Why do Businesses Need an Automated Reconciliation Application? 

Over time, the CFO has risen to prominence as the strategic brain of a company. However, for a CFO to undertake the strategic role successfully, it requires shifting to a smarter, automated, and more efficient approach to the financial aspect, beginning with the balance sheet reconciliation management. Everyone in a company—from the CEO to the financial manager and auditor—wants to have a clear view of the enterprise’s financial position. Financial reconciliation software helps in making significant business decisions based on accurate financial data analysis. This article discusses why a business needs an automated reconciliation application.

Prevents manual errors

CFOs are responsible for ever-growing transactions, sub-ledgers, and accounting books- all of which elevate the chance of human error, inaccurate data, and duplicated entries. With their accounting team scrambling to check debits versus credits in the accounts and compare bank statements against ERP data, manual transaction matching becomes costly and cumbersome. It is by introducing automated financial reconciliation software that CFOs can shorten the financial close, monitor financial data, and define procedures without human error. 

Optimize the reconciliation management

One of the key reasons why leading companies in the world get it right is by using automated financial reconciliation applications. Rather than manually reviewing individual accounts or sub-ledgers, these businesses are constantly reviewing their processes to improve speed and quality. By managing repetitive tasks while ensuring accuracy and freeing up time in the financial department, automated reconciliation software simplifies and speeds up financial reconciliations. 

Cloud-based, automated reconciliation software can help

Different cloud-based financial reconciliation software tools are available that companies can use to reduce the risk of error and speed up the finance-related process. For instance, leading enterprises rely on reconciliation software to support:

• Bank reconciliations: 

It can be a time-consuming task to keep track of differences in the bank statement and that supplied by the financial institution. Bank reconciliation software can help simplify and speed up the verification process. 

• Balance sheet substantiations

New cloud-based, automated reconciliation applications can replace a manual process, allowing organizations to keep track of all accounts and balance sheets. 

• Foreign currency accounts

Financial reconciliation applications can also carry out data analytics and monitoring related to foreign currencies. By using this software, a company can convert and manage these figures and also reconcile any differences. 

• Intercompany accounts

The reconciliation of internal balances becomes complicated with the increase in the number of enterprises, accounts, and currencies involved. Installing automated reconciliation software can help companies manage their intercompany accounts seamlessly. 

Conclusion

Saving time and money is one of the main goals that every organization wants to achieve. As per experts, financial automation in an enterprise can save around eight to ten days per month. On top of this, financial reconciliation platforms help companies secure better accuracy, full traceability, and compliance. They will have an audit trail that helps track what has been done, by whom, and when. Moreover, now that the financial tasks are automated, the saved time can be used by the CFOs to fulfill their wider strategic role within the organization and strategize accordingly.