Solutions for "The Last Mile of Finance"
“The Last Mile of Finance” is a term that was coined in 2006 by Trintech, as a way to highlight critical activities that occur in the last few days of a period to bring financial information to the market place. The Last Mile of Finance is the final series of steps involved in preparing a company’s financial results for public release and regulatory filings. The “last mile” runs from account reconciliation and balance sheet certification, to financial close and through the financial reporting and compliance process.
| Account Reconciliation | Financial Close | Financial Reporting | Compliance | Risk Management |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Unity Recon ReconNET AssureNET GL |
Unity Financial Close | Unity XFR with XBRL | Unity Compliance | Unity Enterprise Risk Manager |
Like the production of any good product or service, the quality assurance and finishing processes are comfort and assurance that the company is well represented by its product. Unfortunately for finance professionals, the assurance which should occur in The Last Mile of Finance is often tainted by a lack of visibility and manual processes which often result in unpredictable and unreliable outcomes. A predictable and transparent “last mile” allows the Office of Finance the agility to sustain long-term growth.
The processes included in “The Last Mile of Finance” encompass: account reconciliation, balance sheet certification, financial close, financial reporting and financial compliance control testing. The master task list encompasses steps such as closing sub ledgers, consolidating global results, balancing intercompany accounts, reconciling balance sheet accounts, analyzing and certifying final balances, creating accruals for taxes and other payables, calculating judgment entries for intangible asset impairments and amortization, and finally preparing the financial statements including the supporting notes and XBRL tags required for regulatory filings.
Running often in parallel are the tests of the controls to ensure the underpinning processes are operating as designed. Adding to the complexity is the interdependence of the tasks which requires precision in sequencing and hand-offs to ensure the workflow continues. The list of interdependent tasks is extensive; the time frames are short and the processes notoriously manually, which often makes the “last mile” the bane of finance.
Trintech Unity Suite Offers Solutions for The Last Mile of Finance!
Financial Close
| Current State | With Trintech |
|---|---|
| Manual task management | System administered global process |
| Compliance separately managed | Fully integrated close, compliance, reporting |
| Back end issues and performance reports | Transparency to issues and performance |
| Preventative quality assurance | Detective quality controls |
Compliance
| Current State | With Trintech |
|---|---|
| Multiple overlapping efforts | Single view, integrated processes |
| Scoping manual and static | Business rules driven scoping, dynamic updates |
| Support created post completion | Support created as process occurs |
Account Reconciliation
| Current State | With Trintech |
|---|---|
| Multiple approaches and definitions | Single global standard |
| Unreconciled amounts unknown | Unreconciled amounts tracked and reported |
| Global status by account unavailable | Transparency to all reconciliations |
| Operational reconciliations manual | Fully automated operational reconciliations |
Reporting
| Current State | With Trintech |
|---|---|
| Centrally executed and managed manually | Centrally managed, globally executed, technology administered |
| XBRL is a “bolt on” | XBRL embedded |
| Editing sequential | Editing collaborative and transparent |
Connect with us to learn more about Trintech and how our Solutions can help you optimize your Last Mile of Finance!
