The digital close

In this fast-paced and ever-changing business environment, chief financial officers (CFOs), chief accounting officers (CAOs), and controllers are finding themselves being forced to transform the way their departments prepare monthly financial statements and reports.

Regardless of industry, it’s no longer enough to deliver period-end “actuals” that are timely and comply with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) reporting requirements (although these are, of course, still table stakes). Our Financial Management team explain the need for change and the building blocks of the digital close in the document below.

In order to remain relevant and effective, finance leaders need to transform the monthly record-to-report (R2R) close process so that it aligns more closely to the strategic forecasting needs of the organisation. And, by necessity, this means changing the mindset of their organisation and implementing an operating model that is more proactive, efficient, cost-effective, and insightful.

To achieve an enhanced operating model, more companies are leveraging a digitally enabled close process, the “digital close,” to produce their financial statements. The digital close is not just about using new and improved technology. It’s about changing the way you think about and approach the R2R closing process so that it delivers timely, more targeted, and valuable information to all end users of the financials. It’s about understanding what these specific end users are looking for when they read financial statements and then creating reports that are at the right level of detail to become an integral part of their decision-making process.