Discover How to Automate and Improve Your Financial Close Process

White Paper

Why Automate Your Financial Close Process?

The close process is one of the most fundamental indicators of the efficiency of your financial infrastructure. The process sets the critical foundation that must be in place before your finance and accounting team can even begin to optimize its role as a true consultative business partner and trusted advisor, assisting in achieving strategic goals and creating shareholder value.

Automating your financial close is critical because:

  • Financial statements are the ultimate scorecard for a company and must be accurate.
  • The critical information obtained from financial close results is used to perform accurate and timely analysis — both internally and externally.

Taking a Holistic View

By taking a holistic view of the close, an organization can understand the connectivity, impact, and dependencies of each phase as the basis of a breakthrough simplicity and automation transformation.

The financial close process begins with:

  • Transaction Accumulation and Reconciliation, and Sub-ledger Close phase. The first phase focuses on the accurate recording and reporting of accounting transactions during a specific and defined period —monthly, quarterly, or annually. The accurate processing of transactions will ensure that reconciliations, the sub-ledger close, and financial reporting are timely and correct.
  • Corporate Close and Consolidation Process. All activities that comprise the financial close are driven by cutoff dates that ensure financial results are accurately reported.
  • Analysis and Reporting Cycle. The“Final Mile” of the process is a critical phase that focuses on the accuracy and analysis of a company’s financial results and can be unsuccessful if too much time and resources are spent in the prior phases without automation.

Discover the key components of the financial close process in this white paper.

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