The need for financial management software continues to grow at a rapid pace. Corporate globalization, mergers and acquisitions, and business diversification are on the rise. As a result, accounting and finance processes are becoming increasingly complex, making them harder to coordinate, execute, and track. At the same time, the laws and guidelines that govern those procedures, as well as the data they generate, are becoming more rigid and more intricate, posing the risk for stiffer fines and penalties for non-compliant companies.
More and more organizations are turning to financial management software solutions to help meet the challenges associated with consolidating, streamlining, and automating their most mission-critical tasks and activities and guaranteeing compliance with existing, changing, and emerging regulations.
But what specific value does a financial management software package really offer? Some of the primary advantages that can be achieved include:
Financial operations are often fragmented and disjointed, particularly in larger enterprises with multiple divisions. Budget management may vary greatly from one department to the next, or each business unit may recognize income and revenue differently. This cannot only hinder efficiency, it can severely compromise the integrity of process execution and all related information.
With a financial management software package in place, companies can create consistency across the entire enterprise, implementing formal procedures for how financial transactions and related activities should be handled.
Financial information often resides in various disparate databases scattered across numerous remote locations throughout a business. This can make it difficult to obtain a complete global view of the company’s financial status or to monitor and manage related activities.
With financial management software solutions, companies can centralize all financial information and make it readily accessible to end-users across departments, business units, and branch offices. This creates a “single version of the truth,” while boosting information accuracy and consistency.
With a financial management software system, organizations can minimize risk by building a solid compliance framework that ensures full adherence to BASEL II, Sarbanes-Oxley, and other financial reporting guidelines. This is achieved through improved financial controls, enhanced information auditing capabilities, and advanced reporting functionality. Additionally, financial management software enables them to rapidly and easily alter their activities as corporate legislation changes or new laws emerge.
What major financial events do we anticipate in the coming year? How will emerging market conditions impact our business? What can we expect from a financial perspective if we acquire a smaller company or add a new line of business to our portfolio?
The ability to accurately answer questions like these is crucial to effective corporate planning. Financial management software builds the foundation for successful business strategies by allowing financial executives to forecast future events, create and assess “what if” scenarios, identify new business opportunities, and analyze the potential for vital market trends and internal events.