How to manage the complexity of accounting and financial closing at the end of the year ?
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Le 22/12/2022, par :
- Anne Marie Diom
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La clôture comptable et financière arrive très vite chaque année ! L’entreprise est accompagnée le plus souvent par l’expert-comptable qui doit réaliser le bilan comptable global de l’année. Un processus obligatoire qui permet d’informer leurs parties prenantes de l’état de santé financière de l’entreprise.
Cependant … Il y a plusieurs comptes à contrôler, manque de pièces justificatives, des données inexactes, factures pas enregistrées et erreurs de saisie ?
Une surcharge de travail et de stress qui demande beaucoup de temps.
Pas de panique ! Dans cet article, notre équipe vous donne les meilleures astuces pour mieux gérer la complexité de la clôture comptable pour cette fin d’année.
4 Problems to Avoid to Succeed in Your Accounting Closing for the End of the Year
First of all, you need to make sure that you can create “matching” rules on your data. There is therefore an important step of analyzing the flows and how they work, particularly in the source systems:
Are the flows aggregated on one side and on a line on the other. Rules (1-1, 1-n, N-n)?
Is there enough information on the fields to create rules, can we obtain them if they are not there?
Are there any special cases (management of cancellations, duplicates, etc.)?
Would I need tolerance for matching on dates or amounts?
Are there transcoding tables to be provided in order to standardize the data?
Should we enrich the source data to obtain more information during the analysis of discrepancies?
A good analysis of your data to be reconciled is fundamental and will strongly guide you towards suitable solutions or those with the least compromises. Thus, does the chosen solution have the expected flexibility on the matching criteria, does it include enrichment and flow mapping functionalities?
1. Failure to justify the accounting balances of the balance sheet
All amounts in discrepancy must be verified and justified (customer accounts, suppliers, cash accounts, etc.)
Remember to check all accounting transactions (debit and credit) of the balance of each account and to match the amounts in debit so that it is equal to the amounts in credit. If you skip this step, you will inevitably have anomalies and discrepancies between the amounts and you will waste time identifying errors.
2. Management of financial processes inside and outside the ERP
Some companies have multiple tools that are not compatible with each other. It takes time to collect information from one tool to another. This can create problems and delays for the financial close.
To better monitor financial processes and have better visibility, it is necessary to automate and centralize the data and tasks of preparing and recording accounting entries to reduce delays and mitigate risks.
3. Counting duplicate items
Recording the same receipt or invoice twice distorts the results. Some companies have a tool that detects and prevents recording two documents that have the same reference. Others perform the entry manually and obtain unreliable results with entry errors.
4. Forgetting to address anomalies
Forgetting to process anomalies is a big mistake, unfortunately, we encounter this problem in some financial services. To avoid forgetting errors, you must monitor your movements every day and put the rejection statuses to be processed with an alert or by notifying a member of the financial team so that this anomaly can be processed quickly.
6 tips to simplify your accounting closing processes
By applying these 6 tips, you will obtain an error-free and regulatory-compliant accounting closing at the end of the year.
1. Plan to do quarterly accounting closes to avoid surprises at the annual close
To save time on the year-end closing, we advise you to carry out quarterly accounting closings. This allows you to better manage and organize these processes in order to avoid unpleasant last-minute surprises and ensure a reliable and efficient annual accounting closing. You will also be able to anticipate difficulties as much as possible; the aim is to be able to keep control over them in order to intervene quickly and independently.
2. Control the reporting in order to produce a quality report
Controlling reporting in order to have a quality report requires automated control of financial data to help finance teams save time and reduce workload. It is therefore necessary to regularly control the documents, supporting documents, accounts and reports provided by other departments in order to be able to analyze the processes before the annual accounting and financial closing.
“The XCERT solution allows all the group’s subsidiaries to have a single, robust and efficient platform for documenting the reconciliations of more than 1,500 bank accounts. Its deployment in the 140 countries where we are present has allowed us to strengthen our controls and improve the speed of our analyses.”
– François CHABAS, EVP CFO at Bureau Veritas
« La solution XCERT permet à toutes les filiales du groupe d’avoir une plate-forme unique, robuste et efficace pour la documentation des rapprochements de plus de 1 500 comptes bancaires. Son déploiement dans les 140 pays où nous sommes présents nous a permis de renforcer nos contrôles et d’améliorer la rapidité de nos analyses. »
– François CHABAS, EVP CFO chez Bureau Veritas
3. Make your accounting and financial data reliable for a reliable audit
As the closing date approaches, your financial and accounting data must be reliable and compliant. Some companies panic because their tool is not able to support and process a large volume of data. These processes can quickly become time-consuming if the information is not decentralized. We advise you to have visibility on all the data to be able to sort and use it correctly.
4. Involve all stakeholders necessary for the accounting closure
We recommend having a space where all stakeholders can get informed, communicate and submit supporting documents to make your work easier. Period-end closing often involves business leaders, managers, the accountant and the financial director, their supporting documents and access must allow you to quickly and reliably conclude your accounting closing. Inform the entire team in advance of the date on which you are carrying out this exercise to avoid delays.
5. Centralisez et automatia5. Centralize and automate all your data on a single interfacesez toutes vos données sur une seule interface
To have a global view and track all the information from import to export, it is preferable to centralize your financial flows in a single interface.
This interface should allow you to automate data reconciliations and have a follow-up. Thus, you will be able to devote more time to your accounting closing.
6. Establish pre-closings to anticipate errors at the time of accounting and financial closing
To anticipate risks, you need to establish pre-closings that will help you detect errors more quickly. Pre-closing consists of performing precision tests and preparing tasks to be completed at the end of the year. You can do it 1 month in advance of the annual closing to avoid complications and delays due to errors.
XCERT, the solution to improve the processes of auditing and accounting closing
Avec XCERT, vous améliorez les processus de la révision et de la clôture comptable avant la fin de celle-ci. La solution vous offre une approche moderne et simple en supprimant les a
With XCERT, you improve the processes of the revision and the accounting closing before the end of it. The solution offers you a modern and simple approach by eliminating manual and tedious tasks with the automation of balance justifications.
Each step is traced and centralized in a single interface, you have the possibility to consult in real time. It allows you reliable accounting processes that comply with regulations. To have more details and better understand how XCERT can help you close your accounts quickly, call on our experts request a demo.
Getting started with XCERT means:
– 100% visibility on the processes for the accounting closing
– 90% time saved on your accounting and financial processes
– 3x faster to close your accounts.
