Intuitive Financial Management is the Future of Accounting

Most organizations across the world know that technology is key to business success. Yet several organizations have not adopted technology as part of their accounting processes. Organizations that have invested in tech have significantly been able to see a growth in revenue as compared to SMB organizations that have not made any tech adoption in accounting.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) promise the greatest improvements to business performance. These two technologies together make applications stronger and smarter  allowing them to and learn and improve processes over time.

Several day-to-day applications we use already have AI & ML working for them. Tech giants such as Amazon and Netflix, provide intuitive recommendations in their services based on the data that is collected and processed by AI & ML.

Mapping applications such as Google Maps and Waze, make use of anonymous location data from smartphone users to build more detailed traffic models and mapways. Through ML, these applications, over time, start predicting travel times and ETAs.

AI and ML empower businesses across the world  to tap into the vast amounts of data available and make sense of it in order to create extraordinary experiences to the end user. Industry experts believe that these tech could well in turn spew the next industrial revolution.

In such a data-driven economy, it becomes increasingly important to see how such tech can, and already does, affect Financial management and Accounting practices.

 

What Does Machine Learning Mean to Accounting Practices?

The process of Accounting is centred around data. And data has to be accurate  to provide necessary insights, in order to make timely, sound financial decisions.

Because automation also goes hand-in-hand with AI and ML, mundane tasks are automatically taken care of, which frees up time for your accounting team to focus on the more strategic aspects.

Software Providers nowadays offer accounting software embedded with AI & ML, helping  automate several mundane tasks, and allows to also spot trends and anomalies in your finances.

SaaS-based robust financial solutions, such as Cougar Mountain Software, offer advantages that help organizations optimize their processes using AI and ML. But remember these technologies learn and grow only when provided with the right flow of data.

Feeding real-time data into such software ensures the information fed to the system is up to date and current. This in turn, helps the software to run your finances efficiently. Also, much like Google maps or Waze, solutions like Cougar Mountain, collect anonymous data from multiple users and improves the process automatically.

 

How can AI and ML Benefit Financial Management?

The computing power that comes along with AI imbued software such as Cougar Mountain, allows to streamline and automate routine of mundane functions. This in turn offers great analytics and data to your financial team, helping them make better strategic financial decisions.

While the sky is the limit with the possible applications of such technology, here are a few examples of how it can be applied:

Payables and Receivables: AI and ML embedded accounting software can help lessen the strain of monotonous work involved with payables and receivables. AI and ML algorithms ensures the AP application and all its nuances move like clockwork, all the way to making the payment.

Expenses and auditing: Expense tracking and management has always been difficult for everyone. With AI and ML, everything becomes easier. From reading receipts, to analyzing and categorizing expenses, such software with the power of AI & ML help run the entire process seamlessly. Finances are more accurate. And there are no more leakages.

Book closing: At the end of a quarter, it becomes increasingly important to have the right information as quickly and accurately as possible. Software such Cougar Mountain’s Denali can understand and analyse the large amounts of data that has to be processed, helping you make better decisions and close the books faster and easier.

Real-time Analytics and Reports: With real-time reporting data available at their fingertips, decision makers are able to make swift and well analysed decisions. Managers and decision makers do not have to wait for the closing of books to draw relevant data and analytics, but can access it at any time, from anywhere.

The future: With the onset of AI and ML, financial systems become increasingly intuitive, paving way for more insightful and data-driven financial decisions. Predicting cash flows  and recommending correctional actions to stem the negative flow, will no more be a human-driven exercise.

With the use of chatbots and NLP, such software create extraordinary UX for end users, with more intuitive conversations.

 

Conclusion

Ever since the Economist said in 2017, data has been nothing short of that. Liquid Gold. And Organizations have seen this and have adopted practices that rely upon AI / ML, are already in the forefront. They have great business advantage over their competition.

And we’re already three years into that prediction. If organizations don’t get a step on the adoption of such financial and accounting software into their systems, they run the risk of becoming obsolete.

As in all job functions and roles, there is no need to fear the onset of AI and ML, and how it may cost the jobs of several in the profession. In fact, industry leaders and futurists tend to think that the introduction of such tech encourages the roles of Financial professionals to morph into something more strategic and less of a data handling job.

Early adopters of such tech will be able to streamline processes and eliminate tedious mundane jobs, in turn allowing enough time to focus on these more strategic aspects of business.

So are you an early adopter? See how we can help you, right now!