Save the Planet, Embrace a Paperless Month-End Close

Every wonder how you can contribute to the perseverance of our beautiful planet? You are probably wondering: how does saving the planet and my month-end close process have anything to do with one another? Well…in the world of finance, the month-end close process is often one of the most challenging and time-consuming periods. It involves a mix of detailed tasks such as reconciling accounts, preparing financial statements, and ensuring everything aligns correctly in the reconciliation process. However, much of this work is administrative in nature, often involving manual steps like emailing reports, circulating documents, filing papers, and ensuring signatures are obtained (ahem, talk about wasting paper). These administrative duties can easily become overwhelming, especially as deadlines loom and the pressure builds to close the books accurately and on time.

Chris Matyszczk, in his article The 7 Consistent Routines of Geniuses, argues that “geniuses ruthlessly separate administration from real work.” They focus entirely on the tasks that require their highest skills and intellect, leaving the administrative work behind. While the idea of a fully uninterrupted, administrative-free environment sounds ideal, the reality is that financial professionals often get bogged down in these repetitive tasks, leaving less time for strategic decision-making or in-depth financial analysis.

The good news is that financial close automation and automated reconciliation solutions are transforming how organizations approach their month-end close process. By eliminating or streamlining administrative tasks, these tools allow finance teams to focus on higher-value activities, such as Flux and Variance Analysis, forecasting, and financial reporting. Tools like SkyStem’s ART are helping finance professionals reclaim their time, improve the accuracy of their financial closes, and save the planet one less paper trail at a time.

The Burden of Administrative Work in the Financial Close Process

For many finance teams, month-end close and reconciliations are a labor-intensive task. The cobbled available options such as Excel or Adobe available often lack the capabilities to fully automate the process, leaving professionals to manage routine tasks like photocopying documents, circulating files, signing reports, and tracking approvals. These tasks, while necessary, do not directly contribute to a company’s strategic financial goals, and they take up precious time that could be better spent on financial performance tracking or financial reporting accuracy software.

Not only are these tasks repetitive, but they’re also prone to human error. A misplaced document or a forgotten signature can delay the entire close process or worst yet, get dinged by the auditors. This creates stress and pressure for accounting teams, especially in larger organizations where the volume of work is higher. The key question for many finance professionals is: How much of their time is actually spent on tasks that add value to the business, and how much is wasted on administrative work?

The Power of Financial Close Automation

Here is where month-end close software enters the chat! With cloud-based month-end close and reconciliation software, finance teams can automate and streamline the entire month-end reconciliation process. These tools not only reduce the administrative burden of financial close but also help mitigate the risk of errors, enhance accuracy, and improve team collaboration.

SkyStem’s ART is one such tool that automates many of the manual processes involved in account reconciliations. By automating tasks such as updating balances, providing real-time status and notifications and workflow ART helps finance teams close the books faster, with less manual intervention. It also eliminates the need for paper-based workflows, creating a paperless accounting software environment that enhances productivity and reduces costs.

Real-World Example: Gateway Bank’s Success with Automation – below you say Machias Bank but here it says Gateway Bank – please fix to which one it is.

To understand the real impact of automated reconciliation software, consider the experience of Machias Bank. They implemented ART to streamline their month-end close process. Prior to adopting ART, the bank struggled with inefficiencies in their reconciliation tasks. They wanted to work through reconciliations faster and make the process more streamlined and paperless.

The results were significant. With ART, the bank reduced their reconciliation volume for each month by 25%. The automation of this process allowed the team to focus more on financial analysis and less on the administrative overhead that typically accompanies a financial close. The success at Machias Bank demonstrates how effective financial close automation can be in transforming the efficiency of the financial close process.

Conclusion: Automating the Future of Financial Close

If you want to automate month-end close and focus more on delivering financial insights, the first step is to explore financial close technology. Whether you’re looking to improve reconciliations, speed up financial reporting, or optimize the financial close cycle, automation can help you reach your goals. The future of financial close is here, and it’s time to embrace the technology that will transform your workflows and unlock the full potential of your finance team.

Added bonus? No more paper! Using less paper directly contributes to conserving our environment; so not only are you helping your finance team and the headache you get come month-end, but you are helping our planet, too! Hop on the Save the Planet train before it’s too late.

To learn more about how SkyStem’s ART can help you automate your month-end reconciliation process and streamline your financial close, click here.