AcctTwo Blog

Creating accurate forecasts, reliable predictions, and strong strategic insights has always been a goal of accounting. But considering how much time, focus, and manual labor it requires, it’s a goal that's rarely realized.

That's all changing thanks to a new wave of data-driven technologies. The confluence of artificial intelligence and machine learning have made large-scale data management accessible to any accounting department. As a result, finding insights takes less time, and developing and applying strategy becomes the focus of finance.

Effective financial reporting empowers companies to operate flexibly, strategically, and confidently. More commonly, however, reporting is a cumbersome process with minimal benefits. Despite spending ample time and resources pouring through data, companies learn little to propel themselves forward.

The specific pain points that limit the potential of financial reporting are unique to every organization, but they can all be traced to common problems. By focusing on those, it's possible for any company to transform reporting into a true asset. Follow these four strategies to learn more in less time:

SailPoint Seen as a Strong Buy and Valued at More Than $1 Billion after First Day of Trading

At AcctTwo, we're laser focused on the success of our customers, so when we heard the news about SailPoint's successful IPO last week, we had to share it. SailPoint is the leader in enterprise identity management. The company’s open identity platform gives organizations the ability to enter new markets, scale their workforces, embrace new technologies, innovate faster and compete globally. As both an industry pioneer and market leader in identity governance, SailPoint delivers security, operational efficiency and compliance to enterprises with complex IT environments. Their customers are among the world’s largest companies in virtually every industry, including: 9 of the top banks, 7 of the top retail brands, 6 of the top healthcare providers, 6 of the top property and casualty insurance providers, and 6 of the top pharmaceutical companies.

GAAP still has a role to play in financial reporting, but it's no longer the most important set of metrics for today's businesses. For today's forward-thinking CFOs, the real work involves looking beyond finance to facilitate every strategic advantage possible.

A strict focus on GAAP is necessary for regulatory compliance, but in the larger scheme of things it's just one responsibility for finance departments to manage. And, increasingly, it's become a responsibility that requires minimal input and oversight. Many financial applications have made GAAP adherence almost automatic. That means companies need to look beyond basic accounting functions to give themselves a competitive edge.

The C-Suite is undergoing a period of transition. Traditional roles are being redefined, expanded, and integrated in ways that fundamentally transform the executive function. This is most clear when you look at the evolution of the CFO.

13 campuses, 25 funds, 80 departments — and lots of accounting challenges

We're always proud of the work we do and the relationships we build with each and every one of our customers, but when we get feedback years down the road and get to hear how transformative Intacct and our implementation team have been, it's very special. Seacoast Church, an AcctTwo customer in the Carolinas, recently contributed to a story in Church Executive Magazine about how the multi-site church, with 12 physical locations and an online campus, needed a powerful accounting tool that could provide consistent financial reporting across locations and ministries.

Marcus Wagner Interviewed by Syndicated Columnist, Kevin Price

Marcus has become a regular contributor to Kevin's show and was recently asked to discuss the benefits of today's cloud-based Business Intelligence, reporting, and analytics solutions. Some topics Marcus covers:

• The benefits of best-in-class cloud business applications
• The necessity for real-time analytics and deeper dimensional financial and operational data
• How analytics helps extract value from data and help predict the future

Advice from AcctTwo's Chief Technology Officer

Part of our customer success methodology is to conduct a project close interview with project stakeholders at the end of every Intacct ERP implementation. Along with capturing a quantitative customer satisfaction score that contributes to our overall Net Promoter Score, we also ask qualitative questions about how the implementation went and whether we provided the necessary leadership, communication, and training to make the project a success. One response I too commonly receive is: "The implementation went really well but there are some reports and dashboards we still want to have built."

From the Perspective of an AcctTwo Implementation Consultant

I was recently asked what aspect of implementing Intacct's accounting and ERP software seems to have the greatest impact and benefit for our customers, and I would have to say that, in my opinion, Intacct's Dimensions are the most impactful feature that we implement. Most of our customers come from a world of legacy accounting software that required them to add dozens or hundreds (and even thousands!) of GL accounts to their accounting system just to make a specific distinction that can be done easily with dimensions. As an example, customers might have an account for Fixed Assets. If they wanted to report on that account by location, they would have to create a separate account for Fixed Assets for each location. With dimensions, we're able to set up just one account, but we can still report on that account by location or any other aspect we define.

Financial data is important, but so is operational data

In order to help us build and shape our church, we must track membership activity both in giving and participation. Creating a healthy community of believers is a primary goal for any church. As we grow the church, our analytics produce different results than those in the business world but our ability to evaluate the health of both our members and our finances is paramount to the success of the church.