FloQast offers close management, reconciliation and accounting workflow automation software that streamlines processes and achieves reliable accuracy with less effort while providing real-time visibility into financial operations. The word “hack” originally referred to an ordinary horse, and later to a third-rate writer. More recently, it has come to mean—in a business context—a clever strategy or technique that improves performance, productivity and outcomes. These hacks enable people to work faster and more efficiently than previously possible. FloQast is focused on meeting the requirements of midsize enterprises that sit uncomfortably between small businesses and larger enterprises because they have outgrown basic systems but have limited budgets and other resources that often make software designed for large enterprises impractical. These organizations desperately need hacks.
Artificial intelligence (AI), in all its forms, is providing a new dimension in business hacks. It has already started to transform how accountants do their work. And it is proving to be as revolutionary as the introduction of the electronic spreadsheet almost a half-century ago. AI isn’t futuristic or impractical for midsize enterprises. It’s available and increasingly capable of assuming responsibility for performing low-value mechanical workloads in finance and accounting.
From its start in 2013, FloQast has used hacks to transform the accountant’s favorite tool—the spreadsheet—into a device that keeps all the good things about the technology (chiefly, a well-understood and trusted environment) while eliminating technical issues that severely undermine its effectiveness in collaborative enterprise processes. FloQast uses AI to achieve a higher degree of automation and accuracy in reconciling transactions and subledger balances. It integrates in real time with ERP systems. The software creates and posts journals to the appropriate ERP system while using anomaly detection to flag possible issues for resolution before posting entries. Automation also enforces the timely completion of reviews and approvals while conforming to the separation of duties and other controls. The application centralizes supporting documentation to ensure these are present and available to facilitate audits.
FloQast Transform, introduced earlier this year, is a set of no-code, natural language-driven AI agents to fully automate core accounting processes. These include a journal entry agent that manages the full scope of journal entry processes with automated workflows and integrates with ERP and other systems. It makes this tedious process more visible and controllable, saving time and compressing cycles. It facilitates audits by creating a “test of one” environment because the work is managed by easily evaluated, auditable code. The task agent manages reminders, checklists and routine communications, reducing workloads for controllers and chief accounting officers and limiting the potential for dropped balls that hold up the close. The Financial Insight Agent generates narrative explanations for trends and anomalies, freeing up time spent on this low-value activity. There is also a Custom Agent that customers can use to create specific workflows to suit their needs.
A major objective in embedding automation in the close process is to shorten it. By consensus, organizations should close their books within one business week, yet our research finds that only one-half meet that goal for the quarterly close. This is not a trivial matter—there are solid business reasons for closing within a week. A fast close enables company executives and managers to access essential performance metrics quickly and
To support a faster, clean close, FloQast creates the essential close process checklists that reflect best practices but are tailored to respect the specific operations of each customer. The platform handles flux (or variance) analysis used in the quarterly close, financial reviews and audits to identify significant changes in account balances and key financial metrics, as well as auto-generating the required commentary about those items. These are all examples of time-consuming, low-value, mechanical work that humans had to perform until now. Technology can reliably handle these tasks faster, upskilling staff accountants into reviewers whose experience and expertise can be put to best use. Moreover, these processes can now be completed in minutes instead of hours, making everyone more productive.
The six costliest words in managing a finance department are, “We’ve always done it this way.” Closing the books is an essential but mechanical process of finalizing and summarizing the financial activities of an enterprise for a specific accounting period. Accounting processes are eternal, but how they are performed, using which tools, must constantly evolve to address the opportunities and constraints of the time. Since lockdowns disrupted departments in 2020, and now faced with a shortage of accountants, executives have focused on using technology to enhance the productivity (not just the efficiency) of their staff. In particular, they are looking at the systems they use to manage their financial close. Today’s technology can help finance and accounting executives make their department more productive in ways that improve the working environment and make it possible to attract and retain the best talent in a resource-constrained environment. I recommend that midsize enterprises investigate FloQast to see if its software can raise the productivity of accounting staff and streamline finance operations to improve corporate performance.
Regards,
Robert Kugel