The Results
Improved financial accuracy by switching from quarterly to monthly reconciliations. The previous spreadsheet driven process was so onerous that reconciliations review only took place once a quarter. By automating the entire process, Nasdaq is now processing 5,000 reconciliations every month. “With BlackLine, instead of four reviews a year, we’re getting 12,” said Galus. “What we’ve seen is what wasn’t getting reviewed until the end of the quarter is now getting reviewed every month. As result, quarterly financials are prepared more quickly and accurately.”
Implemented standards across entire organization. Nasdaq now has consistent reconciliation and standards across the entire organization. “Everything is prepared the same way now. Now, we can very quickly, before we release earnings, give confidence to the controller that the entire balance sheet of the company has been reviewed and prepared in accordance with our policies,” said Galus.
Enhanced global visibility and transparency for staff and auditors, regardless of location. Staff—and internal and external auditors—can access BlackLine from anywhere in the world. “People aren’t tied to an office anymore. BlackLine makes it very convenient, as people can log in from anywhere and complete their tasks,” said Galus.
Additionally, the team no longer has to spend any time gathering and preparing documents for internal and external auditors. “We’re saving so much time. Our auditors can go directly into BlackLine and research items on their own without us pulling any data.”
Enabled finance team to effectively support new acquisitions. Using BlackLine enables the team to bring new companies online and into the fold more quickly and to seamlessly partner with the business team. “We try very hard to make sure our finance team is supporting the business team and is working with them as a partner. We want to make finance as easy as possible for the business teams and not have it be a roadblock,” said Galus.
“It used to take a month or so for us to bring a new company into our reconciliation process. Now it’s almost instantaneous. They’re brought in, set up, and turned on. We’re giving confidence to the controller that when we close a deal we’re bringing them in quickly and managing them in the Nasdaq way. It helps our business partners manage their business more effectively because they have better, faster information at their fingertips.”
Freed staff to focus on analytics and discrepancies, instead of manual data entry. BlackLine automates and standardizes the reconciliations process, enabling the team to practice true modern finance. “For me, modern finance is taking mundane tasks and making them as automated as possible. With BlackLine, we have more time to look at why something is happening rather than simply documenting it,” said Pitre. “BlackLine allows us to add more analytics and creativity into what we’re doing on a day-to-day basis. It frees your time and your mind to see how you can provide more value to the company.”
