Top 3 Ways to Accelerate the Financial Close

Every company’s account department has one task in common: the financial close. This refers to the timeframe where a business concludes its projects and financial agreements. There are several steps involved with the financial close such as creating financial statements and recording transactions.?

The financial close can be a nightmare for any sized company, especially when you’re looking at various deadlines for the previous time period. However, there are several ways to help create an amicable closing environment. Here we will discuss three viable methods to accelerate the financial close at your place of business.

#1 - Conduct Soft Closes Before the Deadline Period

There’s no rule stating that you cannot get work done earlier than your deadline. In this case, knocking out some early work can help you save a ton of time and effort when the end of a quarter comes along. Performing daily, weekly, or monthly soft closes (depending on the needs of your business) can be the perfect way to stay ahead of the curve for your business.

#2 - Make Preemptive Accounting Entries

There are certain financial amounts that you can easily input on a regular basis. Save yourself some time and keep your eyes on recurring expenses so you can pinpoint them and make note of them before you do the rest of your finances when the time comes. This saves you the extra time when it really matters.

#3 - Critical Changes with Automation

Once upon a time financial data entry was done completely by hand, with human eyes and manual input. Not only could that process be slow, but it could also be problematic if errors were to crop up. With the advent of technology, breakthroughs in artificial intelligence have made it possible to run entire processes fully automated. This can help speed up the financial close exponentially. Businesses can use programs like Quickbooks , Metaprise , and Netsuite to automate their financial processes, making a tedious task simple and seamless.

These three methods can work for you in a pinch. There are more methods that may help, but if you’re looking for the three best ways to hasten your financial close, look no further.