Doing is better than wanting

Modern concepts and innovative technologies can perform small miracles in accounting and trigger unexpected aha effects. The fact is that the results, balance sheets, analyses and forecasts that the CFO receives from his accounting specialists have optimization potential - both in terms of their quality and their availability in real time.

A study conducted by the independent market research institute Censuswide on behalf of BlackLine among executives and professionals from finance and accounting shows that only 29 percent of respondents are convinced that their financial data is correct.

In addition, a high number of the study participants criticize the limited availability of real-time data and thus the understanding of whether the company is achieving its business goals - worldwide and in Germany, around one third of the respondents are of this opinion. 

The digitization of financial accounting seems more than overdue. But how can spreadsheet reconciliations be automated? What are the options for increasing the real-time factor of financial figures? How can the quality of results be improved? By looking at the holistic processes and implementing innovative solutions.

For example, BlackLine, the SAP Pinnacle Award Partner of the Year for Solution Extensions, has developed the Continuous Accounting method. This enables companies to establish an end-to-end accounting process that incorporates activities outside of ERP and ensures that figures are available in real time for the majority of the time. A new type of corporate agility is created, which also sustainably reduces the risk of errors, effort and costs.

Continuous Accounting

Anyone wishing to introduce a continuous accounting process must first ensure that the operational process level is homogenized. The best way to achieve this is to introduce a system that harmonizes the processes across the different source systems.

In order to modernize the existing financial closing process, recurring routine activities are automated and, if possible, standardized via global templates. This approach ensures that an agile digitization process gradually emerges, in which all processes are solved only workflow-based or fully automated.

This results in significant quality improvements. Subsequently, the procedure is extended and the month-end closing is equalized by distributing the various tasks over the month and no longer processing them only at the end of the period. This has two effects: It relieves the accounting department and ensures that meaningful figures are available in real time at a much earlier stage than usual. This in turn is the prerequisite for more valid analyses and forecasts. 

The new role of the CFO

As a result, the CFOs' level of knowledge and advisory skills are also expanding. They now have more diverse and flexible options for analyzing and interpreting the available figures. This makes them a valuable sparring partner. Particularly against the background of companies having to react with increasing agility to market changes, the position of a CFO who can provide financial data in real time is becoming more and more important.

According to the Censuswide study, 40 percent of finance professionals say they are increasingly being asked to participate in scenario planning. This is hardly surprising, given that almost one-third believe that the redesign of core business processes is overdue in order to adapt to changing market conditions.

In short, one should use the possibilities of modern concepts and innovative technologies to set the course of a company in the best possible way and, if necessary, to correct it at short notice. So why not use a secret weapon like Continuous Accounting to convince in the battle for market power.