Background
Recently Australian media has reported that some financial services giants are exploring the possibility of automating back office and finance functions. It heralds the beginning of a trend that is expected to affect white-collar jobs in much the same way that machines displaced blue-collar workers on assembly lines in 1950s.
It comes after one of big four banks revealed that
it had been refining over the last 12 months a program in the emerging
field of robotics process automation(RPA) which will change the composition of
its workforce.
Software is going to take a bigger
share of the corporate-finance workload. As it does the finance profession is
bracing for a wave of technology-driven change greater than that bought about
by outsourcing and offshoring over the last decade.
"It’s time to move beyond redundant practices and modernize the way finance wants to work. "
Finance and accounting(F&A) automation
In many large organizations, there are astonishingly large numbers of inefficient processes based on outdated or outgrown systems, in particular in the F&A area, Financial processes are constantly challenged with manual processing and the need for controls and improved visibility.
From invoice data, sales orders, payment process to the payroll
running and the month end reporting, financial process automation can cover most of processes in F&A. Automation tools offer a broad range of functionality and solutions,
coupled with a deep understanding of financial process best practises, to open
up the possibilities of what efficient, mature and fully automated processes
will bring to the business.
F&A is an attractive target for RPA utilisation based on these processes have some attributes that lend themselves to the technology.
F&A is an attractive target for RPA utilisation based on these processes have some attributes that lend themselves to the technology.
•
Efficiency and time saving
Few
F&A employees enjoy the tedium of repetitious work, all of which can be
done by finance automation, in particular in the areas of accounts payable,
payroll and financial reporting, software robots are quickly configured to
gain rapid access to data across multiple application and databases – then
configured to consolidate and manipulate the data. This capability is often
very useful for quick, customized and accurate consolidation data for month
end, quarter end and year end financial reporting.
•
Error free
With
the automation software, data can be transferred and processed seamlessly
within the system or between the systems. It will invariably execute a
process as configured – without deviations or risk of fraudulent actions or
inappropriate data use. As the software robot run through the
workflow processes as being programmed it creates audit trails and logs as
needed for regulatory compliance.
•
Scalable
Software
robots can be cloned and deployed within hours or even minutes. This
highly flexible scalability allows for easy accommodation of work peaks such as
end of month, quarter and year activity levels.
•
Cloud technology
From small
accounting softwares to ERP like SAP or Oracle, powerful cloud-based technology
and real-time automation to give accounting and finance teams power over their
processes. They truly modernize processes and empower real productivity gains.
Automation of those processes delivers quick wins as it improves day-to-day visibility of financial status and provides a better basis for business decisions. It’s about saving money, gaining control of the business processes, and recouping a significant amount of valuable time for the organisation.
by Chen Yang
