The principles of journal entries are founded on a simple logic where every debit corresponds to an exact credit. On the outlook it might simply resemble an act of balancing the equation. However, passing the journal entries in financial accounting is an unkempt job done by the accountants.

Gone are the days where accountants just relied on few ledgers, however today the sheer volume of transactions are mind resourcesging. Many firms still rely on the accountants to manually record the journals, allocate them in appropriate accounts and finally, verify before posting in the accounting software.

The outcomes never turn out to be pleasant to accountants as they face hindrance throughout the journey as there are many errors showing lack of reliability and transparency of the information submitted. The accountant has to waste time ‘to and fro’ even to approve documents, provides lack of visibility to management causing delay and never achieving the targets.

What are the common symptoms seen in manual journal entries?

Posting a Journal Entry (JE) is a dull, boring and painstaking process adding more anxiety and stress to the accounting profession. This holds true to firms who still hold on to their spreadsheets and complete the JE process manually. We need to see what are the common symptoms seen through manual JE.

• Disruption of the workflow - due to many layered approval formalities. Since, the spreadsheets exhibit lack visibility and controls.
• Lack of standardization - of the workflow adds to the agony and managing countless entries becomes complicated and time consuming.
• Risk of compliance - becomes difficult as the accountants cannot produce an error free guaranteed financial report. Since, the figures cannot be assured of accuracy, it enhances compliance risk.
• Opens an avenue of fraudulent activities - as there are no proper controls in place. The manual JE gives an opening for accountants to conceal losses or increase revenue.
• Wastage of man-hours and man-power - with no check and balances in place to see if the recorded items are accurate and done diligently. There is no mechanism in place to find out errors which eventually consumes valuable time and labor.

What prevented Journal Entries (JE) automation from happening?

Automation is taking place full fledged in various sub-disciplines of financial accounting like accounts payable, receivable, reconciliation etc. Firms still depend on manual journal entries though the process is unreliable in terms of accuracy and efficiency. We need to understand what could be the plausible reasons for automation not happening in this rudimental discipline.

• There is unawareness prevalent amongst firms considering JE automation as a possibility.
• It is a common perception that automating JE is complex and nuanced, therefore, automation is not feasible.
• Some firms automate other processes and it translates into better outcomes. Therefore, JE automation is just an additional cost with less or no benefit.

How can Journal Entry robotic automation solutions set a new benchmark for the firms?

The modern accounting or any firm to the matter keeps morphing to the changing need. They function to remove any form of bottlenecks that hampers economic progress and time constraints. Therefore, automating journal entries helps to bring many changes in the overall functioning of the firm in terms of micro and macro levels.

• Micro level:
  
  • Saves time and resources of accountants to invest in productive work.
  • A new trend of perpetual accounting grows as all information fed is in an updated mode.
  • Risk is mitigated due to the authenticity of the data provided from the general ledger to the balance sheet.
  • Eliminates office overhead expenses in the form of filing, stationery, storage of paper files etc.

• Macro level:
  
  • The auditors - get their reports in real time and do not rely only on historical data and there is an audit trail to find out any shortcoming and misappropriation of funds etc.
  • The CFO - gets access to high volumes of relevant and contextual data in order to make analysis and provide recommendations & suggestions to management.
  • The Management - gets an insight of the shortcoming and merits of their firms. The financial reports help to interpret the figures and their variances to get an insight of the balance sheet health. It leads to strategic decision making to foster growth.

How can service provider Integra Global Solutions help in your financial transformation?

Integra Global Solutions over the span of two decades helped firms transform their vision into reality. In their services it caters to all categories of firms irrespective of their capacity. Their customized solutions in the sub-discipline of Journal entries automation is one more milestone added.

Let us summarize how IGS robotic bots conjure the needs of Journal entry robotic automation.

• Extracts data from various sources including external databases, various divisions where it allocates and posts entries in appropriate books of accounts.
• Cross charges from various departments can be allocated depending upon specified percentage like IT, HR etc.
• Journalising cash settlements between banks or credit card providers are clearly classified. Even multiple currencies journal entries are also posted.
• Interfaces with multiple processes for accounts reconciliation, transactions posting, variances analysis etc.
• Centralized journal entry process to have an audit trail across all the ERPs.
• Controls and compliance in place to provide access as per their line of duties and responsibilities.

To know more about our journal entry robotic process automation services please give us a call or request for a demo.