How Automation Can Help Streamline Your Business

As more processes become automated, the work within accounting and finance shifts from reactive and transactional tasks to proactive and analytical ones. A solid, reliable data infrastructure is crucial, and many companies are implementing cloud-based accounting software as a foundation.

Automation can significantly enhance the efficiency of your business by transforming workflows from reactive and transactional to proactive and analytical. This shift allows professionals in various industries to focus more on strategic and analytical tasks rather than routine and repetitive activities. To achieve these benefits, it is important to have a solid and reliable data infrastructure. Many companies are implementing cloud-based accounting systems as a foundation for their automation, further strengthening data integrity and accessibility.

Automation, especially in areas such as accounting and finance, helps reduce time-consuming manual processes and minimize errors. By introducing automated processes, companies can improve quality and reduce time. This leads to faster and more reliable data, as well as a more efficient use of resources.

10 Financial Processes to Automate

Here are ten key areas to focus on for automating financial processes and realizing the benefits:

1. Data Entry: Automating data entry is often the first step. This can include data import, rule-based workflows, robotic process automation (RPA), and advanced AI technology that can read and process data from various documents.
2. Accounts Payable: Automating accounts payable ensures that the company pays its bills on time and can take advantage of optimal payment terms. The technology can match invoices with supporting documents and automatically assign the correct account in the general ledger, reducing manual work and inconsistencies.
3. Accounts Receivable: Billing is one of the most common processes to automate. Advanced software can generate and send invoices automatically, reducing average collection time and improving cash flow.
4. Expense Management: Automating expense management eliminates paperwork and improves visibility and control over expenses, which can reduce costs and increase compliance with company policies.
5. Purchase Orders: Automating the purchasing process ensures faster approvals and better integration between finance and procurement systems, improving supplier relationships and reducing the risk of delays.
6. Financial Reporting: By automating the steps to create financial reports, companies can produce more accurate and credible reports faster, providing better decision-making support for internal and external stakeholders.
7. Budgeting and Forecasting: An integrated system for financial planning and budgeting leverages current data, simplifying and improving the accuracy of budgeting and forecasting.
8. Tax Management: Automating tax management ensures that the correct tax is calculated and reported, reducing the risk of errors and ensuring compliance with tax regulations.
9. Handling Multiple Currencies and Tax Regulations: Managing different regional reporting standards, automated currency conversion, and tax requirements is crucial for companies with international operations.
10. Consolidation of Financial Data: By offering a centralized platform, companies can consolidate their financial data from multiple subsidiaries and gain a unified overview of their global operations.

How ERP Addresses These Challenges

ERP systems automate business processes by collecting all information in a central database and using this data to automate workflows. ERP systems help establish and maintain rules that ensure compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. Companies often start by automating processes related to core finances and then move on to other areas. A unified ERP platform with modules that can support various business functions and needs is the best solution for most companies.

Conclusion

In summary, automation can help your business become more efficient by freeing up time for strategic work, improving data quality, and creating a more flexible and responsive business model. A cloud-based ERP platform like NetSuite offers the technologies and tools needed to automate your finance processes, and most importantly, NetSuite has a single source of accurate and up-to-date information in real-time to ensure the automation delivers the desired business benefits. Automation is the future of financial processes, and by taking the step now, your company can not only reduce costs and save time but also scale and grow efficiently.