In the world of financial controllership, the word “faster” is often misunderstood. It’s not about rushing through books, cutting corners, or sacrificing accuracy for speed. True speed is about efficiency. It’s about closing the books with confidence and having more time for strategic analysis.
This blog post will explore what “faster” really means for financial controllers and how modern, financial consolidation and reporting solutions like Anaplan are helping them achieve it.
Fewer handoffs: From fragmented to unified
The traditional financial consolidation process is often a relay race of manual handoffs. Data is passed from one team to another, from spreadsheets to emails, creating a high risk of errors, version control issues, and delays. Each handoff is a potential point of failure that can compromise the integrity of your financial reporting.
A unified platform with a single source of truth eliminates these risky handoffs. With Anaplan, everyone works from the same trial balance data, supplemental schedules, and adjustment entries. This not only accelerates the process but also enhances collaboration and accountability. Modern consolidation solutions are also increasingly finance-owned, with no-code interfaces that empower finance teams to manage and maintain their own processes without heavy reliance on IT, while still maintaining governance and control.
Fewer surprises: From reactive to proactive
Last-minute adjustments and unexpected discrepancies are the enemies of a fast and efficient month-end cycle. These "surprises" are often the result of disconnected data and a lack of real-time visibility into the financial health of the business. When you can’t see the whole picture, you’re forced to be reactive, putting out fires instead of proactively managing the process.
Anaplan provides the real-time data and transparency needed to eliminate surprises. With a clear, consolidated view of entity-level data, financial controllers can identify and address issues like late journal entries or intercompany mismatches as they arise, not at the end of the month. This shift from reactive to proactive is a game-changer for finance teams. For example, one global chemical manufacturer reduced its consolidated reporting cycle from one month to just two days with Anaplan, freeing up teams to focus on strategic response during the pandemic.
Fewer manual reconciliations: From toil to trust
Manual reconciliations are one of the most time-consuming and error-prone tasks in the financial consolidation process. They are the definition of "busy work" — low-value, repetitive tasks that drain the energy and morale of highly skilled finance and accounting professionals.
Anaplan automates many of these manual tasks, including intercompany matching and eliminations, cash flow statements, translating foreign currency, and more. By automating the tedious but critical accounting work, Anaplan frees your team to focus on what they do best: providing strategic insights and adding value to the business. This accelerates your month-end process and improves the accuracy and reliability of your financial reporting.
The need for true speed
"Faster" in financial controllership is not about speed for speed's sake. It's about building a more efficient, accurate, and resilient finance function. It’s about empowering your team to consolidate with confidence and to spend more time on strategic initiatives like analyzing consolidated results and improving internal controls.
The Anaplan Financial Consolidation application provides the tools and capabilities to achieve this speed, without sacrificing accuracy. By eliminating handoffs, reducing surprises, and automating manual processes, Anaplan enables your accounting team to work smarter, not just faster.
