If you’re ready to say goodbye to late nights and weekends at the office trying to “close the books” within hours of the designated period’s deadline, then you’ll want to consider adopting the continuous accounting method. If you aren’t familiar with it, continuous accounting—also called continuous close—is the practice of using automation and other technology to embed tasks that are normally done at an accounting period’s end into your company’s normal day-to-day workflow.
Streamlined and steady wins the race to month end and much more
Continuous accounting offers much more than just a way to make closing the books faster. It also provides several strategic benefits for organizations and accounting firms, such as:
1. Increased team efficiency and capacity. When the process of closing the books is automated and allocated over time instead of at the end of a specific period, it is a true timesaver, allowing staff to be focused on doing more productive, profitable work rather than being tied up with reconciliations and similar work for long periods of time. Instead, an accountant can reconcile a few items each day, preventing journal entries from piling up.
2. Advanced data integrity. When accounts are kept current each day and the close process is as automated possible, teams are able to bolster data integrity while decreasing the likelihood and occurrence of errors. This frees up staff who would otherwise have their time consumed fixing errors, giving them more hours back in their workdays to accomplish higher-value initiatives.
3. Expedited, advisory-based decision-making. With continuous accounting, firms have expedited access to the data that can drive key business decisions, simplify compliance and auditing, and empower accountants to better serve their clients. The result is a win-win partnership and deeper relationship between clients and their accounting team from a powerful advisory position.
As you can imagine, the thought of saving yourself and your staff from the stressful and inherently time-consuming work required for a traditional close of the books makes the continuous accounting approach a very attractive option. However, it’s the three key strategic benefits of adopting this method, as summarized above, that show the true value of continuous accounting.
Learn more about continuous accounting and other developments impacting the future of accountants. Continuous accounting is one of the most important developments shaping the future of the accounting profession. Learn more about this and eight other key trends at the 9 Developments Shaping Accounting’s Future CPE webinar on November 18, 2021, at 2 p.m. You can register here.
By combining continuous accounting with your firm’s 2022 strategic initiatives and the other developments we’ll cover at the webinar, you and your clients will be poised for even greater success now and in the years to come.