by Elizabeth Milne, Analytics Solution Marketing, SAP
Many companies would like to reduce the time it takes for the accounting and financial close. Three main factors affecting a faster close are: people, processes and technology. As the close is not a one size fits all problem, it depends on the organization to determine where the best place to start is for improvement.
Some companies are closing slower today than they were five years ago, citing these reasons.
- 40% cite more internal levels of review
- 35% cite the need to capture more detail
- 20% cite the need to check more carefully for errors.
Forty-four percent of companies want to close faster to allow time for more analysis, yet less than a quarter of a financial analyst’s time is spent providing value-added analysis to the business.
So how can you close faster, provide more analysis but still have the confidence in the numbers produced? Establish a clear program and get management commitment to shorten the close cycle, then leverage software as an automation tool to accomplish this.
The infographic below provides insight into why a fast close is important and how you can accelerate your financial close.
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