A Global Confidence Check for Midsize Accounting Organizations

There’s a stark disconnect between the promise of a cloud-connected, AI-driven future of Finance and the day-to-day reality of most accounting professionals.

If the industry as a whole is confident in its ability to grow and change along with rapidly shifting business requirements, why are we still scrambling to complete the month-end close?

To better understand this question, Capstone Insights commissioned a global survey to explore how organizations use software to enable their accounting and finance requirements.

Over 1,500 professionals in Accounting, Finance, and executive management across eight countries and 15 industries were surveyed. The results were analyzed by role and level within the organization, number of accounts under management, and revenue band.

Companies between $100M and $749M in revenue expressed the greatest dissatisfaction with their accounting and finance situations, with smaller and larger companies expressing more contentment.

In this instance, being in the middle isn’t “just right.” Here are three of the most interesting findings from the mid-market revenue band.

Their teams are smaller by definition, so these organizations are more involved with their data at every point. They understand the data at all levels and are less likely to lose sleep over missing something because they have a lower transaction volume.

They have established processes and often enjoy more robust discretionary budgets and headcounts they can allocate to Accounting and Finance. They can also hire specialists with more in-depth insight to optimize processes and procedures.

They’re dealing with increasing complexity and increased transaction volume, but can’t yet rely on the benefits of scale and established processes that a larger organization enjoys.

The good news is that midsize companies can now enjoy the visibility of smaller organizations and streamline processes without the budgets and resources of large enterprises.

Modern accounting can be implemented incrementally for quick wins, including centralized close activities for a single source of the truth, virtual collaboration and visibility into workflow and owners, and auditor read-only access to completed controls.

The Modern Accounting Playbook sets midsize F&A teams up for immediate success on close automation essentials and provides a scaffold for growth.

As your organization grows, the technology scales with you to automate and address more of your daily work, allowing teams to gain control of their close and spend a greater share of their time on value-adding activities.

BlackLine is a leading provider of solutions for financial close management and accounting automation. We help midsize accounting teams stop the work they shouldn’t be doing, avoid the errors they shouldn’t be making, and better use their time.

Read the full Capstone Insights report to learn more about how midsize F&A teams compare to the overall global market.