How Far Can You Automate Financial Close Processes and Still Keep Control?
April 12, 2023
The financial closing process is one of the most important tasks that finance and accounting teams have to carry out, but also one of the most time-consuming. Hence, it is common to find high-skilled workers spending too long on low-value processes. Nevertheless, the good news is that a large part of this work can be automated. How far can you automate financial close without losing touch with the process itself?
1 Why are consolidation and close processes difficult?
Financial closing is a cumbersome process with strict deadlines that requires a lot of coordination, so if your company still lacks financial close automation software, you will probably be facing the following challenges:
- Time wasted on integrating, reconciling and validating data.
- Manual errors compromise data reliability if you are still using spreadsheets.
- Communication bottlenecks due to having to wait for different departments’ input.
- Fragmented processes and no perspective of the big picture.
Moreover, know-how may appear as informal institutional knowledge rather than in unified repositories, thus compromising the integrity of the audit trail.
2 How can you simplify local and group consolidation?
The answer is to centralize operations and management on a single secure platform; indeed, streamlining and standardizing processes are the best way to simplify consolidation. Automating the financial close operations will provide your teams with tools for real-time communication and feedback, improving collaboration while also freeing time for analysis and decision-making.
3 Data validity, consistency and quality
The effectiveness of financial close and reporting processes is fully dependent on getting timely and accurate data from the different systems and departments involved. Thus, operating with real-time data is crucial to navigating disruptions and threats. By allowing you to bring the entire process together in one place where everyone has quick access to real-time data and documents, financial close automation ensures process consistency and quality. Likewise, it provides faster insights into financial performance, while enhancing transparency and compliance with statutory requirements. In short, automating your financial close operations is key to boosting your company’s productivity.
4 How can the right CPM solution help you?
Streamlining consolidation by automating the financial close ensures predictability and efficiency, leaving room for in-depth and accurate accounts analysis. Therefore, choosing an end-to-end CPM solution with robust data integration capabilities, such as Talentia’s, is the best way to meet the challenges of financial consolidation and closure. What does financial close automation software offer?
- Secure data collection from heterogeneous sources and robust data integration capabilities.
- Continuous accounting.
- Real-time reporting, multi-standard management and statutory consolidation.
- Intercompany reconciliation and close.
- Data validity, consistency and quality thanks to controls
Are you still struggling to simplify local and group consolidation processes? Talentia can help you to automate financial close with the best CPM solution so that you can stay competitive in today’s market.