6 good reasons to automate bank reconciliation
Posted: Thu Dec 26, 2024 3:15 am
Bank reconciliation is an essential process for the management of any company, but it is also a time-consuming process that requires attention and effort, especially to have access to the most up-to-date data possible.
Nowadays, with technological advances, it is now possible to remove this effort from human hands and make the process completely automatic. The question is: should you do it?
What does bank reconciliation consist of?
Bank reconciliation is a financial process by which the inflows and outflows from bank statements are compared with the movements recorded in accounting statements, in order to detect whether all transactions are properly recorded.
Traditionally, bank reconciliation involves several steps, including hong kong whatsapp number database the company's bank accounts and obtaining their respective statements, keeping a permanently updated record of all the company's financial inflows and outflows, comparing balances and movements, and correcting inconsistencies. All of these steps would have been done manually until automation arrived.
Automating bank reconciliation
The automation of bank reconciliation is possible thanks to the evolution of management and accounting software, which can import bank statements, in the form of a feed or through direct integration with banking portals, and compare them with accounting movements completely automatically, without requiring manual intervention from the accountant or manager.
Cegid Primavera accounting and management solutions have tools that allow you to automate accounting entries through the immediate integration of e-invoice data, SAF-T (PT) and sales documents originating from other platforms. Using predefined integration templates that guarantee a coherent and rigorous data structure, they allow you to perform bank reconciliation automatically.
Advantages of automatic bank reconciliation
With increasingly easier access to management and accounting software, including on mobile devices, and with data permanently updated in the cloud and accessible anywhere, it is now easier than ever to remove much of the complexity of bank reconciliation and make it just another automatic process in your company, with all the benefits that this entails.
Greater control over the treasury
By automating bank reconciliation, it can be done much more regularly without any time requirements, which gives the manager much more accurate financial control.
At the same time, as the data is permanently updated, the management of the company's investments and treasury gains greater flexibility, being able to be carried out daily with extreme rigor, instead of requiring an initial, time-consuming manual process.
Timely cost forecasts
With automated bank reconciliation, all cash values are now up to date in financial management and correspond exactly to bank account movements. This makes it possible to plan the company's investments with much greater precision and predict costs based on a much more accurate history, which also ensures greater ease in negotiating with other parties, such as customers and suppliers.
Documentation always up to date
Bank reconciliation is a process that requires the reconciliation of several documents on a regular basis to be effective. As such, as a manual process, it is not always possible to have all documents updated daily or, sometimes, even monthly.
With automation, this is no longer a problem. All documentation is automatically synchronized with each movement, allowing the manager and accountant to be continuously aware of the state of the treasury.
In turn, if a document is missing, it is much easier to identify and locate it. If you also use management software , then it becomes easy to issue the missing documents for integration into the accounting software.
Avoids human errors
When performing bank reconciliation manually, the process is susceptible to the natural errors that come from constantly comparing bank statements to accounting, which involves checking numerous financial transactions.
By moving to automatic bank reconciliation, the possibility of human error is completely eliminated, ensuring greater data accuracy and preventing difficulties created by error, such as time wasted trying to identify where the error was made.
Frees up time for other processes
Automated bank reconciliation, like all other types of automation, drastically simplifies the entire process, which means you gain time for other management factors that bring greater added value to the business.
In other words, not only does it free up time spent on reconciliation to, for example, plan the growth of your business and identify new opportunities, but it also provides you with more accurate information about your treasury to achieve more rigorous planning.
Reduces paper usage
Last but not least, the fact that automation is 100% digital means that you can reduce paper consumption for this purpose, as you do not need to print or receive paper statements to compare them with movements.
In this way, you not only reduce the costs inherent to the manual process, but you also contribute to reducing your company's environmental impact , allowing it to become more sustainable – which is also a factor in attracting investment and reputation for your brand.
Nowadays, with technological advances, it is now possible to remove this effort from human hands and make the process completely automatic. The question is: should you do it?
What does bank reconciliation consist of?
Bank reconciliation is a financial process by which the inflows and outflows from bank statements are compared with the movements recorded in accounting statements, in order to detect whether all transactions are properly recorded.
Traditionally, bank reconciliation involves several steps, including hong kong whatsapp number database the company's bank accounts and obtaining their respective statements, keeping a permanently updated record of all the company's financial inflows and outflows, comparing balances and movements, and correcting inconsistencies. All of these steps would have been done manually until automation arrived.
Automating bank reconciliation
The automation of bank reconciliation is possible thanks to the evolution of management and accounting software, which can import bank statements, in the form of a feed or through direct integration with banking portals, and compare them with accounting movements completely automatically, without requiring manual intervention from the accountant or manager.
Cegid Primavera accounting and management solutions have tools that allow you to automate accounting entries through the immediate integration of e-invoice data, SAF-T (PT) and sales documents originating from other platforms. Using predefined integration templates that guarantee a coherent and rigorous data structure, they allow you to perform bank reconciliation automatically.
Advantages of automatic bank reconciliation
With increasingly easier access to management and accounting software, including on mobile devices, and with data permanently updated in the cloud and accessible anywhere, it is now easier than ever to remove much of the complexity of bank reconciliation and make it just another automatic process in your company, with all the benefits that this entails.
Greater control over the treasury
By automating bank reconciliation, it can be done much more regularly without any time requirements, which gives the manager much more accurate financial control.
At the same time, as the data is permanently updated, the management of the company's investments and treasury gains greater flexibility, being able to be carried out daily with extreme rigor, instead of requiring an initial, time-consuming manual process.
Timely cost forecasts
With automated bank reconciliation, all cash values are now up to date in financial management and correspond exactly to bank account movements. This makes it possible to plan the company's investments with much greater precision and predict costs based on a much more accurate history, which also ensures greater ease in negotiating with other parties, such as customers and suppliers.
Documentation always up to date
Bank reconciliation is a process that requires the reconciliation of several documents on a regular basis to be effective. As such, as a manual process, it is not always possible to have all documents updated daily or, sometimes, even monthly.
With automation, this is no longer a problem. All documentation is automatically synchronized with each movement, allowing the manager and accountant to be continuously aware of the state of the treasury.
In turn, if a document is missing, it is much easier to identify and locate it. If you also use management software , then it becomes easy to issue the missing documents for integration into the accounting software.
Avoids human errors
When performing bank reconciliation manually, the process is susceptible to the natural errors that come from constantly comparing bank statements to accounting, which involves checking numerous financial transactions.
By moving to automatic bank reconciliation, the possibility of human error is completely eliminated, ensuring greater data accuracy and preventing difficulties created by error, such as time wasted trying to identify where the error was made.
Frees up time for other processes
Automated bank reconciliation, like all other types of automation, drastically simplifies the entire process, which means you gain time for other management factors that bring greater added value to the business.
In other words, not only does it free up time spent on reconciliation to, for example, plan the growth of your business and identify new opportunities, but it also provides you with more accurate information about your treasury to achieve more rigorous planning.
Reduces paper usage
Last but not least, the fact that automation is 100% digital means that you can reduce paper consumption for this purpose, as you do not need to print or receive paper statements to compare them with movements.
In this way, you not only reduce the costs inherent to the manual process, but you also contribute to reducing your company's environmental impact , allowing it to become more sustainable – which is also a factor in attracting investment and reputation for your brand.