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By Eric Baldwin

Too many companies still rely on manual processes to manage financial data. It is a sluggish and error-prone method that is no longer suitable for the complexity of modern business operations, including accounting. Those companies that are fully embracing digital transformation are rapidly improving their overall business performance.

According to a recent McKinsey survey, 66% of those surveyed have embraced automation of business processes, up from 57% two years prior. In addition, CFOs are evolving from a transactional partner in business operations to a strategic one. While traditional functions such as accounting, controlling, and managing the books are still in demand, the finance team is growing toward strategic planning, supporting decision-making, and handling enterprise complexity through financial planning, budgeting, forecasting, and analysis. This shift is changing how CPAs operate, and it is increasing the call for automating more basic functions to free up time for strategic planning.

The changing field can be daunting for those accustomed to old-school processes based on spreadsheets. The deluge of data from all aspects of the enterprise – human resources, sales, marketing, etc. – has grown beyond Excel. It is so vast that it can’t be managed by people alone and maintain an expectation of accuracy and timeliness.

Agility

A digital transformation is vital to long-term business success: it provides greater agility, improved visibility, and more efficient end-to-end processes across the business. Yes, a digital business model requires new skills and processes, but the “old school approach” is cumbersome, inflexible, and difficult. It can also result in significant productivity issues around planning, budgeting, forecasting, reporting, and auditing. It is well past time to reimagine the use of your data, both financial and nonfinancial. With greater analyses, interacting with decision-makers and orchestrating strategic initiatives can be the core of the finance team’s efforts. In other words, a digital transformation means CPAs aren’t just reviewing and closing the books, they will be contributing to overall business performance.

Transparency

Digital solutions provide transparency, speed, and auditability. Unified solutions improve reporting capabilities and ensure a stable environment to retrace data back to its source. With a literal click of a button, CPAs can identify transactional discrepancies without culling through thousands of spreadsheets. Typical issues that CPAs and their clients will help resolve through automation include the following:

• Limited self-service reporting across the organization
• Slow access to data
• Concerns about data accuracy
• Lack of integration among multiple data sources
• Limited real-time analytics and visuals
• Time wasted on repeatable processes that could be automated

Speed

Enterprise performance management solutions assist CPAs with closing the books faster. In other words, the speed to delivery is heightened because these tools allow for quick tweaks when necessary. For instance, say a CPA aims to close the books in January, but is faced with a cash-flow adjustment. Modern solutions allow for better cash-flow transparency and management because of real-time access to data and a clear overview of each line item. In another example, the consolidation process becomes easier because the system allows for a seamless systems audit, cashflow transparency, analytics, and management.

Auditability

Those who embrace a more digital environment are in a position to provide the necessary transparency, thereby increasing their auditability. The digital model allows for easy access to not just transactional data, but also master data, including financials, actuals, salary, benefits, sales, book revenues, and more. That makes the job of a CPA that much easier: it becomes a repeatable process that frees up time and resources.

In the end, digital solutions offer a boost for CPAs to allow them to serve a larger pool of clients more effectively.

Eric Baldwin is vice president of customer success for Jedox Inc. in Minneapolis, Minn. He can be reached at info@jedox.com. 

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