Has Your Finance Function Outgrown the Way It Works?
A practical briefing for finance leaders managing growth, complexity and the next stage of finance transformation. For Upper Mid Market and Enterprise organisations with revenues up to £2bn.
Finance functions rarely become inefficient overnight. The pressure builds gradually.
Growth is good for business. It is not always easy for the finance function. As an organisation grows, finance inherits more entities, more transactions, more systems, more controls and more stakeholders.
- 1A few more entities.
- 2Another ERP.
- 3Higher transaction volumes.
- 4More journals and reconciliations.
- 5More controls.
- 6More people involved in the close.
Can our current way of working scale with the organisation we are becoming?
This briefing explores where finance complexity starts to create friction, the warning signs that your close is becoming harder to manage, and how finance teams are using automation and connected processes to create a more scalable operation.
Where growth starts to land on finance
Growth does not affect every part of finance equally. The pressure often appears first in the processes that sit around the monthly close.
Entity count
Every new subsidiary, acquisition or country entity introduces additional reconciliations, close activities, intercompany relationships and reporting requirements. What worked with ten entities can look very different with fifty.
System count
Growing organisations rarely remain on one system forever. Acquisitions, regional operations and changing business requirements can introduce multiple ERP and source systems, creating more data to validate, reconcile and control.
Transaction volume
As revenue, headcount and activity increase, so does the number of journals, reconciliations and financial transactions. The workload does not always grow neatly in line with revenue.
Control requirements
More entities and jurisdictions bring more scrutiny. Finance teams need stronger evidence, clearer ownership and greater visibility without simply adding another layer of manual checking.
The result. Finance teams often respond by adding processes around the process: more spreadsheets, more email, more checking, more chasing and more people who know exactly how everything works. That can keep the close moving, but it can also create a finance operation that is increasingly difficult to scale.
Your business grew, your finance operation should too
Finance leaders are not necessarily looking for a completely new way to close the books. They are looking for a better way to manage the increasing complexity around the close. The real question is not whether the current process works. It is what that process costs in time, control and finance capacity as the business grows.
Visibility
Can you see the status of the close without asking several people for updates?
Manual intervention
How many tasks still require someone to download, manipulate, check, upload or chase information?
Key person dependency
Could another team member take over a process without relying on someone’s personal knowledge?
Control
Are controls built into the process, or dependent on people remembering additional checks?
Scalability
What happens when you add another ten entities, another ERP or significantly more transactions?
These are not necessarily signs that a finance team is doing something wrong. They are often signs that the organisation has moved beyond the complexity its existing processes were designed to handle.
A modern close should do more than get you to month end
The financial close is not just a deadline. It is the point at which reconciliations, journals, approvals, intercompany activity, controls, supporting evidence and management reporting come together. When those processes are disconnected, finance teams spend time coordinating the work rather than managing the outcome. A more modern approach creates greater visibility and control while reducing repetitive manual activity.
One finance specific platform for the close
Aico brings together financial close management, account reconciliation, journal entry and intercompany processes in one finance specific platform. The objective is straightforward: give finance teams greater control over the close without making the process more complicated.
Automation should give finance capacity back
Automation is often discussed in terms of eliminating manual tasks. For finance leaders, there is a more important question: what will the finance team do with the capacity it creates? The objective is not to remove people from finance. It is to allow finance professionals to spend more time on work that requires finance expertise and judgement.
Proof across finance
The point is not that every finance function has the same problem. It is that finance technology needs to accommodate different types and levels of complexity as organisations evolve.
Internal audit lead times reduced by around one week, alongside stronger visibility of controls and fewer errors identified late in the process.
Aico used across 499 entities, 150 countries and seven separate SAP instances.
Finance led self service journal automation and configuration, without every change depending on specialist technical development.
More structured close processes across a complex international organisation.
AARO used for group close, cash flow analysis and IFRS 16 lease accounting.
Mercur replaced a planning process based on hundreds of Excel files, reducing man hours by 32%.
The close gets done. But at what cost?
The cost of an inefficient close is not simply the number of hours spent completing tasks. It can also include:
Finance capacity
Highly skilled finance professionals spending time on repetitive administration.
Management time
Leaders asking where things stand rather than analysing what the numbers mean.
Rework
Errors discovered late creating additional investigation, correction and approval cycles.
Key person dependency
Processes that are difficult to transfer or standardise.
Control risk
Manual processes creating more opportunities for inconsistency and missed steps.
Growth friction
Every new entity, system or acquisition adding another layer of complexity.
These costs can remain hidden because the close still happens and the numbers still get produced. The question is how much effort it takes to get there.
What does a scalable finance operation look like?
There is no single definition of a modern finance function, but scalable finance operations share common characteristics.
Visible
Finance leaders can see what is happening across the close.
Controlled
Approvals, ownership and audit trails are embedded into processes.
Automated
Repeatable activity is handled systematically.
Configurable
Finance can adapt processes as the business changes.
Connected
Information does not have to be repeatedly moved between disconnected processes.
Scalable
Adding entities, systems and volume does not automatically mean adding the same level of manual effort.
Do not start with technology
The first question should not be which platform to buy. Finance transformation does not have to mean transforming everything at once. For many organisations, the logical starting point is the area creating the most friction: Account Reconciliation, Close Management, Journal Entry or Intercompany.
- 1Start there.
- 2Understand the process.
- 3Identify the manual work.
- 4Measure the control points.
- 5Automate where it makes sense.
- 6Then consider what comes next.
Eight questions to test whether your close can scale
Where are we spending the most manual finance capacity?
Which processes depend heavily on spreadsheets?
Where are we relying on individual knowledge?
Where does information move manually between systems?
Which controls could be embedded directly into the workflow?
What happens to the process when we add entities or systems?
What could our finance team do with the capacity automation releases?
Are we solving today’s problem in a way that creates tomorrow’s technology problem?
The right solution should not simply solve the immediate problem. It should give finance somewhere to go next.
Download the report to explore the framework
A practical framework for assessing the close, identifying the sources of friction and considering where automation can make the biggest difference.
- Where finance complexity starts to create friction
- The warning signs that your close is becoming harder to manage
- How finance teams use automation and connected processes to create a more scalable operation
- Customer examples from Tecan, AkzoNobel, Signify and ISS
- Practical questions to assess your current approach
- Why solving today’s close challenge should not create tomorrow’s technology problem
Build for today’s challenge. Be ready for what comes next
For many finance leaders, the immediate priority is the close. Aico by Pacera can provide the foundation, helping finance teams manage Close, Reconciliation, Journals and Intercompany with greater automation, visibility and control. But the finance function does not stop at the close. As organisations grow, complexity flows into consolidation, planning and performance management.
Solve the immediate financial close challenge.
Learn moreConnect group consolidation as organisational complexity increases.
Learn moreConnect planning, budgeting and performance management to the wider finance operation.
Learn moreClose + Consolidation + FP&A: one Pacera platform that can scale with the finance function as the organisation grows. You do not have to transform everything at once. Start with the challenge that matters most today and build towards a more connected Office of the CFO tomorrow.
Your finance function is growing. Your platform should grow with it
Aico by Pacera gives finance teams the tools to build a more controlled, visible and scalable close. Pacera gives them a platform to keep building as their needs evolve.
Download the report