Until recently, dedicated consolidation software had been a sleepy category. First introduced in the 1980s as a tool designed to run on personal computers (freeing the accounting department from reliance on its IT department), offerings basically achieved feature and function parity by the next decade. The last major technology innovation—moving the software to the cloud—began in the mid-2000s. Cloud-based software reduces the cost and complexity of ownership, making dedicated software a more...
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Topics:
Office of Finance,
ERP and Continuous Accounting,
digital finance,
Generative AI,
Consolidate and Close Management
Oracle held an industry analyst summit recently where the focus was on artificial intelligence (AI) and embedded AI. At the event, Oracle demonstrated progress in adding useful AI-enabled capabilities to its business applications, especially in finance and accounting, supply chain, HR and revenue management. To put this into context, across the software industry, AI is already at work in many finance-focused applications that are currently available, albeit often in limited release. We are in...
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Topics:
Office of Finance,
Analytics,
Business Planning,
ERP and Continuous Accounting,
digital finance,
Generative AI,
AI and Machine Learning,
Procure-to-Pay,
Order-to-Cash,
Consolidate and Close Management
We’re quickly approaching the moment when it becomes clear that artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI (GenAI) will not be free. As that happens, we will discover who’s willing to pay how much and for what. After nearly 18 months of unlimited use-case fantasizing, it should be obvious that not all the potential applications of AI can be realized over the next three to five years because they fail a cost/benefit test. In theory, AI’s potential is almost limitless, but so far, little...
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Topics:
Office of Finance,
Analytics,
Business Planning,
ERP and Continuous Accounting,
digital finance,
Generative AI,
Procure-to-Pay,
Order-to-Cash,
Consolidate and Close Management
The tax provision process is an essential part of the close process and a core responsibility of tax departments. This process estimates the amount of income tax an enterprise will have to pay tax authorities in the jurisdictions in which it operates. Tax accountants derive the number by adjusting the reported net income with a variety of permanent differences, such as expenses that are not deductible and temporary differences–for example, using allowable accelerated depreciation for tax...
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Topics:
Office of Finance,
ERP and Continuous Accounting,
digital finance
Sage Intacct recently held its annual user conference, and while there were plenty of product announcements and roadmap presentations, my focus here is on the artificial intelligence elements. AI–both predictive and generative–is the most important capability and differentiator in software aimed at finance and accounting departments. Ventana Research asserts that by 2027, almost all vendors of ERP software will incorporate AI to reduce workloads, speed processes and decrease errors.
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Topics:
Office of Finance,
Business Planning,
ERP and Continuous Accounting,
digital finance,
Purchasing/Sourcing/Payments,
Consolidate/Close/Report
Zoho recently held its annual analyst day to communicate its strategy, objectives and product roadmap. The privately held company, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, has an unconventional approach to the software market. Its self-described corporate philosophy emphasizes making bold moves that challenge assumptions. Its design engineering approach stresses simplicity and cost while aiming to provide easy-to-use software with sufficient capabilities to improve personal and...
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Topics:
Office of Finance,
Voice of the Customer,
Digital Commerce,
ERP and Continuous Accounting,
digital finance,
Customer Experience Management,
Generative AI,
Procure-to-Pay,
Order-to-Cash
After a year of near-constant AI chatter, the broad strokes of how the technology will roll out in business over the next three to five years are coming into place. It’s almost trite but worth repeating that artificial intelligence will drive a substantial boost in productivity as it’s adopted. Rather than making large swathes of jobs obsolete, it will take the robotic work out of those job descriptions, enabling people to focus on tasks with a greater economic return.
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Topics:
Office of Finance,
Business Planning,
ERP and Continuous Accounting,
AI,
digital finance,
Generative AI,
Procure-to-Pay,
Order-to-Cash,
Consolidate and Close Management
With a year of AI-everywhere-all-the-time chatter now in the rearview mirror, finance and accounting department executives appear to be in a state of apprehension and well-tuned skepticism about the impact this technology will have on their organization. There are solid reasons to believe that the next few years will be transformative, making it important for departments to adopt a fast-follower approach to artificial intelligence. Rather than being a laggard, leaders must be ready to take...
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Topics:
Office of Finance,
Business Planning,
ERP and Continuous Accounting,
digital finance,
Procure-to-Pay,
Order-to-Cash,
Consolidate and Close Management
Since a majority of today’s workforce wasn’t around in the 1990s, it’s worth noting that “business process reengineering” was all the rage. The purpose was to review, restructure and redesign core business processes to achieve substantial improvements in market and customer responsiveness, productivity, cycle times and quality. One reason for its popularity (beyond being a money spinner for consultants) was the promised ability for the newly available enterprise resource planning systems to be...
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Topics:
Product Information Management,
Operations & Supply Chain,
Enterprise Resource Planning,
ERP and Continuous Accounting,
digital finance,
Purchasing/Sourcing/Payments,
Continuous Supply Chain & ERP
Ventana Research recently announced its 2024 Market Agenda for the Office of Finance, continuing the guidance we have provided since 2004 on the practical use of technology for the finance and accounting department. Our insights and best practices aim to enable enterprises to operate with agility and resiliency, improving performance and delivering greater value as a strategic partner.
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Topics:
Office of Finance,
Business Planning,
ERP and Continuous Accounting,
digital finance,
Consolidate/Close/Report