Top 4 Record to Report Trends of 2018: Trend #1 – Automation Will Continue to Become More Intelligent

As new technologies continue to evolve and become more intelligent, finance organizations will spend less time on the low value activities and more time driving the strategic direction of their organization.

The idea of automation in the Record to Report space is nothing new, but what is key to highlight, especially in 2018, is how this automation will continue to become more intelligent.

Over the past year it is likely that you have either heard something about Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and the potential impact it will have on finance and accounting (F&A) departments, or you have taken the first step and started to implement it into your own organization.

In 2017, Trintech took RPA a step further, introducing Risk Intelligent RPA™ which identifies risks proactively, rather than just automating the low-value activities.

“Risk Intelligent RPA enables us to automatically monitor GL accounts with minimal manual intervention. In our case, the system enhanced controls on the balance sheet and optimized the overall Record to Report process by risk profiling accounts and dynamically updating schedules and workflows. Risk Intelligent RPA also enables us to consider how the existence of open items can drive the risks so that users are encouraged to remediate material reconciling items on a timely basis. Riskier accounts are prioritized, while a “super low” risk rating enabled us to eliminate work altogether thereby freeing up resources for other activities.”

-Chris Brown
-Sr. Director Legal Entity Record to Report
-World’s Largest Athletic Apparel Manufacturer

In 2018, artificial intelligence will be the next big trend, as it enables robots to perform decision-based tasks previously left to humans. According to a recent MIT-Boston Consulting Group survey of over 3,000 business executives, “More than 80% of executives believe Artificial Intelligence leads to a competitive advantage, and 79% believe it will increase their company’s productivity.”

By investing in a Record to Report solution with advanced automation capabilities, you are giving your finance organization the necessary tools to focus their time and effort on higher-value activities, leading to higher job satisfaction for them and better insights for the business. In addition, best in class solution providers are continuously innovating to ensure they provide solutions that can meet your requirements today and into the future.

For more information on this topic or the other 3 Record to Report trends of 2018, view our webinar recording below.

Written by: Kelli Shoevlin