Say Goodbye to Manual Processes and Benefit From Automated Financial Statements

Consolidated and annual financial statements are the foundation of a successful company. They influence crucial decisions, like which investments should be made and which strategic direction is the right one. Despite the importance of financial statements, however, many companies are still handling the processes involved manually, which takes longer and results in more errors. In this blog article, we’ll show you how automating your financial statements can help you obtain more reliable consolidated data in less time.

 

Manual financial statements: the biggest obstacle to producing dependable figures

You may have experienced it yourself: compiling financial statements manually means putting financial data into spreadsheets by hand, collating tables from different areas of the company, dealing with untraceable errors – the list of frustrating tasks goes on. This kind of work can be really taxing, especially when you add time pressure to the mix. Ultimately, it keeps you from getting to another important aspect of your work: actually analyzing the data.

According to a study carried out with Anders Liu-Lindberg – co-founder and partner of the Business Partnering Institute – 54% of the financial and accounting managers surveyed cited manual processes as the greatest obstacle they face in obtaining reliable figures quickly and efficiently in their consolidation processes.

So, what exactly are the main hurdles in manual consolidation?

The three biggest challenges in compiling financial statements manually

Creating annual or consolidated financial statements manually represents a variety of difficulties. Here are the three biggest ones:

1. Lack of interfaces: When the process of transferring data from your source systems (ERP, accounting, etc.) into a consolidation tool isn’t automated, you're forced to import the data manually. This results in inaccurate (or missing) figures, which make it difficult to produce audit-ready financial statements.
2. Time-consuming intercompany reconciliation: In a survey conducted by BPM International, 72% of the companies involved reported spending a lot of time resolving intercompany discrepancies. The typical struggle with countless Excel files and the make-do e-mail communications that often take place between group accountants and subsidiaries are two of the main reasons why.
3. Spreadsheets: Flawed formulas in Excel files often lead to inaccurate or incomplete financial statements – not to mention a whole lot of unnecessary effort. Isn't that something we're all trying to avoid?

 

The three main benefits of automated financial statements

Compared to manual processes, automating the creation of all manner of financial statements offers numerous advantages. Here are the three biggest ones:

1. Minimization of errors and risks: Automated processes reduce the likelihood of mistakes and inconsistent data. They thus ensure not only a much lighter workload, but a much higher level of data quality, as well.
2. Increased efficiency and time saved: Ready-to-use interfaces to source systems and fully automated consolidation runs provide for smooth processes and give you back the time you’d otherwise have to spend fixing errors.
3. Improved transparency and traceability: Automation facilitates a better understanding of your figures, along with greater transparency. By directly connecting your consolidation software to your ERP solutions, for example, you’ll be able to retrieve invoices in real time whenever needed.

 

Conclusion: why you should start automating your financial statements

The automation of annual and consolidated financial statements offers significant advantages over manual processes. It reduces errors and risks to a minimum while increasing efficiency, saving you time, and improving the transparency and traceability of your data.

Companies that rely on automated solutions are in a better position to fulfill their financial and accounting requirements and optimize their consolidation processes. Once you automate your own financial statements, you’ll have more time and other resources to devote to strategic and value-generating activities.

 

The quickest path to flawless annual and consolidated financial statements

Do you want to improve the quality of your financial statements and save a great deal of time and money in the process? In our e-book on the subject, you’ll find plenty of tips, tricks, checklists, and other information, along with testimonials from companies that are already benefiting from automation in this area.

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