The simplest example is when the expected return on a business simply does not meet the industry standard, either in absolute terms or in relative terms.

2. Your company is not represented in market segments where competitors make good money. This is already cause for alarm. Only young companies that know about these segments and their development is in the plan for the near future can feel relatively calm. The main thing is that this should not be an excuse in the spirit of “forever young, forever drunk”: in fact, a company can enter the maturity phase a long time ago, exist for more than one year, and at the same time be firmly convinced that everything is ahead of it.

3. Indicators such as income per employee (or per seller) are less than those of competitors, that is, less than the industry standard. It is also possible that you simply do not know (or even are not interested in) this industry standard.

4. In your company, being proactive is considered "a tricky word." When discussing issues of development and work for the future, it is customary to use the expressions “you can’t lay straws everywhere” and “let’s solve problems as they arise.” But such formulations can only be used in a situation where, on the one hand, the crisis has already begun, and on the other hand, there is a reasonable feeling that a little more - and you will move into a phase when any step you take only worsens your situation. That is, what happens in chess is called zugzwang. In all other situations, this is a serious reason to think.

5. You don't train your employees. This also applies to those cases where learning as a fact is present, but does not have a systemic and purposeful character. There are companies that deny knowledge and learning as an activity. It is easier for them to invent everything themselves and invent even the most obvious things anew. There are companies that enthusiastically learn always and everything, often not even delving into what exactly and why, and most importantly, without delving into how this knowledge is acquired and used. There are companies that conduct staff training from time to time - either when it's tight, or when there is "extra money". And the first, and second, and third is to audit the sales system.

6. Sales, as a type of activity, is not in the first place in the company. I wrote about this above, so I will not repeat myself. Often this state of affairs occurs when the owner is not a salesperson by the way of mind, and at the same time he manages the business himself. This also happens in a situation where the director becomes the "chief technologist" - a production worker to the marrow of his bones, confident that the main thing is that the products be good (quality).

7. Your company revolves around the sales department, absolutely not considering the interests of other departments and common sense. Purchasing, warehouse, accounting and production are engaged only in fulfilling the whims of the sales department, for which everything is not right and at the wrong time. At the same time, the sales department does not understand at all what and in what quantity it will need. Plans in such a situation, if they exist, change at the click of a button, depending on what sellers want today. Often a similar situation occurs when the chair CEO falls elated with success Commercial Director, sales director or marketing director.

Six elements of the sales system

Have you seen at least one of these symptoms? Exhale, stop for a second and invite an external specialist to audit the sales system. Or, if you feel the strength in yourself, do this work yourself.

Under the sales system, I mean a set of values, goals, business rules and management procedures, reflected in specific business processes, documents and customs, and determining the specifics, direction and intensity of the company's activities. Vague? Maybe. Outside the sales department? Yes! That's where I started. The sales department is only part of the sales system. The sales system is a company and even more. But more on that later.

The first step in dealing with any situation is to capture and describe it. This is followed by awareness of the problem: what exactly is wrong? The best understanding of the problem occurs in the process of comparison with some ideal model. But after that (and only after that!) it's time to act.

So, the sales system consists of six elements. To fix and describe it, you need to answer yourself six questions:

It would be cool to tie it all into some acronym by analogy with SMART / DISCO, but I will not focus on the form and pay attention to the content. So, further on points.

1. Who?

First you need to figure out who in your company is the main force that carries out the life of the sales system. The answer to this question, in my understanding, is primary. Until you deal with the one who goes into battle with you, there is no point in starting this battle. Who are these people? How did they get to you? What is the selection system? Who is doing this, and on what principles is this activity based, and what is its methodology? Who trains, adapts and motivates them and how?

2. What?

The second stage of the analysis of the sales system is the description of your product. It is, of course, advisable to start with the basic 4P model: product, price, distribution and promotion. This is the minimum of factors that determine the image of your product in the eyes of the consumer and his attitude towards it. On top of the four classics, I recommend looking at three more: people, process, and physical confirmation. Only after taking them into account will you be able to fully answer the question “What do you sell?”.

3. To whom?

On this stage First you need to determine the main vector of your sales: is it directed outside the company or inside? Whom is your sales team forced (or trying to) sell more to - your existing and potential customers or employees of the company. Absolutely all companies have internal sales, and yet it is important to understand and control their ratio. If, in addition to selling a product to a customer, the sales department has to sell the idea of ​​working with customers, for example, to the logistics department, then you are in trouble. Or soon they will be bad if you do not correct the situation in a timely manner.

Secondly, figure out how you are doing with internal customers. Each employee of the company considers it his duty to remind salespeople that the client is above all. Does the sales department only work with clients? Isn't a sales manager who comes to the accounting department for a reconciliation act a client of the accounting department?

Thirdly, look at whether your entire company is interested in achieving results? If the sales plan (and financial results as a whole) is only the plan of the sales department, then it becomes only the problem of the sales department ... In such a situation, the company is divided into players and spectators. The latter always know better what exactly the players should do. Only they won’t go to the field, because it’s not their job.

4. How?

At this stage, we analyze how the sales process is set up in your company. What is the level of professionalism of your employees? How do they apply their skills? How is their working day and the process of meeting with a client organized?

5. Why?

Why does your company exist? Why is she the owner? What does he want from her? After all, profit is not always the goal of the company in the short term. And often it is not so in the long run.

Having understood the global goal of the person who "orders the music", it is necessary to deal with the presence, adequacy and quality of the use of the company's strategic, tactical, short-term and other types of plans. And it's not just about sales. It is necessary to find out whether the company exists or is being implemented as a project, and how detailed this project is in the short and long term. In addition, it is necessary to find out how things are going with goal setting at all levels of the company.

6. Why?

And the last thing you need to figure out is why this whole system works. What is the driving force of the company, its mind or heart? And how exactly does this driving force affect the direction and intensity of the company's movement? In other words, it is necessary to understand who and how manages it. At what level of development is business management as an activity, and what is its quality? By whom and how are decisions made? By whom and how are decisions communicated to subordinates? By whom and how is their implementation controlled?

It is from these six elements that the sales system consists. It is by them that you can diagnose the state of the company's sales system and determine, if necessary, ways to debug it. It is these six components of the sales system that I suggest that you analyze and describe in detail at the first stage of the audit of the sales system.

The purpose of checking the sale of products (works, services) is to determine the reliability of the reflection in accounting of the process of selling products (works, services).

Sources for verification are primary documents (invoices, waybills and others), accounting registers, financial statements(profit and loss statement, appendix to the balance sheet).

During the audit of the sale of products (works, services), it must be confirmed that:

· sales transactions are properly authorized;

· on accounts of accounting all actually made transactions on sale are reflected;

· the sale is reflected in the relevant accounts in a timely manner, the amounts of the sale are correctly classified;

the valuation of sales transactions is correctly determined;

sums accounts receivable on settlements for the supply of products (works, services) are correctly reflected in the relevant accounts.

The correctness of the reflection of sales transactions is established during a random check of these transactions by reconciling the data reflected in the accounting registers of the enterprise with primary documents and vice versa. Such verification can be carried out at the preliminary stage of the audit. At the same time, its volume will be determined by the results of checking the effectiveness of the system internal control.

Sales transactions are properly authorized. It is necessary to check compliance with the company's policy regarding the provision of credit to customers, delivery procedures and pricing in daily operations. The audit is carried out by comparing the actual prices for various types products, terms of payment of transport costs or delivery specified in the invoices, with the data of the relevant documents approved by the management. Actual prices and delivery terms can be found on invoices or waybills. These indicators can be compared with the approved price lists, price lists, other documents that determine the procedure and conditions for implementation.

If sales prices or conditions for the sale of products are determined individually for each customer, then it is necessary to make sure that they have been properly authorized by an authorized employee of the enterprise (for example, the head of the sales department). In the event that sales are based on the performance of several large contracts, the amount and description of the goods actually delivered or services rendered must be related to the terms of these agreements.

Checking that you have the necessary permissions to carry out sales transactions, as shown audit practice, is carried out regardless of the level of effectiveness of the internal control system, however, the size of the sample for verification may be reduced if confirmation of the effectiveness of the internal control system has been obtained.

Accounting accounts reflect all actually completed sales transactions. When conducting this test, you need to pay attention to the possibility of two types of errors:

data on actually completed transactions are not reflected in the accounting;

Fictitious transactions are reflected on the accounts.

Such errors can lead to underestimation or overestimation of the value of assets and sales amounts, respectively. Verification of the completeness and reliability of the reflection of sales amounts in the accounting accounts is part of the verification of the effectiveness of the internal control system.

When checking the reliability of the reflection of the amounts from the sale of products, goods, a number of entries in the sales registers should be selectively verified with the data primary documents(bills of lading, waybills and so on), as well as with documents evidencing the acceptance of shipped products (work performed, services rendered), to confirm that the goods were actually delivered, work performed, services provided and ownership of them passed from the contractor to the customer (buyer). In addition to this, it is also necessary to check the terms of delivery in order to accurately determine the moment of transfer of ownership.

If the fact of transfer of ownership cannot be confirmed directly from the available documentation, it is necessary to analyze the subsequent payments received from this customer (buyer) in repayment of receivables, and on the basis of this, make a conclusion about the reality of the transaction reflected on account 90 “Sales ".

Verification of the completeness of sales accounting can be effectively carried out by selectively reconciling the data of waybills (or documents replacing them) of the sales department with invoices and accounting data. When conducting this audit, the auditor must be sure that all waybills are collected and properly stored in the sales department. This can be done by analyzing the serial numbering of these documents.

The starting point for data validation is the sales ledger. Based on the data from this register, a selection of account numbers is made, which are then reconciled with waybills and purchase orders received from customers (buyers).

When checking the completeness of accounting, on the contrary, the starting point is the waybills. A selection of bills of lading is made, the data of which is verified with the data of invoices and the sales register.

Timeliness of the sale. Sales invoices must be issued and sales data recorded in a timely manner, that is, as the transaction (shipment) is completed, with reference to the relevant periods. This prevents the risk of accidental data gaps in accounting.

When checking the timeliness of sales accounting, as a rule, the dates indicated in the waybills are compared with the dates of the corresponding invoices, the dates of entries in the accounts of sales and receivables. Significant discrepancies in dates indicate potential problems in the timeliness of accounting for implementation.

Proper valuation of sales operations. An accurate calculation of the amount of sales affects the correct issuance of invoices for shipped goods, work performed, services rendered and the subsequent reflection of these data in accounting registers.

Checking the correctness of the sales estimate includes recalculating accounting data to identify possible mathematical errors. As a rule, the final amounts of invoices are calculated or verification of control documents prepared independently is carried out.

If the sales amount is in a foreign currency, you must also check the application of exchange rates. To do this, the auditor must verify the rate used by the economic entity with the rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, which was officially in force at the time of the transaction, and also ensure that the data on the currency amount of the sale and its ruble equivalent are properly reflected in the accounting registers.

The sales amounts are correctly classified. In addition to complete and reliable accounting of data on sold products (work performed, services rendered), it is also important that these data are correctly classified in the Profit and Loss Statement.

In the course of checking the classification of transactions, it is necessary, on the basis of primary documents, to determine the correctness of the correspondence of the accounts in the sales register and the correctness of the posting in the General Ledger.

The amounts of receivables for settlements for the supply of products (performance of work, provision of services) are correctly reflected. economic entity control the payment of outstanding receivables.

This task is typically performed as part of the validation of the classification of sales transactions, as described above. When checking the correctness of the reflection of the sales register data in the General Ledger accounts, it is also necessary to make sure that these data have been properly reflected in the receivables accounts.

In many cases, the posting of data on receivables accounts in the General Ledger is not based on data from the sales register, but on data from receivables journals, which include not only information about invoices issued for the period, but also information about payments received. In this case, it is necessary to check that the amount of invoices indicated in the journal-orders for accounting for receivables corresponds to the amount of sales in the sales accounting register. In addition, you need to make sure that the data of the journal-orders for the accounts of accounting for settlements with buyers and customers is properly posted to the appropriate General Ledger accounts.

Analytical verification procedures involve comparing monthly sales data with:

data of other months and the entire sales cycle;

· monthly forecasts of sales volumes;

data for the corresponding period of previous years.

If the analysis is carried out at the preliminary stage of the audit, then an estimate of the total sales for the year can be prepared. At the end of the year, the estimated value of the sales volume will be compared with the actual amount.

At the stage of checking the reflection of the results from the sale of products (works, services), the auditor determines the correctness of the reflection of the profit from the sale on account 99 “Profits and losses”. To do this, the entries on the credit of account 99 "Profit and Loss" are compared with the debit of account 90 "Sales" and the correspondence of this indicator to the data of the Profit and Loss Statement.

Using the procedure of arithmetic calculations, the auditor on the General Ledger (synthetic accounting register) on account 90 checks the correctness of determining the indicators:

1. Proceeds from the sale of products (works, services) and the cost of sold products (works, services).

2. Selling costs.

3. Management expenses.

Here is an algorithm for checking the formation of profit from the sale of products, works, services.

Proceeds from the sale of products (works, services) \u003d The amount of turnover on the credit account 90 "Sales" - The amount of turnover on the debit account 90 "Sales" for reporting period in correspondence with the credit of account 68 "Calculations on taxes and fees" - The amount of turnover on the debit of account 99 "Profit and Loss" in correspondence with the credit of account 90 "Sales"

The cost of goods sold = The amount of turnover on the debit of account 90 "Sales" - The amount of turnover on the debit of account 90 "Sales" for the reporting period in correspondence with the credit of account 68 "Calculations for taxes and fees" - The amount of turnover on the debit of account 90 "Sales" in correspondence with account 44 “Sales expenses” - The amount of turnover on the debit of account 90 “Sales” in correspondence with account 26 “General business expenses”

Selling expenses \u003d The amount of turnover for the reporting period on the debit of account 90 in correspondence with account 44 “Sale expenses”

Management expenses = The amount of turnover for the reporting period in the debit of account 90 in correspondence with account 26 “General business expenses” (used for those enterprises where account 26, according to accounting policy charged to financial results).