Take a deep breath: Faster, smarter financial close is here

The team at Prophix has been buzzing this quarter following the official announcement of general availability for a new application, Prophix One Account Reconciliation. The release is a tremendous step in our company’s platform journey and worth highlighting for a few reasons.

For Prophix, Account Reconciliation isn’t just another addition to our portfolio; it represents a strategic move that directly serves the mid-market and transforms what has traditionally been a complex and time-consuming process into a consistent, accurate, and transparent experience.

To reach this point, we’ve done a lot of exploring; we’ve asked difficult questions internally, to our current customers and partners, and even to the organizations that have chosen not to work with us. As we’ve developed our platform, we have debated the merits of certain functionalities over others, all in the name of addressing the most pressing real-world issues for finance teams – nothing more, nothing less. And repeatedly, manual account reconciliation and financial close processes have been viewed among the most costly and frustrating bottlenecks cited by finance teams.

Here’s why it was so critical that we get this right...

What exactly is account reconciliation?

Account reconciliation is the process of comparing two sets of records to identify and resolve discrepancies. For example, a general ledger (GL) needs to be reconciled to subledgers like account receivables (AR) and accounts payable (AP). It’s a critical process because reconciling accounts is the first line of defense in ensuring the integrity of reporting and maintaining regulatory compliance.

Where traditional account reconciliation comes up short

Those that manually manage the financial close process, whether they rely on spreadsheets or lack dedicated reconciliation functionality, consistently face the same hurdles.

Take, for example, an organization using Excel for account reconciliation. With spreadsheets, the account reconciliation processes likely exist in silos with undocumented steps, making it challenging to track progress, ensure consistency, and increasing the risk of compliance issues. The more disparate spreadsheets managed, the greater the chance of inaccuracies in the reconciliation process.

Similarly, a company with finance software in place but without dedicated account reconciliation functionality might struggle to automate processes and collaborate across the business with reconciliation owners. This lack of real-time updates can contribute to operational inefficiencies and make it difficult to scale.

All told, the pain points for finance pros – from accountants and controllers to the C-suite -- are similar: too much time spent tracking progress, a lot of manual effort to review data, miscommunication, a lack scalability, and limited data accuracy.

The mission for Prophix, therefore, was clear – to develop a key to the financial close management puzzle without interrupting the existing workflow of the finance department.

What our customers told us they needed

To alleviate the issues above, we worked closely with our customers, prospects, and partners to determine the functionality that was truly necessary for the smartest and fastest financial close management. Just some of what they identified as priorities:

• Ease of use: the solution needs to be easy to implement and intuitive to learn, ensuring a smooth transition.

• Centralized data: reconciliations need to be stored in a central location accessible to all relevant team members, to promote transparency and collaboration.

• Automated notifications: finance teams want automated notifications that trigger the next task in the process, keeping workflow on track.

Developing a solution that works just right

Prophix One Account Reconciliation changes the entire close process by automating tedious tasks and providing a centralized platform for managing all account reconciliation activities. Rather than overload the application with functionality that mid-market organizations won’t ever need or access, our team focused on simplicity and accuracy.

The result is a robust, but straightforward, application that demystifies a complex process and makes it accessible to just about anyone in the office of the CFO. And because the application resides on Prophix One, our Financial Performance Platform, organizations can quickly integrate Account Reconciliation with other solutions, using one version of the truth, and easily scale over time.

If you’re an accountant, accounting managers, controllers, or auditor – if you’ve ever struggled through the financial close process, these benefits of Prophix One Account Reconciliation should resonate:

• Seamless collaboration
• Improved data quality
• Enhanced visibility into reconciliation process
• Real-time updates
• Clear progress tracking
• Effortless close package generation

The video here shows just how powerful it can be to close using Prophix One Account Reconciliation:

Praise from early adopters

Even before it was officially available, Prophix One Account Reconciliation has already proven to be worth the time and effort our team has put into its development. The demand from both existing customers and prospects has been massive. Our beta program was exceptionally well-received, showcasing not only our product’s potential but also the deep alignment it has with customers’ needs. One customer described our approach as “refreshing and innovative,” highlighting that we are “setting new standards” rather than just following market leaders.

Some other feedback from users:

“Prophix’s approach is refreshing and innovative. It feels like you’re not just following the market leaders but actually setting new standards. I’ve used other solutions before, and I can see the significant advantages Prophix One Account Reconciliation brings to the table.

I’m confident that this product will be a game-changer for us. It’s easy to use, integrates well with our existing systems, and offers valuable features that streamline our reconciliation process.” - Yu Gnezil, Controller, Jamul Casino

“Prophix One Account Reconciliation provides an accurate snapshot of where the close process is at by entity. The workflows also provide visibility of tasks and reconciliations in one spot.”
- Julie Vin and Kaitlyn Panis, Manager, Corporate Accounting & Senior Corporate Accountant at Greenlaw Partners

“Prophix One Account Reconciliation will streamline our monthly close process and eliminate non-value add work.”- Jennie Robinson, VP Controller, Kajima Building and Design Group

“Prophix One Account Reconciliation will ensure that reconciliations are completed quickly and stored in a central location.” - Jenna Nosbush, Director of Finance and Accounting at ICBA

A necessity for next-gen finance

In recent months, the finance industry has been buzzing about a shortage of skilled accountants entering the labor market and the significant turnover among CFOs and other professionals. Prophix One and its applications have been designed with the next generation of finance professional top of mind. The expectation for these new finance pros is simple: more real-time visibility and control, less reliance on multiple spreadsheets as sources of truth. Prophix is delivering on that expectation to make virtually any office ready for next-gen finance.