RSMUS.comThe close process, whether monthly, quarterly, or annually, remains a major pain point for just about everyone.
Even for a small company or a big finance team, getting the close done without errors, delays, or disruptions proves to be consistently difficult. And when the close does go exactly as planned, it can still take days or weeks of work and the full-time focus of multiple people.
It’s an intensive process with high stakes. And despite decades of upgrades and innovations, there’s still lots of room for improvement.
That’s why recent innovations from Sage Intacct are so exciting.
This financial platform has already improved the close considerably by bringing all the processes and data together on a cloud-based, multi-entity platform. Now, with the addition of AI-driven tools, Sage Intacct has become even better—and the close process will never be the same.
This blog highlights how these AI-driven tools work, then illustrates how finance teams are already using them to make the close feel less like an obstacle or obligation and more like an opportunity and asset.
Sage Intacct AI: 3 Tools for the Financial Close
Sage Intacct introduces AI to every phase of the financial close, combining an AI-driven chatbot that handles basic tasks with more specialized tools to automate complicated and challenging parts of the close process. New features are being introduced all the time, but here are three that are already available.
- Sage Copilot – Track the close process and the status of key tasks from a dedicated dashboard that updates automatically to keep all stakeholders informed and aligned. And when you have questions, need data or documents, or want to automate a simple task, Sage Copilot provides an AI-driven assistant that responds to natural language prompts to help everyone work smarter instead of harder.
- Reconciliation Assistant – Take the most difficult and delicate part of the close process, reconciliations, and put it on autopilot. Sage Intacct uses AI to automate reconciliation reporting, highlight variances, and facilitate drill-down data discovery so you can start managing the process instead of manually working through it.
- GL Outlier Detection – Scan for outliers continuously with machine learning that finds journal anomalies like unusual amounts or dimensional mismatches. You can also customize thresholds for each journal and prioritize specific dimensions to keep alert volumes in check.
How Finance Teams are Using Sage Intacct AI
People already using Sage Intacct AI to elevate the close process have been very enthusiastic about the results.
In fact, the 6th Annual SaaS CFO Tech Stack Report named Sage Intacct as the top close management tool, in no small part because of how it integrates powerful and practical AI into a comprehensive platform for financial management, including and beyond the close.
Sage Intacct AI is now helping real finance teams close in record time.
For example, a communications company shrunk its close from 11 to 5 days, a 55% reduction, while a financial services provider does reconciliations in 3 days instead of 12. And even though they’re closing faster than ever, there’s also been a drastic reduction in errors and mistakes, as well as stress and strain for all the stakeholders involved.
Performance upgrades are just the start.
Through integration and automation, Sage Intacct turns the close into a continuous rather than cyclical process. As soon as financial data is entered into the system, a rolling close process automatically updates the numbers and sends alerts as necessary. That way, key financial data is always accurate, up-to-date, and available to decision-makers anytime, anywhere.
Finance teams have dreamed about a continuous close for decades. Now it’s a reality for anyone with Sage Intacct.
Embrace the Future of Finance With RSM
The AI in Sage Intacct transforms accounting and finance as a whole, not just at close. That’s why it helps to have a partner like RSM to explore all the possibilities and tailor the technology to your team and business.
Now’s the time for finance teams to embrace AI. Sage Intacct makes it exciting. RSM makes it easy. Contact us for a closer look.
Mark Smallwood
Mark is an Associate in the Technology Consulting practice and a Certified Sage Intacct Implementation Consultant. With a background in accounting and data analytics, he works with not-for-profit, financial services, and healthcare organizations to streamline financial operations and support efficient system implementations from planning through go-live.
