Closing is very important, but accounting professionals know that closing is often a time-consuming, cumbersome, and error-prone process.
This is also a process that can create additional stress on an already overburdened employee. Burnout is a serious threat to the industry. According to the Institute of Certified Public Accountants, 88% of accounting professionals want better work-life balance and 71% want more support from the workplace for mental health management. report. This is a serious risk as organizations struggle to find and retain financial talent.
The good news: Advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning could revolutionize the way accounting teams approach closing. Automate and streamline workflows to process data faster and more accurately, reducing the time and effort required to complete closes. The financial industry has earned a wait-and-see reputation in many areas, suggesting early and enthusiastic adoption of AI and ML. According to a recent report, 55% of finance executives aim to close their accounts touchless by 2025. Gartner research.
“Zero-day” may sound like a daunting goal, but in reality, continuous or zero-day closing is a gradual effort, each time you improve processes or automate tasks. You get the benefits. By continuously reserving information throughout the reporting period and leveraging AI and ML to handle manual, repetitive tasks such as transaction processing and numerical calculations, accounting teams spend less time focusing on the “what.” , can spend more time. “why.”
Intelligent automation is absolutely key on the road to zero-day closing. Modernizing accounting practices is impossible without AI and ML, and leaders must focus on areas where they can save time and increase efficiency without sacrificing accuracy. And, of course, the goal is to improve and enhance team performance, never to replace humans.
Below are some use cases for leveraging embedded AI and ML technologies to achieve closing.
Streamline inputs to your system. Manual data entry offers little benefit. This is especially true for accountants who are already working long hours during the accounting period. Natural language processing technology helps accountants transform unstructured data such as emails, invoices and receipts into structured data that can be easily processed and analyzed.
Surface anomalies: Identifying errors and risks is essential for accountants, but it can feel like finding a needle in a haystack. AI and ML algorithms quickly and accurately analyze large amounts of data to detect patterns and reveal outliers that could easily be missed by human analysts. The earlier errors and anomalies are detected, the faster accounting professionals can act to prevent minor issues from escalating into larger problems, while also avoiding the headaches of closing reconciliations. .
Analysis automation: AI and ML models can model potential future outcomes by analyzing vast amounts of historical financial data, trends, and patterns.
AI and ML are getting a lot of attention these days, and for good reason. These technologies can affect nearly every corner of accounting, including closing. Still, it’s important to remember that technology is only one piece of the puzzle when moving toward zero-day closing. The people element is also important, and so is the combination of elements.
It’s difficult to predict exactly how accounting will evolve in the next five to ten years, but I believe that companies will be able to overcome ambiguity and demonstrate leadership, adapting their competencies to future developments. Clearly, we need people who are willing to evolve.
