What is real-time accounting?
Real-time accounting means instant access to up-to-the-minute, accurate financial data from your ERP instances, which is paramount for the informed decision-making and sustainable growth of enterprises. However, the only genuine live ERP integration that makes real-time accounting possible is provided by Aico. The traditional batch-file solutions used by other financial close software providers often fail to provide the speed, accuracy and proactive insights larger companies need to thrive in highly competitive and dynamic markets.
In this blog, we'll examine three key advantages of Aico's real-time accounting capabilities compared to the standard batch-file solution, shedding light on how you can unlock new levels of efficiency, agility and trust in your financial operations.
Live ERP data streaming vs. manual data entry
Enterprises that combine automated data entry tasks, like prepopulated journal creation and reconciliation templates, with live ERP data can make decisions faster. Aico's unique real-time accounting platform ensures that financial data is updated instantly, giving finance professionals access to real-time insights without the delays associated with manual processing. For example, Aico’s live validation of journals allows for . This means your finance team can work steadily through their closing tasks because the data is always best-in-class and up-to-date. Those stuck waiting for the waiting for the batch file download to complete on an hourly or daily basis lose time and see closing tasks pile up. We all know minutes and hours are crucial to the efficiency of the close.
Live ERP data streaming:
- Aico's unique live-ERP data streaming allows accountants and other finance professionals to work continuously in real-time.
- Within Aico, you can set up workflows to allocate resources more effectively, redirecting manpower from manual data entry to value-added financial tasks such as analysis and strategic decision-making.
Manual data entry:
- Users of batch-file solutions often rely on manual uploads and data entry, leading to inefficiencies, errors and delays in closing the books each month.
- Because of the increased chance you are working with old data, there is a greater risk of inaccuracies and inconsistencies in financial records, undermining the reliability of the information for decision-making purposes.
Proactive accounting vs. reactive accounting
Aico's real-time accounting provides live insights into the financial close, enabling proactive management. With real-time updates and alerts, your team can anticipate challenges, identify opportunities and take immediate action where necessary.
Proactive Accounting:
- Aico enables proactive accounting through continuous monitoring of financial transactions, facilitating early detection of issues and proactive risk mitigation.
- Real-time insights provided by Aico empower businesses to anticipate challenges, seize opportunities and adapt their strategies in response to changing market dynamics.
Reactive Accounting:
- Finance teams that use batch-file uploads often adopt a reactive approach during the financial close, responding to issues only after they have occurred as they rely on outdated or incomplete data.
- The reactive nature of batch-file solutions impedes agility and innovation, as businesses struggle to keep pace with the speed of change in the market.
Data accuracy vs. lack of trust
Real-time accounting hinges on data accuracy. Traditional methods with time lags, even of only a few minutes, can lead to errors. By accessing up-to-the-minute data for the financial close, enterprises can rely on the integrity and precision of their data for confident decision-making.
Data accuracy:
- With Aico, enterprises can trust the accuracy of their financial data, combining confident decision-making with faster insights.
- The transparency of Aico's platform and clear data trails instil trust among stakeholders, fostering better relationships with investors, regulators and customers.
Lack of trust:
- Users of batch-file solutions often face challenges in trusting the accuracy of their financial data, given that manual entry and batch processing methods are slow and prone to errors.
- Inaccurate or outdated financial information erodes trust in the reliability of the data used in the financial close, undermining confidence in decision-making and financial reporting within the finance team and company-wide.
The only financial close automation platform that offers real-time accounting
Aico's real-time accounting offers enterprises several advantages. A faster month-end close, dynamic analysis and proactive decision-making. These are not fully realised by users of the standard batch-file solution due to delays, bottlenecks, intermittent updates and the possibility of inaccurate reporting.
Aico offers real-time, live integration from the Aico platform to multiple ERPs or multiple instances of an ERP system:
- SAP
- Oracle
- Microsoft Dynamics 365
Aico's real-time accounting platform provides a comprehensive suite of solutions for financial close management and decision-making.
Is your financial close process fully integrated into your ERP for real-time accounting?
