WHITEPAPER: 5 Paybacks of Automated Financial Close and Consolidation

The first step toward the digital transformation of finance begins at square one: the financial close.

Often overlooked and underdeveloped, legacy financial close and consolidation are rife with hidden costs. These inefficiencies ripple through every corner of financial management, negatively impacting reporting, analytics, planning, and strategic decision-making.

In contrast, an automated close and consolidation solution creates a rock-solid foundation for all financial processes. It is the critical component in evolving the finance function from a back-office reporter into a data-driven business partner.

Building on the “4 Hidden Costs of Legacy Close,” we explore the five strategic paybacks of implementing the CCH® Tagetik automated solution.

1. Continuous Close: The Power of an End-to-End Platform

Eliminate month-end and quarter-end peaks by unifying all financial management activities within a single, comprehensive platform.

• A Unified Ecosystem: By using one platform for all data and processes, you accelerate the close cycle and reclaim valuable time for high-level analysis.
• Open Architecture: Regardless of how many ERPs or source systems your organization’s matrix has, CCH Tagetik’s open architecture integrates seamlessly. Data is funneled through a central engine to ensure your numbers are always “one version of the truth.”

2. Absolute Accuracy: The Foundation of Confidence

Gain total confidence that your numbers, complex calculations, and disclosures are rooted in financial reality.

• Centralized Governance: Centralize all corporate financial and non-financial data. With a solution that connects to any source system, you eliminate the risks of manual data handling.
• Workflow & Auditability: Keep your team aligned with structured process workflows. Set permissions, track progress, and automate approvals while maintaining a bulletproof audit trail that captures every change along the way.

3. Accelerated Processes: More Time for Strategy

Shift the focus from data collection to data insight. Spend less time reconciling and validating, and more time analyzing.

• Automated Account Reconciliation: Harmonize data company-wide and standardize methodologies to ensure consistency across all accounts, drastically reducing manual effort.

4. Optimized Resources: Influential Business Partnering

Free your finance talent from menial, repetitive tasks. By automating the “grunt work,” you enable your team to focus on strategic analysis and advising the C-Suite.

• Handling Complexity with Ease: Navigate complex consolidations and evolving regulatory burdens (such as ESG or IFRS) with a solution designed to address unique compliance needs out of the box.

5. Data-Driven Culture: Analytics from the Ground Up

Foster a culture of analytics where better business decisions are driven by a holistic, easily accessible understanding of performance.

• Dynamic Reporting: Whether you need to pivot strategy or answer an urgent query, CCH Tagetik allows you to slice, dice, and drill down into massive data volumes in real-time.
• In-Memory Performance: When the difference between timely filing and regulatory fines is speed, CCH Tagetik’s fast data processing engine ensures you stay ahead of every deadline.