Signing out of account, Standby…
If you haven’t automated this process, you’re wasting precious time.
Your finances are your business’s lifeblood. They’re not the kind of thing you should leave up to chance. Having a complete understanding enables you to make smarter decisions by better evaluating your risks and capabilities.
Amazingly, even in today’s tech-driven world, many businesses continue to create their financial reports manually. While working with data in Google Sheets or Excel may seem like a step up from paper recording, it still isn’t your best option.
While tools like Google Sheets and Excel can automate some aspects of tracking financial information, it is incredibly easy for this process to go wrong. There’s a reason why Microsoft has a full support page dedicated to detecting errors in Excel formulas.
Issues such as transposition errors, formula breaks or problems with a source-data link could result in error values or final calculations that are wildly off-base.
While an error message is relatively easy to notice, a faulty manually developed formula could return numbers that look legitimate — even though they aren’t. As a result, business leaders could gain an extremely inaccurate picture of what their company finances look like.
Due to the increased probability for errors in the manual-reporting process, those involved in reporting are often required to spend much of their time validating the data and making sure that it is correct.
As a blog post from financial planning and analysis company DataRails explains, “There are many points of review that must take place when creating manual reports. First, it is important to review and validate the data going into the report. Then, after reports are created, a second review is required on the method of presentation. This means that manual reports place a higher value on reviewing information rather than analyzing information.”
By taking away the opportunity to analyze financial information, businesses can miss out on crucial insights that would affect key decisions. The data may be correct, but without deeper analytics, it is not as useful as it could be.
Related: 6 Things You Didn’t Know About Your Financial Statements
Manual financial reporting places heavy demand on your team’s time and resources. Staff members must source and input financial data from a variety of platforms, and then validate that information to ensure that it is actually correct.
Quite often, team members must use multiple software programs to gather, manipulate and present data, creating several touchpoints where errors could occur. As a result, validation must occur at each stage — from transferring data to an Excel spreadsheet to when it is uploaded as part of a presentation.
Needless to say, this can take up a significant amount of time that could be used for higher-level tasks, such as analyzing what the financial data actually means for the overall health of your company. In fact, according to research from SmartSheet, “Nearly 70% of workers say the biggest opportunity of automation lies in reducing time wasted on repetitive work,” with 55% specifically citing data collection as a productivity killer.
Using an automated system can completely transform your financial reporting mechanisms. Not only does this let you eliminate the common issues associated with manual financial reporting, but it can also generate new opportunities that help your team gain deeper, more actionable insights.
The following are key ways you can benefit from automated financial reports:
Related: Automation Is Becoming a Business Imperative: Don’t Wait Until It’s Too Late
As with so many other aspects of doing business, technology has allowed financial reporting to become more efficient than ever before. By taking advantage of automated tools and dashboards that incorporate real-time data, decision-makers can gain access to accurate, insightful information to guide the way they manage their finances.
This Founder Quit His ‘Prison’-Like Teaching Job Within 2 Months. Now, He and His Sister Are Helping Other Teachers Leave the Classroom and Achieve Financial Freedom.
If You Focus on Problems, You’ll Only Find More Problems. Here’s How to Focus on Solutions.
How to Help Your Gen Z Kid Find Success
Facing More Than 15 Years in Prison, This Founder Transformed His Hustle Into a Powerful Personal Brand and Business. Now, He’s Giving Back in a Big Way.
6 Ways to Keep Your Staff Feeling Happy and Supported
How to Tell If Franchising Is Right for You
Apple Asks This Jarring Interview Question as a Secret Way to Evaluate a Candidate
Emily Rella
Gabrielle Bienasz
Madeline Garfinkle
Subscribe to our Newsletter
The latest news, articles, and resources sent to your inbox.
I understand that the data I am submitting will be used to provide me with the above-described products and/or services and communications in connection therewith.
Read our privacy policy for more information.
Copyright © 2022 Entrepreneur Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
Entrepreneur® and its related marks are registered trademarks of Entrepreneur Media Inc.
Successfully copied link