Before Trintech: Spreadsheet Reconciliations & Self-Reported Issues

Q: Jackie, can you introduce yourself and describe the challenges HP faced before partnering with Trintech?

A: Hi, I’m Jackie Peters, General Accounting Senior Manager at HP. We design and sell computers and printers globally. We began working with Trintech in 2010 and over the years we’ve evolved our Trintech platform to meet our growing needs, whether it be the latest version upgrades or moving to the cloud.

Before Trintech, reconciliations were done in Excel. Files were saved to shared locations, and if there were aged items or issues, people had to self-report them. That was a major problem because issues weren’t being surfaced, and our balance sheet was, quite frankly, all over the place.

Why Trintech: Automation, Visibility & Scalable Control

Q: What drove HP to move away from spreadsheets and standardize with Trintech?

A: We needed automation, transparency, and controls that we could trust at scale. With reconciliations today, we focus heavily on automation, on-time performance, aged items, and rejections—because rejections and decertifications are rework, and rework is wasted time.

As of June, we’ve automated:

• ~72% by account count
• ~80% by dollar value of the balance sheet

All of this is verified by the fifth working day, which gives us confidence that the balance sheet is accurate very early in the close cycle.

Measurable ROI: Faster Close, Fewer Issues & Less Manual Work

A Highly Controlled, Early Close

Q: How has automation changed HP’s close process?

A: We have a very strong close process. We close by day 3, and the fourth day’s activity is extremely limited due to thresholds. Last month, we had only three global items requiring attention. Because reconciliations are completed quickly and early, we’re not extending the close period. That speed and control are critical at HP’s scale.

Power BI Visibility Across the Organization

Q: How do you track performance and KPIs today?

A: All of our reconciliation and journal data flows into Power BI. KPIs are updated close to real time, giving us immediate visibility into status, exceptions, approvals, and support. This allows us to slice, dice, and analyze data however we need—without waiting. It takes significant work out of the process and lets our teams focus on what truly matters.

Journal Entry Automation at Scale

Q: How is HP using Trintech to standardize and automate Journal Entries?

A: In the Journal Entry space, Trintech ensures that entries are completed on time, approved, properly supported, and within defined thresholds. We use 22+ templates to send data to multiple SAP instances—covering gaps SAP can’t handle natively, such as tax adjustments, AP/AR subledger fixes, and extended ledger needs.

From a KPI standpoint, we track approvals, support, and compliance rigorously.

Beyond Finance: Using Trintech for ESG & Emerging Requirements

Q: Have you extended Trintech beyond traditional accounting use cases?

A: Absolutely. We created a separate instance for Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) reporting.

Journal entries are fundamentally data—and ESG is also data. We now use JE templates to collect information like fuel usage, plastics, water consumption, and other sustainability metrics. These entries are supported, approved, and automatically sent to our data lake. What used to be fully manual is now automated—and we stood up eight templates in just a few hours.

Governance, Audit & Controls: Automation You Can Trust

Q: How does automation align with audit and control expectations?

A: With increased automation and AI, auditors rightly ask: Is the system doing it right? We’ve put strong controls around setup, maintenance, and evidence to demonstrate that Trintech, robots, and emerging AI processes are working as designed. Automation only works if you can prove it’s accurate—and Trintech helps us do that.

A Philosophy of Continuous Improvement

Q: What advice would you give to other organizations looking to explore a financial transformation?

A: This isn’t a project—it’s a journey. Too many companies fund a project, go live, and stop. You’re never done.

Most organizations only use 10–20% of their system’s functionality. If you’re not pushing the buttons, learning what each step does, and revisiting decisions as your business changes, you’re leaving value on the table. We’ve revisited our original design decisions multiple times—after splitting the company, moving to the cloud, and expanding automation—and each time we’ve improved.

Robots, AI & the Right Order of Automation

Q: How does HP think about robots and AI?

A: I’m a big believer in using systems as they’re designed first. I already have robots working for me—but once I automate something in the system or with a robot, then I evaluate AI.

Results Today: Control at Global Scale

Q: How would you summarize where HP is today with Trintech?

A: We’re running extremely smoothly. In our last close, we had only one issue worldwide.

That’s a huge accomplishment—and it reflects years of automation, training, preventative controls, and continuous improvement using Trintech.