Accounting and Automation Benefits, Tips & Guide

Out of the various departments that make up a business, accounting is at the top of the list when ranking for “crucial areas for automation.”

When you think about it, it really makes sense because accounting and finance departments are tasked with data-intensive, time-sensitive, critical and recurring tasks. Accounting and automation go together like a horse and carriage.

Let’s take a look at why you shouldn’t have one without the other as we explore how accounting automation software can streamline your business.

Coming Up

What is Accounting Automation?

What are the Benefits of Accounting Automation?

How is Automation Used in Accounting?

Where Does Automation Make a Difference in Accounting?

What Accounting Processes Can Be Automated?

Who is Driving the Need to Automate in Accounting?

What is the Impact of Automation on Finance Professionals?

Will Process Automation Replace Accountants?

What are the Challenges in Automating Accounting?

How to Start Accounting and Automation?

Wrap Up

What is Accounting Automation?

Accounting automation is the use of software to execute accounting processes. Finance automation software, like SolveXia, offers an out-of-the-box, low-code solution to execute your most crucial and sensitive workflows.

Accounting automation handles repetitive and otherwise manual tasks. By taking over these time-consuming duties from your highly-skilled staff, it frees their time to focus on more high-value and strategic tasks.

Finance automation software like SolveXia is replete with pre-built templates to execute common workflows, or users can use its drag-and-drop functionality to build their own process flows. All in all, this makes standardization inherent and seamless.

What are the Benefits of Accounting Automation?

If someone offered you a solution to make your business run more efficiently, boost productivity, and reduce errors, would you want it?

Well, that’s exactly what accounting and automation can do for you! There are so many different benefits of using finance automation software– let’s break them down:

1. Save Time

An undeniable impact of automation on accounting is time savings. By consolidating data across systems, running data-heavy processes automatically, and reducing bottlenecks, teams save immense time.

2. Reduce Costs

With less human intervention required, accounting and automation also results in cost-efficient operations.

3. Increase Quality

Even with seasoned professionals, errors are inevitable. With automation, you will immediately increase data integrity and the quality of outputs (not to mention decision making capabilities).

4. Improve Access

With a centralized and secure system, everyone who needs access to data can easily find what they need from anywhere they are. SolveXia runs on the cloud, so your data is always up-to-date and readily available.

5. Better Relationships

By removing delayed payments and incorrect invoices from your business, you’ll naturally improve your business relationships with suppliers and customers. Additionally, employees will feel more satisfied in their jobs.

How is Automation Used in Accounting?

As alluded to at the start of this article, accounting has a lot to gain from the use of accounting automation tools because of the nature of the business.

Accounting automation can help with marketing automation, text message reminders, and online calendar appointments. On a broader scale, SolveXia can be implemented for various use cases, including:

• Reconciliation
• Expense analytics
• Rebate management
• Regulatory reporting
• APRA reporting
• And more!

Where Does Automation Make a Difference in Accounting?

The application of accounting and automation can feel somewhat limitless because there are so many tasks that are perfectly suited for this technological advancement.

With that in mind, when you’re getting started, it’s helpful to categorize certain processes that are well suited for automation.

In most cases, these will include processes that are:

• Transactional
• Data-heavy
• Repetitive

When you start using automation software, it’s valuable to find one that integrates with your existing systems.

Automation software like SolveXia offers integration, even with legacy systems, so that your data will be connected. You can also upload spreadsheets and files yourself to include within the system and its applications.

Importantly, automation makes a really big difference when it comes to compliance. Accounting teams must adhere to regulations, but doing so tends to take up the bulk of an accountant’s time.

SolveXia integrates this consideration with audit trails and version history. So, once anything is done within the system, it’s locked and stored securely. Plus, if an internal or external auditor wants to see what action was taken, it’s as simple as running an audit report.

With automation software, compliance is built-in and it’s easy to maintain internal control when all staff are operating using the same standardized and secure process flows.

What Accounting Processes Can Be Automated?

Many accounting processes fall under the umbrella of those that can be automated. Take the following as examples:

1. Payroll

Rather than payroll analysts having to spend countless hours sifting through employee tax records and rates, you can use automation software to manage the load.

2. Expense Management

Another time-consuming and error-prone process is managing expenses. Automation software streamlines the process of collecting, transferring, and monitoring expenses. This way, accounting teams can close accounts swiftly.

3. Month-End Reviews

The month-end close process is something you can count on, well, every month. Typically, senior accountants will review the books to ensure everything is in order. To alleviate their list of to-do’s, account automation can scan the books for you and perform due diligence with ease.

4. Reconciliation

Another big part of the month-end close process is the practice of reconciliation. For example, SolveXia is a finance automation solution that can collect your data, perform transaction matching in seconds, and make sure that your accounts are aligned.

This way, your team doesn’t have to navigate line-by-line and waste time sourcing the data they need to complete this critical process.

Want more accounting and automation tips? Check out this resource made for CFOs!

Who is Driving the Need to Automate in Accounting?

With all this talk about finance transformation and business process transformation, you may be asking, where is it all coming from?

The truth is that it’s less of a “who” and more of a “what” or “why.” Ultimately, a business is driven to innovate, optimize, and utilize technology and automation software to remain competitive.

So, to put it simply, your competitive edge will be steering the carriage towards automation. And, for good reason. Automation and accounting delivers positive, and nearly immediate, ROI.

Furthermore, with a solution like SolveXia, you stand to increase productivity by 85x and reduce errors by 90x.

What is the Impact of Automation on Finance Professionals?

With all the reasons in the world why automation is beneficial, there’s little reason to hesitate. However, finance professionals could feel wary. As a reminder, accounting and automation positively impacts finance professionals in many ways, such as:

• Better work/life balance
• Ability and time to focus on strategic initiatives
• Greater efficiency
• More bandwidth to work directly with clients and co-workers
• Increased engagement

Will Process Automation Replace Accountants?

Diving deeper into any hesitation is the big fear coming from the mouths of accountants themselves, namely: “Will process automation replace me?”

Ultimately, accounting and automation isn’t meant to replace humans, but rather it is intended to augment capabilities. By taking over the time that humans would spend manually sifting through data, entering it, and creating reports, the software solution can do that for them.

In return, accountants have more time to focus on responsibilities that require human thought and creative thinking. The easiest way to think about it is that accounting software like SolveXia removes repetitive tasks and allows accountants to develop their skills with greater precision.

What are the Challenges in Automating Accounting?

Once you have the right solution in place, challenges are few and far in between. But, getting everyone on the same page and running with accounting and automation may be a slow burn.

Here’s where challenges could arise:

1. Training

If you find a complex accounting software with a steep learning curve, it could take time to get your team used to it. Rather, it’s best to pick a software like SolveXia, which is built with an easy-to-use interface and no coding required.

2. Integration Issues

Be sure that your chosen software integrates well with your existing tools. This way, you won’t have a problem deploying it because your data won’t be at risk.

3. Change Management

Most importantly, take the time to share why the new solution is being added to your organization and how it will benefit the accounting and finance team members. By doing so, everyone will be aligned and more eager to use the software, rather than afraid of it.

How to Start Accounting and Automation?

As with any new tool you add to the table, leadership is vital to making sure it works and the addition of the software goes smoothly. But, the work doesn’t fall on leadership alone.

Keep in mind the following recommendations as you deploy finance automation software:

• Set business goals and find a software that aligns with making them come to fruition
• Identify success factors and list them out
• Share detailed plans with those on the ground who will use the tool

With a software like SolveXia, no dedicated IT is required, which tends to be good news because users (accountants) can quickly learn the tool themselves.

That being said, SolveXia also offers a range of support and resources, including: videos, webinars, eBooks, a dedicated support website, and representatives.

Wrap Up

By now, you are likely well aware of how accounting and automation are meant to coexist with one another. Because accounting processes are perfectly suited for automation, it’s a win-win for everyone involved, from customers to stakeholders, to of course, accountants!

Ready to get up and running with a simple-to-use, but power finance automation software? Request a SolveXia demo today to see how you can boost productivity, streamline processes and workflows, plus significantly reduce errors.