Accountants continue to use multiple financial systems despite ongoing data errors

They rule the numbers and hold the keys to the data kingdom yet many finance professionals across industries – from healthcare to agriculture – still rely on spreadsheets and manual processes for reporting and analyzing financial performance according to a new survey supported by Phocas software.

Almost half of the chartered accountants surveyed struggle with incompatible financial systems, and 43% say data silos are still an issue. Chartered Accountants ANZ conducted the survey, which was released last month and reflects the tech habits of almost 300 accountants, CFOs and financial controllers from Australia and New Zealand.

Many accountants believe using multiple systems significantly contributes to human errors when maintaining data accuracy and consistency. Despite the availability of tools to automate data integration, 33% continue to manually integrate data between systems. Surprisingly, a quarter of respondents still experience at least 5 to 10 hours of downtime per week due to data problems.

While data is crucial to the profession and 97% of respondents consider themselves data-driven, many accountants don’t have immediate access to necessary information. As a result, they spend hours generating reports, not having the time or tools to carry out other important tasks like demand planning (33%) or cash forecasting (28%).

According to the survey, 82% of respondents acknowledge that its organization relies on spreadsheets for real-time reporting and only 7% of organizations use an all-in-one software platform. Other financial systems making up the tech stacks include budgeting and forecasting (44%), CRM (38%), analytics (38%), HRIS (30%), financial planning and analysis (12%) and rebates (3%).

At Phocas, we have helped business people get fast, easy access to comprehensive data and insights for many years. A surprising survey outcome is that accountants - the primary custodians of an organization’s data – are not taking advantage of all-in-one platforms like Phocas BI and FP&A.

Phocas helps finance teams extract, validate and automate data from ERPs and other sources across an organization. When data is consolidated and automatically updated every day, business people can harness the capabilities of one platform for reporting, budgets and forecasts, sales forecasting, month-end statements and financial analysis. All this data can be accessed via dashboards, management reports or flash reports by everyone in the company in a way that suits them, accelerating decision-making.

The survey also shows that full integration between an organization’s financial system and other business systems is rare, with only 10% of respondents reporting full integration. Most finance teams deal with partial or limited integration and 16% of respondents report no integration between the financial system and the rest of the technology stack.

Tahblik Winery, one of Australia’s oldest and most reputable winemakers uses the Phocas BI and FPA platform to consolidate its many data sources. The act of upgrading reporting can not only improve the flow of information, but it can also change the culture of the business, says Michelle Symeonidis, Tahbilk Group CFO.

The shift to a data-driven culture has transformed the work of the finance team. By automating reporting, accountants can step back from grappling with raw data and analyze patterns to provide strategic advice to the leadership team.

Instead of a single list of numbers from one area of the business, Phocas creates multi-dimensional reports that can draw on sales, stock and purchasing data simultaneously.

“The output actually creates far better conversations and far better ways of making decisions,” Symeonidis says.

Now, managers can view the data in a report by any number of metrics. They can group wine by quantity and split it into dozens or six packs or convert it to litres. They can look at quantity and sales value side-by-side and break it down by product group, customer group, or sales rep.

“We can look at a particular product [wine] and ask, ‘How many of those have we sold over the rolling 12 months? How many tonnes of grapes will we need for that product?’,” Symeonidis says.

If the winery has too many grapes left over, it can either sell them to another producer, blend them into another one of its products, or consider developing a brand-new product.

Better reporting has a highly tangible impact on the speed of doing business. Business managers no longer fear looking at an impenetrable mass of data and instead, they dive into the insights about their work and customer behavior.

“Instead of the salespeople waiting for the next month to find out what their sales figures are, they are looking at them every day,” says Symeonidis.

“That drive for them is amazing. We now have a proactive salesforce that knows where the figures are, where they must focus and what they need to do to achieve their budgets.”

Another benefit of having a single data platform is the ability to layer artificial intelligence software on top of it. Phocas has added this technology to customer’s BI platforms and because these businesses have their data sorted, they can get instant insights into their various databases and train new users of the software with the AI functionality.

Compared with running an ERP plus multiple systems, the Phocas BI and FP&A platform allows a finance team to budget, forecast and report in one place. The platform can be implemented and up and running quickly, helping the finance team to collaborate with all branches and divisions. This collaboration allows different departments to have their own budgets and monitor their own performance, ensuring companywide alignment.

Phocas BI and FP&A improves efficiency and helps speed up the flow of information. By integrating all financial and operational data into a single platform, Phocas empowers business people to make smart business decisions that drive growth and profitability. As more companies adopt a comprehensive platform like Phocas the shift towards strategic financial management will continue to gain momentum.