DelightRoom Treats Financial Statements as a Product?
What happens when you craft financial statements with a master's touch?
Hello! I'm Roy, Head of Finance at DelightRoom.
Following my last post on DelightRoom's unique finance culture you won't find at other companies, this time I'd like to share the mindset we bring to our accounting work.
DelightRoom has a culture where every group strives to punch well above its weight, and accounting is no exception.
Just as we constantly improve Alarmy and relentlessly obsess over enhancing the user experience, we approach our "financial statements" as if they were another DelightRoom product.
What kind of performance would you get if you created financial statements with the same mindset and attitude as Jiro Ono?
With this shift in perspective, finance work that used to feel like a mundane routine transformed into something with endless potential for improvement.
So, what exactly does DelightRoom do to build this product called a financial statement? Let's dive right in!
Getting financial statements reviewed directly by the CEO
We close our books every month, report to the CEO on a monthly basis, and the CEO personally reviews the general ledger with his own eyes.
Through the CEO's detailed review and subsequent revisions, we boost the accuracy and reliability of our financial statements.
(CEO가 리뷰하는 재무제표와 그렇지 못한 재무제표의 퀄러티 차이는 매우 심합니다!!)
We constantly improve the financial statements by meticulously revising the descriptions for every single account, and to achieve this kind of result, we actually have to improve the entire process of generating the statements in the first place.
We've created an accounting manual so that no matter who prepares the statements, the accounting treatment remains consistent; we identify areas prone to human error and brainstorm what procedures need to be added to fix them.
Ultimately, the goal is to produce the most polished financial statements possible with minimal resource investment.
2. A shift in how we perceive financial audits
Many companies view financial audits as an unavoidable chore simply because they are legally required.
If you approach it with that mindset, you can hardly expect any continuous improvement in your financial statements. You'll just be thinking, "Let's just survive it without any major hiccups this year too."
At DelightRoom, our goal in getting an audit isn't merely to comply with the Act on External Audit of Stock Companies, but rather to use it as a fundamental method for improving our internal accounting capabilities.
Whenever the audit reveals necessary revisions, we treat it as a major issue. Just like a defect in a product. If an adjustment pops up in any account, we analyze the root cause and figure out a fundamental solution to prevent it in the future.
Our ultimate goal is to hit zero adjustments during our financial audits. To do that, the financial statements would have to be absolutely perfect, right? 🤣
Also, even though we aren't a company subject to statutory audits, we voluntarily conduct audits through an external accounting firm just to elevate the quality of our financial statements. An initiative like this is only possible because we believe the purpose of an audit isn't just to check off a legal compliance box, but to genuinely improve DelightRoom's accounting prowess.
3. 🔍 Finance review
Lastly, we transparently share the company's financial metrics with all members every quarter through our finance review sessions. During this time, we reflect on how well we're doing or what areas need improvement. If the results are good, we celebrate together, providing a solid dose of financial motivation.
When preparing the deck to share, it's crucial not just to spit out numbers, but to explain what those numbers actually mean and to objectively compare where we stand within the Korean startup scene, clearly illustrating how our hard work directly translates into the company's financial growth.
Since financial metrics are the most intuitive indicator of a company's growth, the finance review is often the time our members look forward to the most. It's almost like students anxiously waiting for their test results.
It's never just a dry numbers-reporting session; we prepare diverse content every quarter to keep members engaged. We actually interviewed a few members to see what they think of these finance reviews!! 🔥
Jason:
Since I'm looking at things from a manager's perspective these days, I find myself paying even closer attention to the finance reviews. My desire is for more members to understand the business so they can align their thinking accordingly. I believe when various company goals are translated into metrics, it drives deeper immersion. The numbers we get from the finance review are especially great because they help set clearer expectations for the upcoming quarter. That's why, during workshop breaks, I usually ask newer teammates who've been here for less than a year what they thought after hearing Jay and Roy's session for the first time. Since many of them have never experienced financial details being shared so transparently, their reactions are always wild and fascinating. (Some say they get so hyped and proud that they immediately text their friends to recruit them, while others say they don't fully understand the jargon yet but definitely get the feeling that we're crushing it.) Based on those reactions, I gather the seeds I need to manage my team effectively, keeping members focused and aligned on the same vision.
Chan:
At my previous company, the level of information sharing was so low that members had a lot of doubts about the company, but here I genuinely feel that DelightRoom trusts its members. Because they even share the company's expenses, it's great because it makes me reflect on my own work-related spending and check whether I might be wasting anything.
We've just looked at DelightRoom's unique efforts to approach financial statements as a product and constantly elevate their quality. In the long run, I believe these efforts will boost corporate transparency and positively impact our overall company valuation.
I think this organizational culture—one that can breathe soul into accounting and finance work, which is often seen as simple and tedious, and transform it into something exciting—is truly special to DelightRoom.
I hope our story proves helpful to other companies that might be struggling with how they prepare their financial statements. 😊
Lastly, I'll leave you with a famous quote from sushi master Jiro Ono:
"You just strive, repeat, and improve every single day. No one knows where the peak actually is."