KnowledgeLeader Blog

    Improving the Close-the-Books Process

    Posted by Protiviti KnowledgeLeader on Fri, Mar 01, 2019 @ 10:14 AM

    An effective business process is built on a set of well-defined and clearly stated business objectives. These key objectives articulate the ideal performance results that a company expects from that process. To monitor a business process so it stays focused on reaching the key objectives, a company chooses appropriate performance measures. Careful selection of the performance measures takes a company a long way toward improving a business process. Thus, to build and then continually improve an effective business process, a company establishes:

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    Topics: Accounting/Finance, Financial Reporting, Close the Books, Performance Management/Measurement

    Is Your Financial Close and Reporting Process Too Manual?

    Posted by Protiviti KnowledgeLeader on Fri, Aug 25, 2017 @ 11:47 AM

    Most organizations continue to invest a significant number of hours every month in a particular set of activities related to calculating, manipulating and validating critical financial reporting data using spreadsheets. Organizations should be asking whether this level of effort represents incremental value to the financial reporting process and whether this actually does needs to be done in spreadsheets.

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    Topics: Accounting/Finance, Financial Reporting, Close the Books

    Close-the-Books Guide: Reduce Financial Close Risk

    Posted by Protiviti KnowledgeLeader on Fri, Aug 04, 2017 @ 07:30 AM

    A fast, close-the-books process provides multiple benefits for the finance function and for the company. First, a fast close process creates more time for finance professionals to focus on strategic activities for the company, such as identifying warnings in financial data and providing the corporation's financial direction. It also reduces the cost of the finance function, since fewer hours are needed to close the books. And it demonstrates that the company's controls and systems are well organized; the company sends the message to its competitors and to the investment community that it is expert at performing business processes.

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    Topics: Risk Assessment, Accounting/Finance, Financial Reporting, Close the Books

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