We’ll Fix it Later.

One of the most expensive phrases in business is “We’ll fix it later.”
Over the years, I’ve noticed that many of the issues that eventually become costly did not start as major problems. They started as something small that seemed manageable at the time.
•⁠ ⁠Audit preparation that was pushed back another month.
•⁠ ⁠A reconciliation that could wait another month.
•⁠ ⁠Documentation that would be updated later.
•⁠ ⁠An approval process that became a little less formal as the business grew.
•⁠ ⁠A temporary workaround that quietly became part of the process.
None of these things look particularly serious in isolation.
The challenge is that small issues have a tendency to accumulate. What starts as a minor oversight can gradually become a source of inefficiency, confusion, financial risk or unnecessary cost.
By the time it surfaces during an audit, financing process, transaction or regulatory review, fixing it is often far more difficult and expensive than addressing it when it first appeared.
This is something we see regularly at KISA Chartered Accountants. The issue itself is rarely the biggest problem. More often, it is how long it was left unresolved.
“Later” has a habit of arriving at exactly the wrong moment.