Top-5 Methods Digital Employees Can Expedite Monthly Closure & Reporting

finance reporting
  • April 8, 2024

Maximizing RPA Benefits

Finance and accounting departments are consistently confronted with obstacles that jeopardize financial efficacy and adherence to regulations. With issues ranging from workforce shortages to evolving regulations and disparate business processes coupled with an assortment of technologies, the accounting realm has grown increasingly intricate and susceptible to risks.
Numerous senior executives emphasize that the record-to-report (R2R) process represents the most intricate and labor-intensive segment within their departments, drawing constant attention from executive leadership, investors, and other stakeholders.
Navigating the Challenges of Closure and Reporting The period-end closure and reporting procedure entail collaboration among finance and operational teams spanning multiple business units, relying on various financial systems and office productivity tools.
In large enterprises, the controller group may encounter difficulties in organizing data collection and reconciliation processes across the organization, necessitating a finely calibrated and coordinated series of actions. However, as with any process reliant on human intervention, errors and delays often become the norm rather than the exception.
In addition to data accuracy, the Financial Close Cycle Time stands out as a critical performance metric closely monitored by the CFO. This metric represents the average number of business days required for a finance and accounting team to conclude financial close activities and submit finalized reports to management and regulatory bodies at the close of an accounting period.

Automation: A Viable Solution for R2R Processes High-performing organizations typically complete the process within 4-5 days, whereas lower-performing counterparts may require 10 or more days. Teams struggling with performance can enhance outcomes by implementing standardized procedures, reinforcing internal controls, and, most significantly, automating as much of the process as feasible.

While finance and accounting teams have long relied on automation, many have only scratched the surface, utilizing it as a partial solution with limited impact on overall R2R functionality. This is where the new generation of robotic process automation (RPA), referred to as Intelligence automation with python , emerges as a game-changer, delivering transformative outcomes for the broader accounting function rather than just a handful of transactional fixes.

IA with python establishes deeper connections with various applications, bringing secure and infinitely scalable digital employees into play to automate the most intricate R2R processes, all without licensing fees.

Top-5 Use Cases for Enhancing R2R Performance Outlined

Below are five instances demonstrating how IA with python digital employees can automate a greater portion of your end-to-end record-to-report processes, allowing for less time spent on data collection, sorting, and cleansing, and more time allocated to delivering accurate forecasts and operational excellence.

1. Data Collection

Implement standardized templates and automated procedures to extract financial data from numerous systems across the organization. Establish triggers, actions, and conditional logic to ensure timely data collection, review, and approval.

2. Data Cleansing & Reconciliation

Identify, index, and flag anomalies and discrepancies. Notify relevant teams of potential errors. Organize aggregated data into structured formats.

3. Report Generation

Translate data into standardized financial report templates. Prompt, collect, and process revisions from business unit controllers and financial managers. Compile reports and prepare tax system entries.

4. Report Distribution to Stakeholders

Disseminate reports to the financial reporting team. Format data into 10K or 10Q templates. Prompt, collect, and process revisions from department heads and the CFO. Forward reports to the audit committee for filing approval before submission to the SEC.

5. Preparation of Management Reports for Analysis

Translate data into standardized management reports. Prompt, collect, and process revisions/comments from executive stakeholders. Authorize and submit management reports to relevant parties.

Conclusion

IA with python digital employees serve as dependable allies in automating finance and accounting teams’ critical R2R processes, accelerating closure and reporting activities, reducing costs and errors, and fortifying financial governance and controls. Moreover, by assigning repetitive and unfulfilling tasks to digital workers, employee satisfaction and retention can be enhanced.

Ag Technologies stands as the foremost authority in IA with python solution, bringing digital employees to life to enable your finance team to operate more intelligently, not harder. We deliver an 80% increase in speed and elasticity, with no licensing fees . Furthermore, we complement your existing technological investments and furnish clear ROI and TCO data.

How to Make Sense of Front-End and Back-End Automation

Leave A Comment