Actually, it is what is says, the financial close, but fast(er). While the process of fast close consolidation isn’t new, achieving it often remains a pain point for many organizations. Organizations seeking to improve their financial consolidation are usually either handling this process using outdated legacy systems, separate applications that are loosely integrated, and/or many Excel spreadsheets. In nearly all cases, they are not taking advantage of newer technology.

On the other hand, just automating some of the steps isn’t the ideal solution either. In our opinion, it is a combination of people, processes and technology. In most cases, the processes can be improved and multiple steps can be automated. Both improvements will help the People in your organization to adept the changes and work smarter towards a fast(er) financial close.

So, how to achieve a fast(er) close?