Automated Record to Report Process Benefits

By Anirudh Menon - Last Updated on January 6, 2020
Automated Record to Report Process Benefits

Important factors about reporting and why companies should go for an automated process.

A sneak peek at the key benefits of having an automated record to report process.

Since the 2007-2008 financial crisis, there has been a constant push by some organizations to get back to pre-2008 financial levels. However, the journey seems to be challenging, considering that some organizations are still facing the aftershocks of that financial tremor and have not yet recovered fully.

Today, organizations face a constant challenge to streamline their financial reporting process, because of extreme financial volatility. Moreover, there is a looming perception about a lack of corporate governance as well, which compels organizations to find out ways to manage and mitigate risks associated with improper governance and financial reporting structure.

The accuracy of a financial statement is totally dependent on the correctness of an organization’s bookkeeping activities. What are the two core bookkeeping activities?

  • Entry of journals
  • Posting to ledgers

Now the big question is: Why is the Record-to-Report process so important? Many companies are of the belief that having an ERP system implemented will result in a better, more streamlined process with a shorter close cycle. Even though this belief about ready-to-deploy ERP systems is true, there are other areas that need to be addressed to ensure that the system delivers the desired ROI and helps in setting up an optimized process for governance, organizational alignment, and development of the workforce.

All these areas need to be a part of a comprehensive and consolidated system to see the desired return on a company’s investment in technology.

Companies should focus on developing a robust record-to-report process that covers the complete end-to-end cycle. Having an enhanced and accurate reporting mechanism helps management with better decision making as these executives rely on financial data for better performance of their organization.

Moreover, those companies who are not adopting technology have not been able to bring about significant improvement in their reporting processes. Furthermore, changes in regulatory norms add to the already struggling organization.

If we look at a very simple integrated R2R process, it has four simple milestones:

  1. Assimilate data from sub-ledger entries such as AP, AR, INV, etc.
  2. All this data gets integrated into the General Ledger
  3. This transcends into more meaningful data which are financial and operational performance indicators
  4. Finally, you can generate reports such as a Profit & Loss statement, Balance Sheet, Scorecard or dashboard.

Having an automated record-to-report process can bring several benefits including:

  • Having a process that is extremely streamlined from start to finish
  • Enforce clear communication
  • Create a close process owner that ultimately creates accountability and responsibility
  • Continuous monitoring of KPIs and flash reporting
  • Gives an opportunity to set up record to report best practices

An effective closing process will ensure that companies close their books the very next day. This, however, can be achieved only by having the right technology that is integrated with the process.

Anirudh Menon | I have adorned multiple hats during my professional journey. My experience of 14 years comes in areas like Sales, Customer Service and Marketing. My journey as a professional writer started 5 years back, when I started writing for an in-house magazine for my employer. Having successfully delivered many in-house projects, it encouraged me to take my skill to the world. As on day, I have written articles, blogs website content for various industries like Information Technology, Start-up, Retail and Government. The subjects that I have covered range from Digital Marketing, SAP Cloud Platform, Cloud Computing, Content Marketing , Politics. Enhancement is a process and I constantly thrive to add more subjects in my portfolio. Over and above content writing, I also train language and communication to students who want to brush up their speaking skills. I am a part time trainer for IELTS coaching and also work as a budding voice over artist.

Anirudh Menon | I have adorned multiple hats during my professional journey. My experience of 14 years comes in areas like Sales, Customer Service and Marketing. ...

Related Posts