Are finance jobs at risk of automation? The mention of automation can often spark feelings of apprehension among employees. After all, concerns about job security and the fear of being replaced by machines are understandable. However, what if we told you that instead of being a threat, automation could be the key to unlocking unparalleled success?
Let’s explore how automation can reframe your skills, enhance efficiency and contribute to the success of both individuals and organisations.
Finance automation allows you to integrate technology into finance areas such as payroll management, invoice automation and financial statements. Instead of perceiving automation as an enemy, you can see it as a useful tool that lessens the need for human intervention and improves performance for individuals.
According to a 2023 report by ACAMS Today, “the Global Fintech Adoption Index found that 58% of Australians make use of financial technologies, and this keeps rising.” However, we’re here to assure you that automation will only cause reduced workload and easier tasks, not necessarily a total elimination of your finance positions.
The best way to make use of automation is to use it for tasks that are too complex or error-prone for humans to perform, such as data entry. When an employee manually enters data, it’s prone to errors such as a missing zero or a misplaced decimal point. Automation’s intelligence allows efficient and error-free data entry.
The finance roles below can be accomplished with automation, but that doesn’t mean that those who are doing these tasks have to lose their jobs. When these tasks are automated, employees can focus more on tasks that require critical thinking. This not only allows the workplace to be more productive but also enhances the employees’ productivity and performance.
Finance workers no longer have to bring out a physical sales invoice, fill it out and verify the details. Automation can make sales invoicing easier by creating a seamless link between the finance functions and sales. This eliminates the risk of human errors and the unnecessary steps involved when receiving payment.
In manual expense management, employees would process an expense claim by keeping a physical receipt, submitting it to the finance department, filling out necessary details and waiting for the reimbursement. Automation makes it possible to submit digital receipts and claims for a quicker reimbursement process.
Imminent credit involves payment from lenders and customers. With automation, the system can analyse a customer’s credit history and send notifications to remind them of payments.
Bank reconciliation is when businesses review their bank statement to make sure that the details there match the details in their own records. Just the thought of this task is already tedious as it can tire out both your mind and your eyes. Automation can display balances in real time and reconcile this with your bank account.
Automation can identify patterns and trends in financial data, providing valuable insights for budgeting and forecasting. Digital systems can also provide centralised access to budgeting and forecasting data, thus allowing team members to share insights and updates in real time.
The manual way of financial reporting involves extracting numbers from various sources, compiling them and preparing a report. Automation makes this easier by creating a report with all the needed data and metrics.
It’s a big risk to manually manage payroll as a simple mistake can affect the salaries of several (or many) employees. After all, it consists of many details such as deductions, bonuses and overtime. Luckily, with automation, the software can compute deductions, generate payslips, etc.
We’ve pretty much already covered the fact that automation will boost productivity, but let’s zoom in further on what automation can do for the workplace and the workforce.
With automation in the company, employees can learn to reprioritise what skills they need to have so they can meet the objectives of their jobs. For example, since a finance employee no longer needs to manually input data into an invoice slip, they can focus on learning how to use the new automation tools. This could involve learning new software programs, understanding data analytics or mastering process automation techniques. Moreover, the shift to automation allows employees to develop and enhance uniquely human skills, such as problem-solving and strategic thinking.
By automating the usual and repetitive finance processes, finance teams can complete them more quickly and accurately, reducing the time and effort required to manage financial operations.
Automation eliminates the need for manual data entry, processing and reconciliation. This not only allows finance professionals to focus on more strategic activities, but it also lessens the chances of manual errors. Automation enforces standardised workflows, ensuring that tasks are performed consistently according to predefined rules and procedures.
Finance automation ensures that your processes are standardised and executed consistently across the company. By eliminating human errors, automation improves the accuracy and reliability of financial data, thus enhancing productivity by reducing the time and effort spent on error correction and reconciliation.
Automating repetitive tasks reduces wasted time and manual labour. This helps employees divert their attention to important tasks that need human-only skills. Once the whole process improves, the team becomes more productive, thus increasing conversion and ROI.
Automated workflows are scalable and adaptable to changing business needs. As organisations evolve, automation can accommodate increased workloads, expanded operations and changing requirements. This allows businesses to scale efficiently and sustainably, thus leading to success.
When you have robust workplace automation software, you can be sure of compliance and efficiency.