Businesses must commit to strategic decision-making to survive today’s fast-paced business environment. The financial reporting feeding into those decisions demands timeliness and requires absolute accuracy. At the same time, companies need to ensure that their financial statements meet all regulatory requirements. Automation with software like Workiva allows companies to use dependable internal financial reports while remaining compliant. By automating data collection, which improves accuracy and timeliness, Workiva improves workforce collaboration, all of which accelerates workflows and enhances accuracy throughout the enterprise.
Automating Data Collection
Traditionally, gathering financial data involved manual processes and multiple steps, which were time-consuming and error-prone, especially with data validation and verification (how many times is enough?). Workiva simplifies data gathering by integrating with various data sources, and independent third-party verification vendors, allowing for seamless, trusted data aggregation. This automation reduces the risk of human error and ensures that the data collected is accurate and current.
With Workiva, data from different departments and systems can be automatically consolidated into a single platform, saving time and ensuring consistency across all financial reports. By eliminating manual data entry, companies can focus on analyzing the data rather than spending hours collecting and verifying it.
Improving Accuracy and Timeliness
Workiva significantly improves the accuracy and timeliness of financial reports by automating data collection, as noted. The platform’s real-time capabilities mean that any changes or updates are instantly reflected across all documents, ensuring everyone can access the most current information. This speed is essential for internal financial reporting, where timely insights are critical for making informed short-term reactive business decisions (Your biggest competitor just lowered prices— what do you do?) to long-range, proactive (We need to move to another state) decisions.
Improving Collaboration
Real-time, simultaneous co-working inside the Workiva cloud-based ecosystem makes collaboration seamless. There’s no waiting for answers, no stopping to hope the data has arrived or that reports have uploaded. They’re just there, magically changing and being updated in real-time with the added ability to leave notes, messages, or questions right in the MS Word or Excel spreadsheets and the various reports inside the Workiva workspace. This means that multiple users can work on the same document simultaneously, making it easier to coordinate efforts and ensure that everyone is on the same page. It’s as if they were sitting in a vast cubicle-laced bullpen murmuring over the cubicle walls as they worked, but without the cubicles.
Workiva’s platform also includes features like version control and audit trails, which help maintain transparency and accountability. Users can track changes, see who made them, and revert to previous versions if necessary. This level of visibility is crucial for maintaining the integrity of financial reports and ensuring compliance with regulatory standards.
Conclusion
It’s disturbing but true. Your ability to produce accurate and timely financial reports is more critical than ever these days because time and the marketplace wait for no one. By automating data collection, which improves accuracy and speed, your accounting team will be giddy with the amount of time they now have for meaningful collaboration inside the virtual walls of the Workiva platform. Your management team gains more accurate, up-to-the-second internal financial reports to support your critical short and long-term decision-making.
Please contact LSL CPAs today to see if streamlining your financial reporting using the Workiva platform would be a good solution for you.
