Drowning in Numbers with Excel? Discover When It’s Time to Switch to Financial Consolidation Software

Are you struggling with your month-end close process due to outdated reporting processes? If you’re finding that consolidation and reporting take longer than expected and no access to real-time data leading to missed opportunities, then you’re not alone. Due to the delayed financial reports and lack of trust from the management, business decisions are taken based on old data affecting the overall efficiency. While Excel has been a go-to tool for finance teams, its limitations in handling large volumes of data and ensuring accuracy can hinder efficiency.

With the recent automation technologies, CFOs are turning to business intelligence to speed up their reporting and data analysis processes by choosing to automate financial reporting. Let’s get started by understanding how financial consolidation software eases the financial reporting woes and when you can jumpstart the migration i.e. from Excel to automation.

Crushing data burden of manual financial reporting: A CFO’s view

According to a survey by a leading firm, it was noticed that CFOs work for 12 to 15 hours a day, and amongst many other factors contributing to this number, there is one called the large influx of financial data and manual reporting processes. Any update in the data at any point in time, 63% of CFOs manually update the reports; this highlights the time-consuming processes of manual updating of the records.

Three reasons why you should switch from manual reporting

1.It is consuming 80% of your productive time! Yes, manual financial reporting requires you to collate data from various sources and compile them in order to derive insights and analyse data. All these activities require a lot of time ranging from days to weeks if the organization has global operations. During this time, you miss out on: opportunities that could have been grabbed, had you been aware of the latest numbers and non-productive time spent on gathering data that could have been spent on analyzing it.

2.Costly errors with heavy financial impact and misrepresentation of financial health. In a study by the Wall Street Journal, it was found that 88% of spreadsheets contain mistakes. And with increasing volumes of data along with expanding operations, this number will grow exponentially. To jiggle your memory a bit, JP Morgan’s Synthetic Credit VaR Model caused a huge financial debacle. Reason being, it depended on manual processes of updating the data using a series of Excel spreadsheets. Don’t let your project face this failure, know-how here

3.Large, hard-to-manage volumes of data!The big data that doesn’t make it to the spreadsheets or is difficult to locate; because it’s lost in the tsunami of numbers from all the departments. This is both an exciting and intimidating challenge; on one hand, you have to go deeper than the face value of the numbers you come across and on the other, you get to work towards a 360-degree view of metrics and a cohesive set of analytics to make data-based decisions.

Difference between spreadsheets and financial consolidation software

Why Automate Financial Consolidations?

If you’re still relying on manual consolidation, you’re not only wasting valuable time but also increasing the risk of errors. Manually merging trial balances, managing eliminations, and balancing intercompany loans—in Excel, can easily lead to mistakes.

Financial automation tools eliminate these challenges by handling the heavy lifting for you. They pull in data automatically, streamline repetitive tasks, and ensure accuracy. This leads to faster, more reliable consolidations, and the flexibility to scale effortlessly as your business spreads its wings.

Read also: How automation helps in value-added analysis?

Adopt the four-step automation strategy for smooth financial consolidations

Simplify

Start by reviewing your reports and processes. Ask yourself: “Do we really need this report? Are there unnecessary steps complicating the process?” Simplifying reporting will make consolidation quicker and easier.

Automate

Automation is the key. Instead of manually entering data into Excel, use financial automation software to automate tasks like balancing intercompany loans or consolidating profit and loss statements.

Delegate

Once processes are simplified and automated, it’s time to delegate. As a CFO, your focus should be on strategic decisions, not on preparing reports each month. Automation allows your team to handle the details while you choose to dive into the value-added analysis and grab opportunities.

Eradicate

Finally, eliminate any steps that aren’t necessary. Streamlining your workflows ensures your team can focus on the important tasks that really matter.

A step from Excel to Automation: How ResultLane can help?

According to PwC, finance teams report on the past 80–90% of the time. The growing complexity of the financial processes, increasing risks while dealing with different financial structures, dealing with multiple reporting standards, and complexities of mergers and acquisitions are the key driving factors in favor of the growth of the financial consolidation software market.

With its sophisticated GenAI, ResultLane is your smart finance platform, designed for finance teams to automate the financial reporting processes. It combines the simplicity of spreadsheets with the powerful capabilities of an ERP system.

ResultLane reduces report preparation time by 90% by automating critical tasks including statutory and management reporting, consolidation, and shared services. This frees up your team’s time to concentrate on insightful analysis and strategic decision-making to improve results.

Are you ready to upscale your financial reporting for better collaboration and visibility?