BlackLine Touts Real-Time Accounting ‘First’

Cloud-based financial reporting tool BlackLine has just introduced a new capability into its service, and the company is calling it an industry first.

An announcement made Monday (Jan. 25) said BlackLine, which specializes in helping larger corporations automate their financial reporting processes, has launched its Continuous Accounting solution into its Finance Controls and Automation service.

BlackLine said it makes the company the first to enable real-time automation and continual data capture for accounting processes, meaning professionals can produce financial data and reports that more accurately reflect a company’s current position.

[bctt tweet=”BlackLine says it’s the first to enable real-time automation for accounting processes.”]

The company added that, in today’s market, a traditional record-to-report process of generating financial reports does not adequately account for the transactions occurring within a business around the clock. That can lead to unreconciled transactions and a higher error rate when it comes time to release a report.

“Continuous Accounting reflects a modern way of operating,” said BlackLine CEO Therese Tucker in a statement. “Rather than executing the majority of period-end accounting efforts in only a few days with little time for review — and potentially exposing the business to fraud and restatement risk — work can be performed as required in smaller batches, producing more accurate information whenever it is needed.”

The firm noted that Continuous Accounting means a transaction can be processed and the financial data from that transaction can be obtained and verified in near-real time. Doing so, BlackLine added, means CFOs and financial managers can check in on the financial health of the organization more frequently and with more accuracy.

“Companies looking to truly modernize their finance and accounting organizations and achieve the highest possible levels of efficiency and productivity need to move to a Continuous Accounting model sooner than later,” Tucker stated.