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Gartner for Finance Leaders Characteristicsof CompaniesWith a FastAccounting Close Learn how to reduce the length of youraccounting close. Number of Days to Close the Books Introduction Gartner has identified common characteristics of companies with a fastaccounting close — those that close the books in seven days, five days andfewer than four — to serve as a guide for corporate controllers to reducethe days to close the books. Typical Actions Taken by Companies to Close the Books, by Number of Days toClose the Books Companies that close the books in the same amount of days tend toimplement similar initiatives, which are detailed in this report. This includesstrategic use of materiality thresholds and a reliance on a singular, modern,noncustomized ERP. The figure on the right highlights common practices implemented bycompanies on each day to close the books. Companies can use this modelto identify actions that reduce the length of their accounting close. Actions ofcompanies with a7-day close The median company closesthe books in seven days. Thesecompanies tend to implementprocess improvement andtechnology solutions toaccelerate their close. 7-day close Process Improvement 7-day close Spectrum of Controllership Archetypes by Level of Centralization Talent and Organizational Design 7-day close Journal Entry Analysis Technology Application Actions of companieswith a 5-day close The fastest 25% of companiesclose the books in five days. 5-day close Technology Application Process Improvement 5-day close Spectrum of Likely Finance Technology ActivityOwnership Talent and Organizational Design 5-day close Actions of companieswith a 4-day close orfewer The fastest 10% of companies closethe books in four or fewer days. 4-day close or fewer Talent and Organizational Design 4-day close or fewer Common characteristics offast-closing companies Different Skills on the Team and aNew Organizational Design More Technology While process improvement efforts — such as appointing a GPO forrecord to report — will get many companies to a seven-day close,companies do not get to a five-day close without considerableinvestments in technology. Companies that close the books in fivedays or fewer often have implemented: Low digital proficiency prevents finance teams from using digitaltechnologies to drive efficiency and generate high-quality insightsquickly. Furthermore, 64% of finance leaders believe their teams arenot effective at using digital technologies*. Companies that closethe books in five days or fewer often: •Create a finance IT lead•Prevent staff from customizing the ERP•Equip staff to use the technology systems•Operate within a data governance structure •One modern ERP without customizations•Close solutions software•Integrated inputs to the ERP through an API, iPaaS or other software Barriers to a very fast close Companies that close the books in four or fewer days have overcomeconsiderably more barriers than companies that close the books in five days.Not all companies will find they have the business case to overcome thesebarriers to accelerate their close beyond five days. 2Limited Digital Proficiency of the Team 1Poor-Quality Data Inputs to the Close The close occurs downstream of other financial processes. If the closeteam receives poor-quality inputs, they need to manually correct theinformation before they can use it. A very fast close requires accounting staff to seamlessly use thetechnology systems available to them. This proficiency means theaccounting staff not only have accounting competencies but alsoneed to have digital competencies as well. The use of legacy systems in upstream processes — such as accountspayable and receivable — makes it difficult to streamline the closeprocess if these systems are not seamlessly compatible with the ERP. Additionally, the amount of rework in the close process depends onthe number of accounting errors and the lack of standardization in theincoming data for the close process. These errors exist either due tohuman errors in data entry or manipulation or upstream teams’ lack ofconformity with the established process. Barriers to a very fast close Impact of Encouraging New Technology and Providing Trainingon Speeding Up the Close 3Lack of Trust in Technology Likelihood of closing books in fewer than five days Finance — the controllership in particular — finds itself stuck between theopportunity to provide financial information more quickly to the businessand struggling to trust that information is materially accurate. This trustis hard to achieve because in a digitized operating environment, theactual calculations of financial information are happening outside of thecontrollerships’ manual workflows for the first time. Many companies find that, despite investments in technology, their staffare still manually checking all of the outputs of technology. 4Cost of Technology A four-day close or faster relies largely on technology.