I have to be careful when writing this open letter, as I don’t want to offend any of the lovely accountants, bookkeepers and clients of same that I have worked with and am working with. So please bear with me as I try to be extremely tactful, but there’s something I must get off my chest.

In nearly every business or non-profit organization I’ve worked with, I have encountered a knowledge gap in financial management. What I’ve seen in 90% of the organizations is that the people responsible for making decisions about the future use of resources do not understand the financial information they’re being given (if they are being given it at all) by the professionals who are “doing the books.”

It’s understandable, I see, because bookkeeping and accounting seems to the outsider like a dry topic (those of you in the profession know it’s anything but!). Bookkeepers and accountants – is it really up to you to make sure your clients/employers fully understand the information you’re giving them? (I might argue yes, but I’m sure it’d be a heated debate). Board members, EDs, business owners and managers – is it too much to ask for your financial “people” to alert you to the stories written between the lines of the spreadsheets and reports? (I might argue no, but again there’d be a heated debate).

What this illustrates to me more than anything else is that the low level of financial literacy which has been reported on by the media, with a heavy emphasis on our high levels of household debt and poor understanding of personal investments, is wreaking havoc in our businesses and non-profit organizations as well. Decisions about how to use the Gross Domestic Product of this country are in the hands of people who don’t always see the stories that are staring at them from the columns of red and black ink. This scares me. Real value is lost when companies and organizations go bankrupt; then jobs are lost and lives are changed, for want of financial understanding.

So I am asking, to all those who work with numbers and those who are in the position of making decisions that affect the numbers: please try to talk to each other. We non-accountants need to learn what the financial statements are telling us and think in terms of what may happen next. The financial professions must learn to go outside their comfort zone and shake us up when we seem to be missing the point (financial reports can be tricky, subtle creatures). Between us, we need to start using our financial information more wisely and more often. Our grandchildren may depend on it!