2022-08-29-Gartner-Prepare_the_Accounting_Close_for_Digital_by_Making_it_Resilient_13页_958kb

Accounting Close Readiness for Digital Transformation: A Resilience-Focused Approach

Corporate controllers face a significant opportunity to transform the accounting close process through digital technologies, such as AI for automated tasks like expense analysis and anomaly detection. However, traditional optimization efforts often fail to prepare the close for digital disruption, with only 20% of leaders reporting readiness after optimization, compared to 59% when focusing on resilience. Resilience— the ability to adapt to changing environments—emerges as a superior strategy, emphasizing three key components: a clear process vision, decision-making capability, and early disruption detection mechanisms.

Key insights from the analysis include:

• Optimizing the close process leads to a repetitive cycle, requiring constant remapping as new technologies alter workflows.
• Building resilience involves establishing an measurable digitization vision, developing a decision-making infrastructure, and implementing sensing mechanisms to identify upstream disruptions.
• Companies prioritizing resilience outperform peers, with higher rates of meeting digital objectives.

Recommendations for success:

• Establish a time-bound, measurable digital vision for the close process.
• Build frameworks for autonomous decision-making and manage exceptions effectively.
• Deploy sensing mechanisms to monitor disruptions from other functions and stay aligned with digital changes.

By focusing on resilience, controllers can safeguard the close process against continuous optimization challenges and harness digital opportunities for transformative improvements.