A continuous closing process can help both companies and employees with the month-end or period-end financial closing process, negating the need to handle a huge volume of inter-departmental data in one go. But the time and effort required to do this manually leads companies to keep with month-end or period-end financial closing. This leaves them back at square one with time pressures and human errors, leading to late or inaccurate reporting<\/a>. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In a survey conducted by Accountagility,<\/strong><\/a> CFOs reported several financial close challenges, and the following are the impacts created on the financial close process of their organisation: <\/p>\n\n\n\n 53% of CFOs claim manual adjustments are their biggest bugbear, and they are forced to make these adjustments due to manual errors <\/p>\n\n\n\n 94% of businesses close their ledger early as longer employee hours are required for creating closing reports manually <\/p>\n\n\n\n 56% of CFOs report too many spreadsheets<\/strong><\/a> prevent them from having effective (and more) planning cycles a year <\/p>\n\n\n\n 50% of the time and effort incurred in performing the month-end close process <\/p>\n\n\n\n 66.5% of those polled said they close two days early, with a quarter closing a day ahead to overcome the difficulty of processing such enormous amounts of data <\/p>\n\n\n\n The financial close process can be improved only if businesses overcome all the above-mentioned challenges in their finance department. Here lies the importance of having an automated system for the financial close process and this is the reason why many businesses move to financial close software to improve the process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With the introduction of advanced processes, financial close software aids in the automation and reproducibility of your close process. It lowers the risk of data inaccuracies and manual errors that might arise with the traditional financial close procedure. The financial close software<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>can improve the entire process by reducing the number of hours spent on the financial closure process by up to 50% throughout each period, allowing the closing process to be completed faster while retaining data accuracy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With the use of a streamlined, automated, and audited sign-off method, it improves accuracy while saving time on approval processes. This allows you to delve deeper into reporting and planning, ensuring that faults are swiftly identified and corrected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Quick Outputs:<\/strong> Financial Close reporting can be produced more quickly, more frequently, and at a lesser cost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Better Insights:<\/strong> Better analysis can be done, and more insights can be gained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Data Analysis:<\/strong> For analysis, non-financial data can be simply combined with financial data. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Easy Auditing:<\/strong> Audits become less time-consuming and easier to conduct. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Automation:<\/strong> Highly qualified employees devote less time to low-value-added manual tasks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Data Accuracy: <\/strong>There are fewer inaccuracies, and managers may have faith in the numbers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A standard operating procedure should be created and maintained to manage financial processes in every company. Financial closes that don’t have a defined, step-by-step operating method are inefficient. Every individual or team participating in the closing process should follow a clear and exact standard operating procedure to expedite the process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ignitingthought.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/image-1024x702.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n Lack of a defined process<\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Lack of automated processes<\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Reliance on spreadsheets <\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Lack of Audit trail provision<\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Huge volume of data<\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Using Automated Financial Close Software to Improve the Process<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Benefits of Using Financial Close Software<\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Does your Business need Financial Close Software?<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n