Compliance
Ever since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) was passed in 2002, companies can't simply rely on external auditors. They are required to show their balance sheet reconciliation procedures. As a result, accountants have sought out ways to streamline what has typically been a very laborious manual process. By automating the reconciliation process with BlackLine, companies reduce the chance for error, and increase efficiency while maintaining a clear and transparent audit trail.
Inter-Company Reconciliation
Companies with multiple entities often end up with multiple cancelling entries that affect different business units. As the number of entities and transactions grows, the process to reconcile them becomes increasingly more difficult. BlackLine makes it possible to streamline this process by auto-eliminating a large number of transactions. This frees up time for staff to focus on the exceptions instead of working through huge lists of items in spreadsheets.
Shortening Month- & Year-End Processes
Month- and year-end processes typically require extensive reconciliations to be done prior to closing. With BlackLine, many reconciliations are automatically performed. You can even set it up to be done as the transactions are created throughout the month. By creating a methodology whereby the work is done incrementally, the workload is minimized for accounting staff. As an added bonus: financial statements are much more accurate for mid-month reviews.
Actionable Business Intelligence
The key challenges faced by accounting teams revolve around reconciliations, journal postings and period-end processes. The Business Intelligence delivered with BlackLine makes it possible to zero in on the tasks that are consuming inordinate amounts of time. You can then streamline those tasks using BlackLine solutions.
Free up CFO time for Strategic Value
CFOs are often called on to make important decisions based on their gut feeling. In part, this is because they lack the time and resources necessary to gather and analyze information. Process standardization is crucial to liberating time. With BlackLine, companies can pull data from multiple sources into a single platform to support process standardization, giving your financial leaders the time and information they need to make strategic decisions.
