Automating Finance & Accounting How robotic process automation (RPA) will transform F&A
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Automating Finance & Accounting How robotic process automation (RPA) will transform F&A
SECTION 04 | PICKING PROCESSES AND PEOPLE
Picking Processes and People
With the use of RPA, for the first time, accounting
departments can reliably automate many of the
processes they were previously unable to.
The fitness criteria for choosing
which processes to automate are:
It must be a highly manual, repetitive
and high volume process
It must be a rule-based process
One of the key considerations additional time delivers from managing people to
It must have a low exception rate is variation. For example, if value. This is where the role driving higher value activities
(low variation between processes) 90% of your transactions can of humans alongside RPA from their staff, including
be mapped in ten steps, but will change. As robots take exceptions and decisions that
10% require an additional over the routine, repetitive require human intervention,
The inputs must be electronic or two steps to be completed transactional processing while the orchestration
machine readable after step three, this becomes tasks, finance and accounting engine oversees operational
an exception to the rule that professionals will be expected performance. Finance and
needs to be managed. Here, to become expert exception Accounting professionals
The processes and their underlying exception paths need to be handlers. They will need will move away from data
Applications must be stable built into the workflow to to perform the complex, gathering, data entry and
manage the variation. While judgement-based, transactions book-keeping and instead
these processes can also that the robots are not able take on more advisory roles
be automated, it will take to perform. where their judgement and
time to build workflows consultative skills will see
into the robotic process, so The role of managers in them become business
the business has to make a accounting departments partners.
decision as to whether the of the future will move away
UIPAT H.CO M | AUTO MATION F I RST ERA 7SECTION 05 | FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING PROCESS AUTOMATION ENTRY POINTS
Finance and Accounting
process automation entry points
Here, we’ve picked out a list of the processes in finance and accounting that are highly suited to RPA. Though the listing is not
comprehensive, it provides a good suggestion of F&A sub-processes that can be explored by any organization that is embarking
into driving RPA-led digital transformation of its F&A function.
Procure Accounts General Tax, treasury Financial planning,
to Pay Receivable accounting and compliance analysis and reporting
Purchase order entry and delivery Sales order entry General ledger and subledger Data aggregation for tax liability Data aggregation for reports
Vendor verification and setup Customer data set up reconciliations Convert data to tax basis Report preparation
Bank reconciliations (including the below)
Vendor master-data management Customer data management Complete tax return workbooks
Inter-company reconciliations
n Trial balance and balance sheet
Vendor queries/helpdesk Billing/invoicing Prepare tax returns
Manual journal entries n Profit and loss
Invoice receipt and classification Collection activities (dunning) File tax returns and payments
Reclassification journal entries n Cashflow
Invoice data extraction Cash application Tax accounting entries
Invoice data entry and interface Credit risk management Fixed asset accounting n Variance analysis
Two and three-way purchase Dispute verification and Inter-company settlements n Management reports
order/invoice/ resolution Financial close activities n Statutory/regulatory reports
receipt matching Chargeback management
Non-purchase-order invoice
coding
Vendor statement reconciliation
Accounts payable accrual
journal entry
Expense compliance audit
Payment processing
UIPAT H.CO M | AUTO MATION F I RST ERA 8SECTION 05 | FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING PROCESS AUTOMATION ENTRY POINTS
Considerations for automation The results of RPA can be dramatic
A great place to start if you’re periodic and event-driven
activities. Here, the best way Process Client % of Robotization Benefits
considering using RPA is to start
by automating straightforward to automate general accounting
8 months ROI
processes such as invoice data processes is to take a more agile Purchase order entry Global automotive 100% 100% accuracy rate
automation supplier, Germany
entry and cash applications. and iterative approach to realize 78% improved processing time
These are best suited to carry the most value from automating
the process effectively. 3 months ROI
out proof-of-concept studies
Media company, 100% reduction in manual
before beginning your RPA Credit note processing 100%
Switzerland effort and accuracy
journey. You can follow this Another consideration to 60% improved processing time
with other processes such as make for general accounting
activities, such as manual 15% manual effort reduction
billing and invoicing, as well Travel and expense Consumer goods 100% 75% improved processing time
as customer and vendor data journal entries, is to use report processing company, Germany
100% accuracy
set-ups. attended rather than
unattended automation as Accounts payable: 2 months ROI
Medical/pharmaceutical
Moving on to general these processes could require Three-way matching 100% 90% improved processing time
company, Switzerland
automation 10% manual effort reduction
accounting processes, these the need for expert judgement
are often fragmented as a result or a customized computation 15% manual effort reduction
Travel and expense Consumer goods
of being been generated from specific to the event or scenario. report processing company, Germany 100% 75% improved processing time
100% accuracy
GRN-to-Invoice match Building materials 100% compliance on TAT SLA
53%
and release hold supplier, UK 54% FTE reduction
Automate vendor 70% productivity improvement
Global property insurer —
The best way to automate general payments 50% operations cost reduction
accounting processes is to take a 3 months ROI
more agile and iterative approach to Invoicing/billing HR service provider, 70%
10% manual effort reduction
realize the most value from automating automation Germany 75% faster processing
60% cost reduction
the process effectively.
100% accuracy
Cash application Retail company, India 100%
80% volume automated
5 months ROI
Accounting services 25% manual effort reduction
Month-end accounting 75%
provider, Germany 65% improed processing time
100% accuracy
67% improved processing time
Daily P&L reports Global financial services 100% Faster/earlier report delivery
generation company
100% reporting accuracy
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