Introduction to Finance Automation

Finance automation can supercharge growth. Major companies like Deloitte and McKinsey & Company have already made major moves to automate their finance processes, indicating that their CFOs and finance leaders recognize what kinds of activities can be easily automated to facilitate future growth, planning, and crisis management. One of these significant changes stems from a recent agreement on the value of using finance automation to streamline internal organizational processes.

Impact of Automation on App Development

McKinsey's recent survey suggests that developers will be more concerned with the capabilities that their applications will enable rather than the intricacies of constructing the apps. Share of new application development leveraging low-code/no code by 2025 (up from 25% in 2020)

Research by McKinsey Global Institute

According to automation research conducted by the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), foundational automation technologies like Robotic Process Automation (RPA) can help capture 33% of finance opportunities. The MGI also said that current technologies could fully automate 42% of core finance processes and could mostly automate an additional 19%. Keeping this in mind, the right automation software can help finance teams in the long run in many ways.

Shift in Finance Organizations

“Ideally, the structure of the finance organization should spur a shift away from transactional, repeatable work toward more value-added activities, such as quality analysis, strategy and development, that position finance as operational and enterprise decision support partners.”

Future Vision of Finance Processes

Gartner shares a similar vision for the finance processes of the future, suggesting that: “Ideally, the structure of the finance organization should spur a shift away from transactional, repeatable work toward more value-added activities, such as quality analysis, strategy and development, that position finance as operational and enterprise decision support partners.”

How Automation Platforms like Wrk Can Help

With the help of automation platforms like Wrk’s, finance teams are provided with time to focus on the tasks and responsibilities that require their full attention. Specifically, task automation using RPA-powered workflows, or API integrations can afford finance teams more time to upskill or reskill their team. This gives teams just like yours the opportunity to control and customize the automated processes their real-world business processes require, without having to rely on busy IT teams to manage the technology.

Wrk is particularly well-positioned to add efficiency to finance teams from early-stage start-ups to established enterprise operations thanks to it’s multifaceted approach to automation. With Wrk, you can rest assured that repetitive tasks, decision-making steps, and item generation requirements are all completed automatically and with efficiency.

Risks of Ignoring Automation

In light of new demands, “staying the course” could be a costly mistake for finance teams. Automation’s ability to significantly enhance performance for finance teams has established it as a worthwhile investment for years to come.

Additionally, depending on the complexity of the work that needs to be completed, Wrk can automatically assign the task to its proprietary bots, human workers, or RPA or API functionality as is needed—allowing for a seamlessly automated finance function. Wrk’s automation platform further supports seamless integration into the finance function by working with any software, whether or not it has public API integrations. This means connecting to everything from legacy systems like Microsoft Excel or Quickbooks to modern programs like Instagram.

Examining the Benefits of Finance Automation

Let’s look at some of these advantages in closer detail now.

4 Common Processes that Can be Streamlined Through Finance Automation

Have you ever thought about how your team could start integrating finance automation into the processes they already use? Here are four common tasks that finance teams can change with automation, no matter what industry they work in:

Automate Financial Reporting

To get funding, it's important to report on key metrics and projected growth areas clearly and effectively. It's also vital to helping your team grow in the months and years ahead. Luckily, this core task is one of the ones that could be automated the most. With the right automation platform, you'll be able to gather data for reports and clean it up. And notify team members when there’s a potential error in the data. An automation platform like Wrk’s can also help your finance team put together the reports and materials for presentations. Then it will allow you to integrate with legacy software systems effortlessly.

Finance automation provides high-talent team members with more time to contribute to management. And also to strategize operational improvement when they are freed from completing repetitive and time-consuming tasks.

Cash Flow Automation

Cash flow is another process that can be enhanced with automation. The forecasts are made systematically and can help a company manage its cash needs well. With the support of automated reporting, there’s greater clarity on what’s coming in and out of the company. This will help generate opportunities to source longer-term financing. Finance automation platforms can even help companies craft emails reaching out to investors, and make calls, all while compiling accurate data.

Financial Planning & Analysis

A recent study by Gartner found that approximately 80% of finance leaders have deployed or plan to implement RPA and analysis leaders say improving business partnership skills will take on an increasingly important role in the finance processes of the future. Finance robotics is moving from automating single tasks to automating whole processes. This could improve the accuracy of financial analysis and forecasting. You must use finance robots with other intelligent automation technologies to automate finance procedures.

Accounting & Tax Processes

Finance leaders consider 89% of accounting activities to be highly automatable. Make tasks easier to handle by breaking them up into smaller pieces. This gives you more time to focus on accounting management priorities. Even when you are not present, the global and empowered workforce at Wrk is active. This means you can complete work 24/7, making tight deadlines more manageable.

Automation can also free finance teams from the burden of repetitive tax season chores. And ensure that you can record, file, and report your findings properly. Minimizing room for human error means getting higher value out of tax returns without overloading your workload.

Future-Focused Processes with Finance Automation

Future-focused finance departments should look for opportunities to use digital transformation. Especially if they haven’t already begun to integrate automation into their processes. With the help of automation software, CFOs have changed core business processes. These changes have allowed them to succeed under new pressures and adapt to problems that keep coming up. By using flexible automation software like Wrk’s, finance teams can easily change how they handle their finances. They will also have the assurance that they will always be able to complete the core tasks.

Want to learn more about how you can make Wrk’s seamless automation platform work for your team? Visit our Finance Hub today.