Recreating
accounting and
finance
Many industries have been influenced by automation and now it is time for
Accounting and Finance to take the plunge as well. Automation is gradually
reducing the need for manual data entry thereby, saving businesses a great deal
of time and effort. As we speak, many established organizations around the
world are already in the process of computerizing their finance division in order
to achieve the efficiency it brings to the company. Which, is why it is important
to understand its’ process and benefits for anyone internal or external to the
industry.
One of the most significant areas that can be improved through automation
would be, automating your accounts payable process and invoice management.
Which, allows you to route the invoices in a way that, it gets approved and paid
as soon as possible through which the company will be able to reduce costs via
attaining early payment discounts while, eliminating the chances of misplacing
the documents altogether.
This trend comes especially useful when the company has to face the annual
audit, which creates a stressful environment for all employees of the finance
department. Due to the need of a highly detailed audit trail in order, to comply
with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the financial information of a company
needs to have proper document management. Automating financial information
not only saves the organization’s, auditors and the employees’ time but also,
ensures its’ confidentiality as it enables access to see who viewed what
documents and when, which may be convenient in the event of a fraud
allegation.
The monthly close process, is another area that is streamlined by automation.
This process of preparing transactions, journal entries and financial statements
at the end of each month evidently takes up most of the finance department’s
time thus, reducing their efficiency. As a solution to this, many types of
accounting software packages have been introduced, that can be customized
according to your company’s needs. These software programs ensure more
accuracy and speed while also freeing up the finance department to focus on
analyzing financial information and to develop new strategies than just
reporting the numbers to the relevant users.
In short, integrating automation into your company’s finance function will not
only make it more efficient and effective but also, open many new doors for
your employees and the organization as a whole.