Month-end processing has been the bane of accountants for a very long time. Always repetitive and time-consuming, it is becoming even more taxing as regulatory complexity increases, greater demand for speed and accuracy, changing client expectations and extra tasks such as operational KPIs have come into play. This brings the risk of stress and burnout, as teams struggle to balance accuracy with tight deadlines.

Technology is rising to the challenge

Jarrod Tuxworth, senior solutions architect – NetSuite at Fusion5, has seen companies slash the time it takes to close their books.

“In one case it went from 21 days to three days,” he says. “That’s a lot of extra time for your team to spend on the kinds of value-adding activities they enjoy, rather than tedious and repetitive tasks. You have the benefits of a more engaged and productive workforce, and also boost your competitiveness by getting reports out faster and providing clients with more timely data.”

The complexities of month-end close

According to Tuxworth, organisation is the first challenge accounting teams face every month.

“Closing the books involves many different tasks, all of which depend on other tasks being completed,” says Tuxworth. “Being able to organise those activities effectively is critical.”

From there, it’s down to efficiency. “You want the various processes to proceed as smoothly and quickly as possible,” says Tuxworth.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms are popular with accountants but, while they can help with the organisation of end-of-month tasks, many teams are still hampered by fragmented data, manual processes and missing or mismatched data. As technology continues to advance, the smartest platforms can now remove these pain points.

“Reconciliation is basically comparing the general ledger with other trusted sources,” says Tuxworth. “Within the business, the data you need can live in multiple systems such as payroll and CRM, as well as ERP. Outside digital sources can include everything from an electronic bank statement or bill to an official filing with a regulator such as ASIC, so you must be able to take advantage of third-party offerings and integrations in the marketplace.”

A leap in automation

NetSuite automates many month-end processes such as foreign currency revaluations, intercompany receivable and payable transactions, and posting eliminations and consolidations. Where required, NetSuite will use third-party extensions to bring all general ledger and external data sources together and, by applying matching rules, pre-reconcile entries that are meant to correspond.

“Teams no longer need to spend hours manually downloading data from various platforms and setting up their workpapers,” says Tuxworth. “When you want to reconcile an account, all of the general ledger and reference data will already be in the system with many lines pre-matched, so you only have to deal with exceptions. That’s a very high level of automation. NetSuite’s ability to connect to any data source and create matching rules relevant to any dataset means the solution can be configured to individual businesses.” 

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The right software solution will make the most of your team and your investment. There are many to choose from and, with many features to consider, it makes sense to call on an expert for advice. Fusion5 is a CA ANZ Member Benefits Partner.

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