Artificial Intelligence (AI) is more common than we may think, and it is being used by many organizations already. Amazon, Netflix, Google, and many other well-known companies use this technology frequently. These technologies are already beginning to provide businesses with the capability to automate manual processes and easily analyze large amounts of data, but this is still just the tip of the iceberg. AI technology can be extremely beneficial for accounting and finance organizations as well. Small and midsized accounting departments understand that AI in the future of accounting is the key for business growth. According to a study by the SMB group, “82% of small and midsize business decision-makers believe that using the right technology effectively is the key to sustaining and growing their business”. Artificial intelligence for accounting can automate financial processes and eliminate insignificant, time consuming tasks for your accounting department. Below are 4 key impacts of AI in the future of accounting:
1. Intelligent time with timesheets
Timesheet work is a big pain point for many accounting departments. It is not only time consuming, but also is tedious and always has the risk of human error present. One billing mistake can lead to thousands of dollars in lost revenue. This stress can be eliminated by bringing artificial intelligence for accounting to timesheets. Intelligent time for timesheets is a personal time assistant that can be configured to work with popular calendar apps such as Google, Teams, Microsoft Office to gather potential timesheet information into one spot for quick and easy review. There is a mobile app as well so reviewing timesheets can happen anywhere at any time. After each review, the assistant gets smarter and more personalized meaning less errors.
2. Bank Reconciliations
Banking and accounting go hand in hand, and bank reconciliation can be a tedious and demanding task. According to a study by EY, “95% of account reconciliation effort is spent on transactions that already match, rather than problem entries that actually require attention”. AI technology can make bank reconciliations simple and improve accuracy. AI allows you to see transactions flow in automatically, match in seconds, and easily present non-matching transactions. Reconciliations can occur daily, weekly, or on a schedule to shorten the amount of time spent on month end tasks. AI remembers the rules and memorizes them for future use. AI in the future of accounting can take pressure off the accounting departments and automate financial processes to save time and improve efficiency.
3. Decision making
Data reporting is something that can not usually happen quickly within an organization. Accounting departments must dive in and collect specific data needed, and then someone must analyze the data for it to show any important findings. AI technology can make this process much simpler by providing real-time reporting. This means the data is updated in real-time, so you can get information as quickly as needed. This allows for faster findings within the data and faster decision making. Your organization will no longer have to wait until the end of the month for reports and allows for financial leaders to track data patterns and act quickly.
4. Recommendations
One of the best things about AI technology is that it becomes more intelligent as it preforms more tasks. Therefore, it learns about your organization based on all the data it is given. Because of this, AI can make action-based recommendations by identifying transaction outliers as compared with prior data it has collected. This can help with predictions of cash flow over a given time and can also recommend actions to take to correct a potential negative cash flow.
Artificial intelligence for accounting is important for the future of many organizations. It can automate financial processes to eliminate time consuming tasks and simplify big pain points for accounting departments everywhere. By leveraging AI in the future of accounting, your organization can continue to thrive throughout the changing times.
For more information on how AI technology can help your organization’s accounting department automate financial processes and eliminate time consuming tasks, please email us.
