BlackLine Product LookBook
A practical guide to revolutionizing your record-to-report process with financial close automation
There are a ton of automation solutions out there in the market today. And even more claims about how automation can change your financial close processes beyond your wildest dreams. But what you really need is a clear picture of what these claims practically look like with the financial close processes you execute day in, day out.
That’s the key to achieving the outcomes you want.
WHAT’S INSIDE?
In this LookBook, we’ll give you those answers by unpacking one example workflow within financial close in all its pragmatic details:
The end-to-end, record-to-report process for a
cash account.
Is this all that BlackLine does? Absolutely not.
Customers choose BlackLine because it can help them orchestrate future-ready processes across all of their financial operations—from reconciliation to consolidation and financial analysis.
But in this piece, we want to get into the weeds of one example process so you can see how our solution impacts each stage. We aim to give you a deep understanding of what completeness and accuracy of cash accounts could look like with BlackLine’s end-to-end R2R solution.
And whether you choose us as your financial operations partner or not, we hope it gives you a clear idea of what’s possible, so you can benchmark any other partner’s solutions against it.
Because harnessing the full power of any solution is how you stop it becoming just another system for your overstretched finance and accounting teams to navigate. Let’s do this.
What does the traditional record-to-report process for a cash account look like?
Download the data or details from your bank, fire up your online banking portal, pull the statement you need, dump the data into a spreadsheet.
Then do the same thing on the general ledger (GL) side of your process.
Then format all the data. Match the transactions between the bank and GL.
Then figure out if there are timing items or adjustments needed.
Post the adjusting entries into the ERP and upload supporting documentation.
Manually compare variance and fluctuations across periods.
BlackLine’s automation can improve the R2R process for a cash account
If used correctly, an automation solution can help you turn the R2R process for a cash account into something a little more like this:
Step One
Close orchestration & operations
Before you get started with your bank reconciliation workflow, you need a way to get visibility into each stage of the process. Let’s say you’re a controller. To do your job most effectively, you need an easy way to see what’s left to be completed in each of your financial close processes. And that’s a pretty major task because those critical accounting activities are often slow, manual processes, with little coordination—especially bank reconciliations. You need a clear line of sight. What you often get is an endless checklist and a bunch of inconsistencies.
BlackLine attacks this problem with Task Management. It’s a configurable, cloud-based command center where you can seamlessly manage and automate your finance and accounting tasks. Task Management also includes cloud-based dashboards. These provide real-time visibility into status, timeliness, content, and quality of each task—so you can ensure nothing falls through the cracks. Not just in your bank reconciliations but across all the workflows in your financial close process.
The result? You can orchestrate the order of operations for financial reporting which reduces productivity redundancy. And you get visibility into the data you need to create mission critical insight during the close period—not retrospectively. Including the status of controls certification.
“Since BlackLine, we have seen 100% on-time completion rates for all month-end reconciliations. With Task Management, managers and employees know what needs to be done and on what timeline. That increased visibility drives accountability.”
SANTO AHMED, GROUP FINANCIAL CONTROLLER—RESIMAC
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Consolidation & Financial Analytics
Modern Accounting Playbook
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