In many places, financial processes still rely on Excel spreadsheets. This means that employees export data from various systems on a daily basis, then manually copy or enter it into another system.
Not only is this method inefficient, but it also carries additional risks.
The popularity of spreadsheet applications remains extremely high. According to a study, nearly 90% of companies use Excel-based solutions for their financial processes, and many finance professionals still view it as their primary tool—a perception largely driven by emotional attachment. (IT Pro) Of course, Excel is also flexible, easy to use, and familiar to many. The problem, however, begins when an organization builds business-critical processes on spreadsheets.
Research shows that errors are surprisingly common in corporate spreadsheets.
According to some studies, 88–94% of spreadsheets contain some kind of error. (Forbes)
Errors are found in 0.8–1.8% of formula cells, which can cause significant discrepancies in large datasets. (ScienceDirect)
According to some analyses, there is a 78–97% chance that a large financial model contains at least one error. (louisepryor.com)
These errors often do not come to light immediately—or perhaps ever—because the spreadsheets function, albeit producing incorrect results.
However, such errors have caused several serious financial problems; for example, a faulty Excel calculation in one of JP Morgan’s risk models contributed to a loss of several billion dollars. (allossolutions.com)
Manual work with spreadsheets can not only lead to errors but also result in significant time loss.
Finance teams often spend a significant portion of their time on these tasks:
In practice, this means that finance professionals spend a significant portion of their time on data preparation rather than on analysis or decision support. In other words: a skilled, expensive workforce spends its time on work that machines have been capable of doing for them for decades. This amounts to money down the drain, wasted time, and squandered talent.
A significant portion of financial processes can be automated. Data collection, the generation of reports, and the transfer of data between different systems can now be handled by software.
Automated solutions make financial operations faster, more cost-effective, and more transparent, allowing the finance team to devote more time to tasks that truly add value.
Once a company reaches a certain size, the best solution is to implement an integrated enterprise management system.
With the ChaRM integrated enterprise management system, financial and administrative processes can operate within a single system.
By implementing the system:
Not every company is immediately ready to implement or replace a full ERP system. However, the automation of financial processes can be started in smaller steps.
We help with our custom solutions:
These solutions can significantly reduce manual work, even if your company currently relies on Excel-based processes. If this sounds like your situation, get in touch with us! We’re here to help! We can help!
