In the competitive landscape of modern businesses, prompt decision-making is paramount. This case study explores how Firehawk Analytics partnered with a client to overcome a common challenge: delivering comprehensive monthly financial reports to board members in a time-efficient manner.
Our client, a thriving organisation in the financial services sector, had been grappling with a persistent dilemma. The monthly accounting closure process was labour-intensive, consuming extensive time and effort from the CFO, General Manager of Finance, and the accounting team. The process entailed closing financial accounts, analysing financial data, preparing board packs, and sending these for board review. This entire endeavour took approximately three weeks, leaving board members frustrated due to the delay in receiving their monthly reports.
The project's primary goal was to significantly reduce the turnaround time for the monthly financial reporting process. Specifically, the objective was to trim this timeline from a cumbersome three weeks to an efficient five days. This transformation aimed to save time and effort and enhance the accuracy of reporting, ensuring data-driven decision-making and satisfied board members.
Firehawk Analytics addressed this challenge through a careful and highly efficient approach. The key to this transformation was automation. While the accounting and finance team continued to close financial accounts through traditional processes such as journal entries and reconciliations, the subsequent steps were automated.
The heart of the solution lay in presenting budget versus actual financial reports through visually appealing and interactive dashboards. These dashboards provided at-a-glance insights and were easily exportable as PDFs or screenprints for seamless integration into the reporting process.
Significantly, the data was not limited to accounting and finance; it spanned the entire business, encompassing CRM data, sales and marketing figures, operational metrics, inventory data, and even banking covenants.
This automation effectively eliminated the time-consuming manual compilation and data analysis, freeing up valuable time for the accounting and finance team to engage in more strategic activities. It also ensured that all the information was readily available at the end of each month, empowering timely decision-making.
The results of this transformation were tangible and impactful. The most notable outcome was the significant time reduction in the monthly reporting process. By streamlining and automating various steps, the client managed to condense the timeline from three weeks to just five days.
The cost savings were equally substantial.
With a quarter to half of the accounting, finance, and bookkeeping team's time liberated from manual reporting, these resources could be redirected towards more value-added initiatives. This enhanced efficiency and positively impacted the organisation's bottom line.
Client satisfaction soared as board members received their monthly reports promptly, fostering data-driven discussions and decisions. The overall outcome was a harmonious synergy between efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and stakeholder contentment.