ISG Research is happy to share insights gleaned from our latest Buyers Guide, an assessment of how well software providers’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements. The Record to Report: ISG Research Buyers Guide is the distillation of a year of market and product research by ISG Research.
The six costliest words in managing a finance department are, “We’ve always done it this way.” The record-to-report (R2R) cycle describes the
The financial records of an enterprise must be reviewed periodically and summarized to create financial statements that inform executives and interested third parties of the organization’s financial condition and performance. A consolidation of the financial records and other departmental close processes involves an intricate set of repeated processes that must be performed in a prescribed order and fashion. Enterprise software enables finance and accounting departments to be more productive throughout the close by automating calculations, coordinating the execution of processes and facilitating communication among participants. The desire to make the department more productive and resilient has led to increased investment in technology to assist in performing the full consolidate and close cycle.
ISG Research defines Record-to-Report as a software category that manages the financial consolidation process as well as assists in managing other accounting close processes. We define consolidation software as an application that manages the financial consolidation process in conformance with accounting standards for enterprises with complex requirements. All accounting or ERP systems will perform a statutory consolidation of the accounts handled in that system using the generally accepted accounting principles of the parent company. Yet this approach is inadequate for enterprises that, for example, have accounting systems from multiple providers or other complicating factors that necessitate a separate system. We define close management software as applications that support the timely and efficient completion of close cycle tasks, especially automating reconciliations and performing process management functions.
Consolidation is necessary when an organization has multiple legal entities, subsidiaries, joint ventures or other forms of ownership or control of operating units. The financial consolidation process involves eliminating intercompany transactions and balances to provide a comprehensive and accurate view of the organization’s financial condition and performance. The consolidation process and its methods are tightly prescribed by financial accounting authorities and can be quite complex.
However, consolidation is only part of the financial or accounting close, which is the process of finalizing an enterprise's financial statements at the end of an accounting period, such as a month, quarter or year. During the financial close, all financial transactions are reconciled, reviewed and adjusted as needed to prepare the financial statements. These include the balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement and the statement of shareholders’ equity. This process is essential for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of financial reporting, and it is often a critical step in meeting regulatory requirements and providing stakeholders with a clear picture of the organization's financial performance.
In all but the smallest enterprises, consolidation and close processes require coordination and collaboration. Software assists in ensuring that steps in the processes are handled completely and correctly, including direct communication for collaboration, easy access to documents and notations and completed reviews and sign-offs. Those managing the process benefit from technological support to monitor progress and receive alerts when issues arise.
Consolidation and close management software has improved, incorporating real-time integration with source systems. This is important because of the myriad last-minute adjustments and corrections that occur during the consolidation process. Systems now offer more effective collaboration features to smooth the process and ensure resiliency, including secure
Another factor driving the adoption of dedicated software is the desire to shorten the accounting close. The accounting or financial close is the process of finalizing an enterprise's financial statements at the end of an accounting period, such as a month, quarter or year. During the financial close, all financial transactions are reviewed and adjusted, and the financial statements are prepared, including the balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement and the statement of shareholders’ equity. This process is important for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of financial reporting, and it is often a critical step in meeting regulatory requirements and providing stakeholders with a clear picture of the company's financial performance. ISG Research asserts that by 2028, one-half of midsize and larger enterprises will use close management software to speed the close and achieve greater control of the process.
There is general agreement that organizations should complete the accounting close within a business week. Workflow automation is especially useful in handling the close-consolidate-report cycle, specifically to manage the process in a hybrid working environment and for organizations that span the globe. As with any workflow-enabled process, administrators spend far less time ensuring individuals have started or completed their tasks, handoffs are smoother and, where reviews and approvals are required, these events are recorded and easily accessed by external and internal auditors and support assertions by executives that internal controls and procedures have been followed.
In accounting, the term reconciliations refers to any process that compares two sets of records to ensure their accuracy and consistency—an inherent component of the double-entry framework. This typically involves comparing financial transactions or balances from different sources, such as bank statements versus accounting records or intercompany transactions between different subsidiaries of a company. The main objective is to ensure that the books balance by identifying and resolving discrepancies between two sets of records, ensuring that the accounting data is accurate. Automating reconciliations, especially intercompany transactions, makes the staff more productive and makes the department a more attractive place to work.
Workflow-enabled systems also contribute to a smoother close because consolidating and closing the books should be almost exactly the same from one period to the next, including processes for handling exceptions and unexpected events and managing the close calendar. With workflow, the controller and chief accounting officer can spend less time on administration while having greater situational awareness and control.
Today’s technology can help finance and accounting executives make their departments more productive in ways that improve the working environment and make it possible for them to attract and retain the best talent in a resource-constrained market. Advances from artificial intelligence (AI) and even generative AI (GenAI) will make dedicated consolidation and close software an even more compelling choice, especially in a time of growing complexity in accounting standards and tax laws. While accounting relies on doing the same things consistently, how they are done is constantly evolving because of legal and regulatory changes, as well as the evolution of accounting principles. A continuous improvement mindset enables the adaptability and resilience necessary to remain productive. Software designed to assist in managing the accounting close is an essential tool for financial executives.
The capability frameworks for the Financial Consolidation, Close Management and Consolidation and Close Management Buyers Guides encompass comprehensive methods for managing critical financial operations across two primary domains. For consolidation processes, the frameworks address the management of consolidation procedures, ownership structures, currency handling, intercompany management, journals, roll-up structures, multi-GAAP reporting, data validation, collaboration, compliance and auditing functions, and the strategic application of AI and generative AI technologies to enhance these processes. In the realm of close management, the frameworks provide methods for managing reconciliations, process and administration workflows, journal entries, analysis and reporting capabilities, collaboration, compliance and auditing requirements, and the integration of AI and GenAI applications to streamline operations. These frameworks collectively ensure enterprises can effectively handle the complexities of financial consolidation while maintaining robust close-management practices that support accurate financial reporting and regulatory compliance.
The ISG Buyers Guide™ for Record-to-Report 2025 evaluates software providers and products that enable enterprise-level financial consolidation and close management. Consolidation software should support consolidation process management, intercompany management, journal handling, and optionally auditing, natural language processing (NLP), and AI capabilities. Close management software should support process management, reconciliation management, journal creation and oversight, and analysis and reporting, with optional features such as audit facilitation, NLP, and AI.
This research evaluates the following software providers that offer products to address key elements of financial consolidation and close management as we define it: Anaplan, BlackLine, Board, HighRadius, OneStream, Oracle, Prophix, Vena Solutions, Wolters Kluwer and Workday.
This research-based index evaluates the full business and information technology value of record to report software offerings. We encourage you to learn more about our Buyers Guide and its effectiveness as a provider selection and RFI/RFP tool.
We urge organizations to do a thorough job of evaluating record to report offerings in this Buyers Guide as both the results of our in-depth analysis of these software providers and as an evaluation methodology. The Buyers Guide can be used to evaluate existing suppliers, plus provides evaluation criteria for new projects. Using it can shorten the cycle time for an RFP and the definition of an RFI.
The Buyers Guide for Record to Report in 2025 finds OneStream first on the list, followed by BlackLine and Oracle.
Software providers that rated in the top three of any category ﹘ including the product and customer experience dimensions ﹘ earn the designation of Leader.
Software providers that rated in the top three of any category ﹘ including the product and customer experience dimensions ﹘ earn the designation of Leader.
The Leaders in Product Experience are:
The Leaders in Customer Experience are:
The Leaders across any of the seven categories are:
The overall performance chart provides a visual representation of how providers rate across product and customer experience. Software providers with products scoring higher in a weighted rating of the five product experience categories place farther to the right. The combination of ratings for the two customer experience categories determines their placement on the vertical axis. As a result, providers that place closer to the upper-right are “exemplary” and rated higher than those closer to the lower-left and identified as providers of “merit.” Software providers that excelled at customer experience over product experience have an “assurance” rating, and those excelling instead in product experience have an “innovative” rating.
Note that close provider scores should not be taken to imply that the packages evaluated are functionally identical or equally well-suited for use by every enterprise or process. Although there is a high degree of commonality in how organizations handle record to report, there are many idiosyncrasies and differences that can make one provider’s offering a better fit than another.
ISG Research has made every effort to encompass in this Buyers Guide the overall product and customer experience from our record to report blueprint, which we believe reflects what a well-crafted RFP should contain. Even so, there may be additional areas that affect which software provider and products best fit an enterprise’s particular requirements. Therefore, while this research is complete as it stands, utilizing it in your own organizational context is critical to ensure that products deliver the highest level of support for your projects.
You can find more details on our community as well as on our expertise in the research for this Buyers Guide.