You, me, everybody would prefer not to follow a checklist, yet they keep us alive in many walks of life.

Checklists can keep your accountancy firm alive too and help it thrive.

The importance of using a checklist was proved in the slums of Karachi, Pakistan in the 1990s.

All the local water sources were contaminated with sewage. 1 in 10 children died before they were five years old. Diarrhoea was a major cause.

A young public health worker, Stephen Luby, had an idea that anti-bacterial soap might help.

Initially the idea failed, anti-bacterial soap was no better than normal soap.

However, by using the soap more systematically and creating a checklist the number of cases and pneumonia were reduced. 

The checklist they implemented was a simple as:

• Wet both hands completely
• Lather well
• Rinse all soap off

Simple and obvious – but in the slums of Karachi it was life-changing. Using soap and a 3-point checklist really did save lives.

It’s easy to take for granted actions needed to complete a task, indeed sometimes such tasks are completed without real concentration (especially if they are done often – “of course people know what they are doing, they do it all the time”).

How much more secure would business-critical tasks in your accountancy firm be if you developed a checklist for successful completion?​