The Financial Close and Consolidation process is fundamental to all group finance teams, encompassing and providing a platform for the other core financial procedures. The process itself can be time-consuming if done manually. It can also lead to mistakes, simply down to the concept of human error. Groups with multiple entities will be pulling in data from a number of different sources which can be time consuming and incredibly overwhelming when performed manually. With a huge improvement in areas of technology such as virtualisation, a vast increase in network speeds, and the growth in the cloud, software solutions have been able to provide more reliability, functionality, and security to their customers. Automating the whole process can save you valuable time which can be spent on analysis and other value-added activities.
Benefits of Close & Consolidation automation:
- Improved data management and increased business intelligence – Automating the Financial Consolidation process removes several redundant steps which decrease the risk of errors. The integration and loading of data manually can lead to mistakes which could lead to inaccurate conclusions being drawn and inaccurate results being reported. With an automated process, the risk of mistakes is significantly reduced with the additional benefit of consistency which is especially important with phased results. This means your financial consolidation system will maintain the integrity of your company.
- Adapt quickly to changes within the business, changes in the marketplace, and changes in the economic landscape – An automated system should be agile allowing you to quickly react and adapt.
- A centralised system for the collection of data – Everything you need in one place. This includes your financial and non-financial data. Data duplication is removed and provides you with an accurate set of numbers and a ‘single version of the truth’.
- Free up time to focus efforts elsewhere – Greater efficiency avoids the time-consuming process of gathering, reconciling, calculating, and validating your numbers. This leads to an improvement in decision-making as the time can be focussed on drawing conclusions and how you can make changes and improvements to the business. Spend more time analysing rather than collecting the data. Be more of a professional accountant than a bookkeeper”.
There are clear benefits to automating the financial consolidation process. One major benefit is having confidence in the data.
So where does HAYNE fit into the equation?
We partner with a number of trusted vendors such as IBM and CCH Tagetik who develop enterprise level financial close and consolidation software that have powerful automation embedded within.
We work with companies of all sizes and industries to develop and implement a compliant, robust, time-efficient, and effective Financial Close & Consolidation process. We know that implementing a new system and process requires a robust business case and requires internal commitment and capability. Working closely with our partners and our clients, we select the right solution to meet the individual needs of each business we work with. We support our clients with strategy, product selection, technology development, system implementation, training, and on-going support. We pride ourselves on being embedded business partners rather than technology vendors.
In fact, HAYNE is a lifecycle partner for all your Business Intelligence, Corporate & Financial Performance Management needs including Close & Consolidation, Budgeting, Planning, Analysis, Account Reconciliation, Disclosure Management, IFRS 16, and BI.
Next steps
- Contact us to arrange a call to explore and discuss your Consolidation automation requirements
- Find out more about our Financial Close and Consolidation Software Solutions
- View our on demand webinar on Automating Consolidation