Freed accountants for value-added work, including critical research. Saddle Creek’s prior use of paper and manila folders to prepare, track, and review reconciliations took a tremendous amount of time away from truly valuable work, that of analysis and research. According to Williamson, accountants no longer waste hours—or days—finding and aggregating paperwork. “With BlackLine, the majority of time spent on account reconciliations has moved from creating spreadsheets and formatting to actually being able to research and correct items.” Saddle Creek has also improved business continuity, amid changes in staff schedules. Access is no longer dependent on a physical location, and staff don’t have to find or transfer physical files from one office to another. “There are three approvers in our department, and when one is out, the other two are able to ‘fill-in’ with approvals very easily,” says Williamson.

Increased accuracy. Because BlackLine automates much of the manual process of reconciliations and the close, Saddle Creek can reduce the incidence of human error. “The accuracy of our balances is ensured. They are locked down and not subject to an accidental mis-key,” says Williamson. “Our auditors love that!”

Shortened new hire time to productivity. New employees found the paper-based reconciliation process difficult to learn. Today, new hires are up to speed—and productive—much faster, as all reconciliations take place within BlackLine. “Previously, new hires didn’t have access to consistent references to enable quick learning,” says Williamson. “One of my favorite things is the training offered in BlackLine. Instead of having to sit down with each new person and explain how everything works, I can direct them to go online and learn about the process. We’ve been able to compress the training process into one day.”  

Improved visibility and access. Prior to BlackLine, Saddle Creek’s reliance on spreadsheets meant accountants couldn’t efficiently access the big picture of the entire close. “With BlackLine, everything is in one place and can be visible to the whole department,” says Williamson. “And we don’t have to be on the company’s Internet. We can work on, review, and approve recs off-site through a regular Internet portal.”

The increased transparency has also been beneficial to the quality of analysis, as preparers have more time to spend on identifying discrepancies. “The preparers ability to view different months simultaneously aids analyzing and problem solving.”

Reduced prep time for audits from 3 hours to a few minutes. Instead of taking hours to locate and aggregate paper files for audits, the team can give auditors access to BlackLine, anywhere, anytime. “It used to take three hours just to get reconciliations ready for auditors,” says Williamson. “Now we just have to set up the auditor log in, which takes minutes.”