Concetta Yates, VP Customer Strategy and Industry Solutions, SS&C Blue Prism
Once siloed accounting and finance functions now leverage expertise across business areas, identifying inefficiencies, developing models, and tracking progress. The accounting evolution using robotic process automation (RPA) and intelligent automation (IA) meets regulatory, audit, and corporate governance needs, but it can be difficult to know where to start.
Finance and accounting operations suit IA, handling rule-based tasks like data extraction and entry. Most organisations begin with defined workflows and focus on structured data for RPA, and launch automation in high-volume, low-complexity processes for compelling ROI. As automation advances, include decision-making processes and unstructured data tasks. Relieved from rules-based tasks, finance professionals focus on core functions, enabling business growth through strategic decisions.
IA for big and for small
“Big Four” firms lead, but small independent chartered accountants, mid-size firms, and in-house finance teams still use traditional software for contract analysis, payroll, tax record retention, and overseeing employee tax IDs. Main street accounting firms handle tax assessments and bookkeeping. Today, they’re also business champions, addressing accounting, compliance, tax planning, and strategic consultancy needs, evolving beyond traditional services.
Equinix (https://www.equinix.com/) utilizes intelligent automation in its end-to-end source-to-pay process, managing $3 billion annually across 248 data centers worldwide. Digital workers handle purchase requests, from creation to validation, seamlessly passing work between each other to streamline the process. Digital workers handle aged orders and resolve emailed invoice disputes from over 6,000 global requestors. They execute 98% of payments, allowing the finance team to focus on issue resolution and strategic initiatives. Equinix’s intelligent automation program has reduced operational costs by an estimated $7 million and improved customer satisfaction.
These savings have been reinvested into strategic initiatives, giving 175,000 hours back to employees for skill development and new contributions to the business. With IA, finance teams can shift focus from manual tasks to providing advisory services like financial planning, tax planning, and business strategy, offering better value and more cost-effective solutions in business planning, finance raising, forecasting, and management strategies.
Fraud, cybercrime, and protecting the money
Fraud detection, commonly within financial crime or operation controls units, offers untapped potential for intelligent automation, especially in the FSI industry. Accounting firms, in-house teams, or operations-led functions can leverage IA in this area. In 2023, global fraud and financial crime, spanning Ponzi schemes, money laundering, and cybercrime, amounted to nearly $2 trillion, impacting institutions’ reputations, with costs passed to customers. According to the latest PwC Global Economic Crime and Fraud Survey, 51% of respondents experienced fraud in the past two years, the highest level in 20 years, with financial fraud totaling $42 billion for large organizations worldwide. Forensic accountants employ financial and legal investigative techniques to detect fraud, trace funds, and validate losses.
An example is Prudential plc (https://www.prudentialplc.com/en), headquartered in London and Hong Kong, serving 19 million customers across Asia and Africa. Utilizing bespoke fraud detection bots from SS&C Blue Prism, Prudential analyzes transaction data across 34 life businesses in 23 markets, facilitated by over 530,000 agents, 170 bank partners, and 27,000 branches. This automation conducts 100% approval check authorizations equivalent to the work of 40 people annually, enhancing customer security, ensuring 100% audit compliance for Prudential’s 1,000 daily claims, each valued at approximately $100,000, and significantly reducing fraud losses. Through a combination of RPA and IA, Prudential streamlines mundane tasks, allowing finance and customer teams to focus on higher-impact business activities.
Automation supporting remove accounting
Cloud-based automations provide instant, flexible access to data for business owners and accountants, impacting hybrid or remote teams. With secure authentication and internet connectivity, teams can access financial data, monitor transactions, and conduct accounting from anywhere. IA performs automations and generates reports, ensuring error-free financial analysis and focused strategic planning, allowing financial experts to maximize their expertise across all business areas.
The future of accounting
Accounting, relatively unchanged for 200 years, has evolved into a strategic force with automation and cloud technology. Assisted by intelligent automation, AI, and real-time data, finance teams benefit from efficient workflows, enhancing organizational resilience, agility, productivity, and competitive advantage, regardless of office or digital nomad setups. Companies that adopt these technologies – whether their teams are office based or digital nomads – will be more resilient, agile, productive and enhance their competitive advantage in the market.
*The four largest global accounting firms measured by revenue are Deloitte, Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG).
