Automating the processes that manage your reconciliation accounts is becoming increasingly popular today. Manual account reconciliation processes involve many team members, spreadsheets, and a high likelihood of human error due to:

• Manual data entry
• Tight deadlines
• Limited headcount
• High-volume of accounts to reconcile

Organizations are realizing that manual reconciliation methods are taking up too many resources and incur high risk from a lack of visibility into the status of the financial close timeline and any potential errors that are made.

How can organizations work to solve this issue? This blog post will explore the key reasons to eliminate manual processes, and the ROI that can be achieved with account reconciliation automation for your organization.

Why Leading Organizations Apply Automation to Their Reconciliation Accounts

There are many accounting automation benefits that an organization can experience:

• Standardization of processes across the organization
• Increased visibility through dashboards and analytics reports
• Decreased risk of human error
• Time savings and clarification of team responsibilities
• Increased productivity from financial staff

Purpose-built automation, like that included in Cadency’s SMART Platform by Trintech, helps prioritize accounts to see what can be automated, and what can’t. This allows for increased visibility across the reconciliation and close process via dashboards and notifications, instead of scanning spreadsheets that provide minimal updates. Your reconciliation and financial close process will become more streamlined and transparent for all parties involved.

3 Use Cases: Discover the Benefits of Account Reconciliation Automation

Automation Use Case #1: Keurig Dr Pepper

The Issue

Every month, Keurig Dr. Pepper manually reconciled approximately 2,100 general ledger accounts. Using excel templates left no visibility into the status of the reconciliation process. Additionally, the lack of automation increased the risk of errors and created workflow issues.

The Solution

Keurig Dr Pepper selected Cadency^® by Trintech because they needed a solution to automate their general ledger reconciliation processes while increasing accuracy and visibility. They also wanted a solution that allowed for a more efficient method of communication with auditors and more timely access to data that could support executive decision-making.  

Keurig Dr Pepper’s ROI with Cadency

• Streamlined existing processes
• Achieved improvements in quality, visibility, and accountability of reconciliation accounts
• Reallocated resources to more strategic initiatives
• Reduced overall risk profile

To learn more about Keurig Dr Pepper’s journey, visit their case study.

Automation Use Case #2: Boston Scientific Corporation

The Issue

Boston Scientific Corporation (BSC) experienced an increase in financial costs and a decrease in the F&A team’s capacity due to significant growth. Part of their growth strategy included several fast-paced acquisitions. Having to consolidate multiple ERPs without a clear strategy compromised their data integrity. They also launched a Global Business Services structure, as well as the utilization of a BPO. With all these events, there was a lack of standardization and visibility into their financial processes that raised their risk profile.

The Solution

BSC chose Cadency because the solution increased BSC’s visibility and control, while eliminating manual work efforts to unlock the capacity of the finance team.

“We’ve created a roadmap to really emphasize and drive continuous improvement and optimize things like account maintenance. And the goal: clearly, being to work smarter, not harder. The partnership with Trintech really has been important in helping us figure out how to adjust our processes and approaches to better work in this virtual environment.”  –Global Process Steward of Account-to-Report, Boston Scientific Corporation

BSC’s ROI with Cadency

• Standardized balance sheet reconciliation and JE with 29000+ accounts housed in Cadency, and more than 4400 of those auto-reconciled
• Increased staff productivity
• Time saved through onboarding new entities through their SAP ERP as part of the integration plan with Cadency
• Global communication and visibility between teams increased
• Ability to track multiple KPIs such as: Incomplete account reconciliations per policy, unassigned accounts, deactivated accounts with a balance, timeliness of account reconciliations, JEs and close tasks, the accuracy of account reconciliations and JEs

To learn more about Boston Scientific’s financial transformation journey, read their case study.

Automation Use Case #3: LKQ Corporation

The Issue

LKQ had difficulty managing high-volume transactions, balance sheet reconciliations, and close management processes due to an aggressive growth strategy. A lack of standardization and visibility contributed to these difficulties, as processes were spread out amongst 25 manually maintained Excel sheets.

The Solution

LKQ selected Cadency to standardize its balance sheet reconciliation and close processes. They were able to automate 90% of reconciliations, including their intercompany reconciliations, and gain real-time visibility into the tracking and reporting of reconciliations.

“Today, we are loading about 100,000+ records and auto-reconcile over 90% of those intercompany reconciliations, which has been a significant win for us.” -Accounting Senior II, Financial Systems Support, LKQ Corporation

LKQ’s ROI with Cadency

• Standardized high-volume transactions, balance sheet reconciliations and close tasks across all entities
• Reduced close process timeline by 2 business days
• Executed 100+ acquisitions without adding additional headcount
• Full confidence in timely and accurate information
• 90% auto-reconciliation provides the ability to quickly identify and resolve issues
• Intercompany nets to zero almost every month
• Provided transaction-level detail of variances

To learn more about LKQ’s journey, visit their case study.

Reconciling accounts is the foundation of the financial close. With automation, the ROI of increased transparency, efficiency and time savings not only strengthens your foundation, but can be seen across all other aspects of the financial close process.

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Written by: Mikayla Jordan