If you’re still measuring your time to close in weeks instead of days, you’re not alone—but you might be at a competitive disadvantage.
Today, the most effective finance teams aren’t just closing the books faster. They’re transforming the close into a driver of strategic decision-making. And they’re doing it by moving from spreadsheets and bottlenecks to automation and AI-powered processes that provide fast insights.
Closing is no longer just a compliance task that needs to get done, but a strategic process that influences business decisions when done faster and smarter. Let’s talk about how.
The speed of insight is the new key metric
For decades, the mark of a successful month-end close was accuracy. It was all about getting the numbers right. And while accuracy is still important, today, a successful close is also about getting the numbers to leadership quickly to drive real-time decisions.
As Adam Riches, CEO and founder of Netgain, put it in our recent webinar, “If I'm getting close data three weeks in, I’ve already got a new set of problems, and it becomes far less relevant. I need data I can make actionable decisions on now.”
A drawn-out close gets in the way of acting swiftly on financial insights that can steer the company in the right direction. However, speed and efficiency should not come at the expense of accounting teams’ time and work-life balance.
Instead, modern accounting teams are using software that automates manual tasks and speeds up the process while maintaining accuracy.
Watch the on-demand webinar, Why your close process is failing (and how to fix it with automation & AI), featuring Adam and Nicolas Boucher, Founder of AI Finance Club, to learn how automation and AI can change the accounting close for the better.
The close data that executives care about
Adam began his career as a CPA, performing his fair share of month-end closes before becoming a founder and CEO. So, he knows first-hand how much time accountants can spend creating reports and close packages that leadership ultimately doesn’t read.
Now that he’s on the receiving end of close data, he has a new perspective on the importance of the close as fuel for executive decisions. The value accounting teams bring lies not just in producing reports, but in delivering timely, actionable insights.
While accountants are trained to create International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) or Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) financial statements, which are useful for external financial reporting, this is not the data leaders use to manage a business.
Adam encourages accounting teams to shift their perspective around the close to deliver the fast insights business leader’s need.
How can your team get there? By reimagining the close as a three-stage process.
Stage 1: Direct cash flow statement
The direct cash flow statement should be the first output of your close process—and the sooner, the better.
A direct cash flow statement gives leadership the timely data they care about most: how much cash is coming in, how much cash is going out, and what liquidity looks like.
This is particularly valuable to the CEO and other senior leaders who need to make timely decisions.
Instead of waiting until the month-end close is finished to see where cash ended up, start by providing executive leadership with a direct cash flow statement, which provides:
- A direct view of cash inflows and outflows, helping finance executives forecast cash positions with more precision and confidence
- Real-time visibility into liquidity, enabling better fund allocation and contingency planning
- A granular view into operational bottlenecks and inefficiencies affecting cash flow, linking operational decisions to cash impact
Delivering these insights rapidly can give the CEO the data they need to react to unexpected circumstances and adjust strategy accordingly.
And with the right automation, you can generate these insights on day one of the close. While most ERPs and accounting platforms default to producing indirect cash flow statements, NetCash is the first bank reconciliation software that allows finance teams to automatically generate a true direct cash flow statement right in NetSuite.
Stage 2: Simple accrual-based statements
Next, deliver a high-level accrual view. The accrual-based statement should include key components such as payroll accruals, billing adjustments, revenue recognition estimates, and expense allocations.
These statements reflect the material economic activity of the period—even if not finalized to the penny. This level of reporting gives the CFO and other senior leaders a reliable snapshot of operational performance: are margins holding steady, are there unexpected expense spikes, is revenue pacing to plan?
By focusing on major accruals, you empower executives to respond quickly to trends and variances without waiting for the full GAAP package.
Stage 3: Full GAAP/IFRS compliance
Finally, close the loop with formal compliance reporting. Yes, you still need the full picture, but it doesn’t need to be the first picture you deliver.
Your GAAP or IFRS reports are particularly valuable for investors and other stakeholders. These insights can help executive leaders prepare insights for the board of directors and other decision-makers.
Due to the nature of these reports, they can wait until after you deliver the first two stages.
Trickling month-end data into management when it’s ready, rather than waiting until you can deliver GAAP financials, ensures you provide immediate value to executives to help them make key decisions.
This means you can be a strategic player driving timely decisions while also ensuring you maintain accurate records for compliance.
Scalpel or chainsaw accountant? Your mindset matters
Accountants are trained to be scalpel precise, balancing things perfectly down to the penny.
But when speed matters, it’s okay to think more like a chainsaw. The concept of chainsaw accounting may make some accountants recoil, but materiality should guide your process.
Adam advises that accounting teams focus on what’s significant, automate what isn’t, and stop sweating every nickel when it delays insights. Delivering materially close financials quickly helps management teams execute and make fast decisions.
Hear more about this mindset shift in our on-demand webinar, Why your close process is failing (and how to fix it with automation & AI).
How accounting teams are creating a faster, smarter close
As business leaders look to the finance team for actionable insights, accountants are evolving how they work and solidifying their place as strategic advisors.
This means the month-end close looks a little different than it used to. Modern finance teams are:
- Reconciling bank statements daily, not monthly
- Prioritizing cash flow and accruals first
- Using automation to create consistency, audit trails, and visibility
Accounting teams of all sizes can adopt this approach successfully—as long as they have the right tools.
According to the Controllers Council, only 28% of companies have automated month-end close processes, and 29% of companies continue to rely on spreadsheets. It’s clear that outdated tools are holding finance teams back.
Modern solutions that incorporate automation and AI are becoming accountants’ best friends, enabling them to generate fast, accurate insights.
In fact, some teams have managed to cut their close time in half with the help of solutions that allow them to:
- Streamline workflows by organizing tasks and automating notifications directly in the enterprise resource planning platform (ERP).
- Automate data entry to remove tedious and error-prone manual input.
- Automate transaction matching to reconcile accounts quickly and efficiently.
- Generate amortization and other schedules automatically, saving hours of manual calculations.
- Use AI-powered variance (or flux) analysis to explain anomalies.
For actionable steps to achieve a faster close, download our free guide to modernizing month-end.
Create a strategic close process with Netgain
If your team is spending more time chasing numbers than strategizing with them, it’s time to fix your close process.
Breaking it down into the three stages discussed in this post will enable you to deliver strategic insights quickly without sacrificing accuracy—or overburdening your team at the start of the month.
Modern accounting solutions can be your strategic partner in fixing your close process, providing automation and AI tools to improve efficiency and ROI.
Netgain’s close accounting solutions can help you automate your month-end close workflows inside NetSuite, so you have the efficiency, accuracy, and visibility you need to close smarter.
Get a personalized demo to see how Netgain can help you close faster, reduce stress, and give your leadership team the insights they need, when they need them.
