Ready to ride the AI wave? Say goodbye to lengthy, drawn-out financial closes and hello to faster, more accurate results—freeing up your team to focus on more value-added tasks and surf smoothly into a future of automation and strategic innovation.

A recent KPMG study of 1,800 business leaders across 10 countries including Australia, highlighted that currently only 9% of Australian companies leverage generative AI, signalling significant untapped potential within the financial sector.

In today’s fast-paced financial world, closing the books quickly and accurately is vital for businesses. Traditionally, this has been a slow and tedious process, with multiple teams handling manual reconciliations and extensive back-and-forth. But now, with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI), companies worldwide are finding new ways to streamline their financial close, resulting in a faster and more efficient close.

In Australia, for instance, finance functions tend to lag behind other areas, such as the operations function, when embracing AI technologies. This hesitation often stems from the highly regulated nature of finance, concerns over data accuracy, and the complexity of financial data management.

A recent Gartner survey “Quick Answer: What Are the Quick Win Use Cases When Selling GenAI to Finance Leaders” revealed that while less than 10% of organisations have integrated AI into their finance functions, a remarkable 61% have yet to explore AI in any form. As these statistics indicate, there are significant opportunities for organisations to get on board the wave of AI adoption in finance.

How Can AI Help Streamline the Financial Close Process?

AI has already started making strides in automating several aspects of financial close:

• Data Entry Automation

  • AI-powered systems automatically collect and organise financial data from multiple sources, minimizing the manual data entry that can often slow down the process.

• Exception Management

  • Machine learning algorithms detect irregular transactions and discrepancies early on, helping finance teams resolve issues before they become major roadblocks during reconciliation.

• Continuous Close

  • AI can help enable a “continuous close” process, where financial close activities are spread across the month rather than being left for the end. This method reduces the month-end crunch and improves the accuracy of financial reporting.

• Predictive Analytics

  • AI can predict which accounts are likely to have issues based on historical patterns, allowing finance teams to prioritise their efforts.

At Trintech, our goal is to give the financial control team more time to focus on high-impact tasks, helping them deliver powerful insights that fuel smarter decisions. With Trintech’s automated solutions handling the most time-consuming, manual aspects of the financial close, the financial control team can dedicate more time to strategic analysis and become real drivers of business growth.

• Unlock new growth opportunities: With more time, the financial control team can dive deep into financial trends, uncovering new ways to cut costs, manage risks, and boost revenue. This can hopefully lead to better, faster decisions from executives
• Anticipate and mitigate risks: Time saved on manual tasks means the financial control team can focus on identifying potential financial risks earlier, creating smarter mitigation strategies to protect the business.
• Collaborate for greater impact: By partnering with other business units, the financial control team can generate actionable insights that align perfectly with the company’s goals.

Using AI in finance is set to transform the way the finance function works. In fact, 70% of CFOs expect productivity to increase by 1% to 10% with AI, and 13% believe the boost could be even higher, according to Deloitte’s 2024 CFO Signals survey.

The Future of Financial Close in Australia

As Australian businesses increasingly adopt AI solutions, the financial close process will continue to become faster and more accurate.

According to KPMG’s study, AI adoption for the financial close by Australian companies is expected to grow by over 52%. Leaders predict that by 2027, AI will be their top priority among all technologies in financial reporting.

Gartner’s report also predicts that by 2026, 75% of Australian enterprises will be using AI to accelerate financial close, reducing time-to-close by an average of 35%.  This shift will improve efficiency and allows finance teams to focus on more strategic tasks, such as financial planning and analysis, rather than getting bogged down in manual reconciliations.

Conclusion

AI is bringing a new wave of change to the financial close process for businesses in Australia. By automating routine tasks, spotting errors, and providing real-time insights, companies are speeding up their financial close with greater accuracy and compliance. As AI continues to improve, the process will become even smoother, allowing finance teams to scale and focus more on important strategic decisions.

Want to learn more? Download our white paper, “AI and the Financial Close” to gain a greater understanding of the fundamentals of AI in finance.

Written By: Nick Lancuba, Manager, Solution Consulting – APAC