Are record-to-report processes keeping the performance of your “close process” from taking off? If you answered “yes” to this question you are not alone. In this year’s SAPinsider Automating the Record-to-Report and Financial Close Process study respondents shared they are “automating financial close processes” (58%) to improve efficiency (57%) and establish a single source of financial truth (39%). Manual, inconsistent, and distributed record-to-report processes can heighten risk exposure, take away time from providing strategic guidance, and make finance departments prone to errors that cost an organization fines and penalties.
Record-to-Report Approaches Vary: Trintech Retains SAP’s Clean Core Strategy
Record-to-report processes are not one size fits all, they vary across industries. The regulatory environments, operational models, combined with the organization’s strategic priorities, make processes unique. The core five steps stay the same – journal entries, reconciliations, financial close, and reporting. However, the level of automation, data granularity, systems integrations needed, even within the same industry and business can vary.
The ability to customize the Record-to-Report process to specific business needs without compromising the integrity of SAP’s Clean Core strategy can be a strategic advantage. Trintech’s SAP-certified Cadency financial close platform automates low-value, tedious tasks that are a part of the financial close process. This puts global financial leaders in control of transformation. Cadency automation empowers finance teams with more time and better visibility so they can perform higher-value work like analysis, scenario building, and risk mitigation.
In SAP environments, leveraging a deeply integrated third-party solution like Trintech’s Cadency offers the opportunity to customize financial workflows, controls, and reporting formats specific to a business while still aligning to the SAP Clean Core strategy. There is flexibility to make the process fit unique business circumstances, whether it is managing fluctuating commodity prices and the complex regulatory requirements of the Oil and Gas industry, navigating the revenue reconciliation for rebates and chargebacks in the Pharmaceutical industry, or handling government funding in the public sector. Customizing the record-to-report process ensures alignment with unique business and industry workflows and reporting formats.
American Airlines and Trintech: A Smooth Record-to-Report Landing
The Record-to-Report process is not just a series of steps, it is a foundation for the business. It acts like the control tower at an airport ensuring financial transparency, compliance, and financial integrity. In this use case we will look at how the partnership between American Airlines and Trintech continues to strengthen. In exploring this snapshot of record-to-report transformation we will put context to common record-to-report challenges offering a starting point from which to benchmark modernizing the close process.
The Decision Point
American Airlines gained their sterling market reputation, in part, by staying ahead of the curve, which is becoming increasingly difficult.
“Everyone is trying to do more with less, and that’s a big part of our vision.”
Alison DeVad, Director of Automation Systems, American Airlines
American Airlines started their transformation with the record-to-report processes. Initially, it was manual, and systems were distributed. Despite being a global organization, they did not have templated finance workflows including reconciliations and journal entries. Their process was based on spreadsheets which often ended up becoming corrupt. They were continuously having to implement custom coding to maintain the templates. Work was decentralized. All of this caused risks and delays to the record-to-report process. One of their biggest challenges was enforcing compliance controls.
What They Looked for in a Record-to-Report Solution
American Airlines needed a solution that would evolve with their needs. Their record-to-report system needed to provide much-needed visibility, serve as a single source of truth, and help them improve control of the close process. Their goal was to transform manual processes, the lack of standardization, and decentralized files into a process that gave their finance team the visibility and control that is needed to manage finance at a global scale.
Impact of implementing Cadency by Trintech
Since implementing Cadency by Trintech, American Airlines has been able to bring several improvements and efficiencies to their record-to-report processes:
- More accurate large-volume transaction matching.
- Reduced manual processes minimizing error-prone practices.
- Improved productivity and a better sense of security and confidence in the process.
- Dynamic approval workflows, templates, and a centralized data repository for a single source of financial data truth.
- Visibility into the financial close process that helps Finance make better decisions faster.
To learn more about American Airlines journey to record to report transformation with Trintech, visit: American Airlines’ Record-to-Report Processes Take Off, Leaving Spreadsheets on the Tarmac
What this Means for SAPinsiders
- Trintech enables finance teams to automate and standardize R2R workflows while deeply integrating with SAP S/4HANA, preserving the clean core strategy.
- Automating R2R tasks allows organizations to reduce manual effort, improve accuracy, and accelerate close cycles.
- Trintech enables financial teams to customize the R2R process to meet unique industry and business needs.
