Streamlining Month-End Reconciliations

with Automated Workflows

Revenue Recognition as an applied accounting principle has gained significant importance since the roll out of IFRS 15 and ASC 606 principles. This has impacted how businesses recognize their revenues and financial reporting and in turn resulting in a more consistent approach across businesses. Revenue Recognition is typically determined on a contract-by-contract basis in order to capture the nuances of that specific contract and eliminate any linear approach to recognizing revenue. Revenue recognition is subject to the criteria of multiple deliverable arrangements based on the business needs. Under these criteria, in some scenarios like contract

manufacturing or infrastructure development, revenue may not be recognized systematically over the life of a contract; instead, it may be segmented and recognized when certain milestones or deliverables are achieved. To address these challenges, the FASB and IASB introduced a 5 Step Model for Revenue Recognition, offering a framework to drive consistency in financial reporting, facilitate comparative analysis and reporting, and simplify financial statement preparation, thus eliminating disparities.

Executive summary

Finance professionals deal with a variety of tasks every day. However, end of the month is always hectic, but it's made worse by all the reconciliations and reports that need to be prepared and reviewed with senior management. How effectively can Finance teams close month-end books and manage monthly close processes when there are so many moving parts to be taken care of and tasks that need to be pushed for sign off? It gets especially frustrating if your company requires multiple levels of approvals for each account or makes automated financial reporting mandatory throughout budgeting cycles. Senior financial leaders are increasingly concerned about speeding up the month-end closing process. They need timely delivery of financial statements to meet regulatory and audit deadlines and to drive strategic business decisions.

Key findings

  • The key, though, is to simplify and accelerate the process without increasing overhead costs
  • Complete and timely financial statements are the most powerful strategic tools for any organization
  • They help business owners measure progress towards goals, help get an accurate view of future cash flows and enable making business decisions
  • But Small and Mid-sized businesses looking for more robust Finance processes leading to better ROI from Finance may need to establish the cadence of a monthly closing process so that decision-makers have a reliable baseline for shaping up operational and strategic planning

Who this is for

This report is for CFOs, controllers, and finance leaders at $30–150M companies.

Download the full report: Streamlining Month-End Reconciliations (PDF)

Published by ValueXPA — finance partner for $30–150M industrial manufacturers across the US, Australia, and India. Browse more research at valuexpa.com/insights.