Real-Time Financial Reporting

Financial reporting should be about strategic decision-making, not manual data wrangling. Yet, finance teams still spend days pulling data, reconciling numbers, and formatting reports—only to find errors at the last minute. The process is time-consuming, prone to mistakes, and slows down critical business decisions. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) with tools like UI Path is transforming financial reporting. Instead of manually extracting, cleaning, and consolidating data, automation does it for you—accurately, in real time, and without delays. Here’s how it works: ✅ Data is automatically pulled from multiple sources (ERP, CRM, spreadsheets, banks). ✅ Reconciliations happen instantly, reducing errors and improving accuracy. ✅ Reports are generated in minutes—standardized, formatted, and audit-ready. Without automation, finance teams are stuck in reactive mode, spending 80% of their time on report preparation and only 20% on analysis. The result? Slower decision-making, frustrated CFOs, and outdated insights. A company that automated its reporting process cut preparation time by 60%—freeing up finance teams to focus on forecasting, strategy, and real business impact. If your team is still manually preparing reports, you’re already behind. It’s time to automate and turn your finance team into a real-time data powerhouse. 📩 Let’s talk about how RPA can transform your financial reporting. Drop a comment or send me a message if you’re ready to make the shift! #Automation #RPA #FinanceTransformation #CFO #FinancialReporting

**Key New Features in SAP S/4HANA FI Compared to ECC FI** SAP S/4HANA Finance (FI) offers a significant leap forward from ECC FI, leveraging the power of the in-memory HANA database to deliver enhanced capabilities, simplified processes, and real-time insights. Here are some of the key new features: **1. Universal Journal (ACDOCA Table):** - **Single Source of Truth:** Consolidates financial and controlling data into a single table, eliminating the need for multiple tables and improving data consistency. - **Real-Time Insights:** Enables real-time reporting and analytics on financial data, providing timely insights for decision-making. - **Simplified Data Model:** Streamlines data structures and reduces complexity, leading to faster data processing and improved performance. **2. Accrual Engine:** - **Automated Accruals:** Automates the calculation and posting of accruals, reducing manual effort and improving accuracy. - **Flexible Accrual Models:** Supports various accrual models, including time-based, quantity-based, and revenue-based accruals. - **Real-Time Accrual Monitoring:** Enables real-time monitoring of accrual balances and adjustments. **3. Advanced Financial Closing:** - **Automated Closing Processes:** Automates routine closing tasks, such as period-end adjustments, reconciliations, and reporting. - **Accelerated Closing Cycles:** Reduces closing times and improves financial reporting efficiency. - **Enhanced Compliance:** Ensures compliance with financial regulations and standards. **4. Real-Time Integration with Other Modules:** - **Seamless Integration:** Enables real-time integration with other modules, such as Sales, Procurement, and Production, providing a holistic view of the business. - **Improved Data Consistency:** Ensures data consistency across different modules and eliminates data discrepancies. **5. Enhanced Financial Reporting:** - **Flexible Reporting:** Offers flexible reporting options, including ad-hoc reporting, standard reports, and analytical reports. - **Real-Time Reporting:** Provides real-time financial reports, enabling timely decision-making. - **Advanced Analytics:** Leverages advanced analytics capabilities to uncover insights and trends in financial data. **6. Simplified Master Data:** - **Unified Master Data:** Consolidates master data for customers, vendors, and business partners into a single object, reducing data duplication and improving data quality. - **Centralized Maintenance:** Centralizes master data maintenance, streamlining processes and improving data consistency. **7. New Financial Products:** - **Supports New Financial Instruments:** Supports a wide range of financial instruments, including derivatives, loans, and leases. - **Enhanced Risk Management:** Provides tools for managing financial risks, such as credit risk, market risk, and operational risk.

Last quarter, a CEO asked me why his finance team couldn't predict cash flow accurately. I looked at their process. They were closing books 10-12 days after the month-end. Then spend another 3-4 days on reports. By day 15, they finally had numbers to discuss. But the business had already moved on. Here's what's actually happening in most companies: → Finance is stuck reconciling yesterday's transactions → Leadership is making today's decisions with last month's data → By the time insights arrive, the opportunity has passed This isn't about working faster. It's about working differently. When you move to real-time dashboards, three things change immediately: You stop waiting for month-end to spot problems. You catch cash crunches before they become crises. You make decisions based on what's happening now, not what happened weeks ago. The irony? Your ERP already has the data. Your billing system has it. Your bank feeds have it. They just don't talk to each other. Consolidate into one source of truth, and suddenly your finance team transforms from historians to advisors. Real-time isn't about fancy technology. It's about staying relevant. What's the biggest lag between your numbers and your decisions?

Finance leaders know the pain: siloed data, slow reports, and insights that arrive too late to matter.   That’s exactly what Hewlett Packard Enterprise CFO Marie Myers set out to change by embracing a transformation with purpose mindset. As most recently covered in Fortune (https://deloi.tt/4kHtwJ1), her focus shifted to technology adoption, grounded in strong data foundations, governance, and change management. And that’s where Deloitte came in.   Together, and with NVIDIA, we co-developed CFO Insights, a product combining agentic and GenAI technologies in one solution powered by Deloitte’s Zora AI™ platform and running on HPE Private Cloud AI. CFO Insights, known internally at HPE as “Alfred”, replaces static reports with live insights, guiding finance leaders on what matters and what to do next.   An important breakthrough is the deterministic outcomes behavior. GenAI tools can give slightly different answers each time you ask the same question. That’s fine for some types of work, but finance needs the same answer every time, with full traceability. Getting large-language models to behave that way is much harder than it sounds, and seeing it work in a real environment is a big step forward.   What’s even more exciting is how fast HPE is extending agentic solutions into areas like credit, collections, audit, procurement, and payroll. To date, we expect CFO Insights to cut financial reporting cycle time by about 50%, lower processing costs by 25% and fuel sharper, more focused conversations around performance. The impact is real: faster reporting, lower costs, and a CFO role built for an AI-native future. 🚀   Get the full scoop on how Marie and our Deloitte teams transformed HPE’s finance function into a true enterprise intelligence powerhouse here and reach out if this is something your organization is looking to take on: https://deloi.tt/4rQ6x0H.

I’ve noticed this pattern with many finance teams More than 90% of the time, it’s during month-end reporting that finance discovers what went wrong. 📉 That’s when poor metrics surface. 📉 That’s when the bad ratios show up. And by then, it’s too late to fix anything. It’s as if finance stands outside the business, holding up a mirror 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 the damage is done. No wonder people feel finance is disconnected. That’s not good enough. Month-end should confirm what you already know, not bring nasty surprises. But finance teams often stay stuck in rearview reporting instead of steering the business. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗼: ✅ 𝗕𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗿𝗵𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗺 • Monitor cash in real time. • Share daily or weekly flashes on key trends. • Review sales, costs, and KPIs before the close. ✅ 𝗗𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸𝘀 • Join decision tables. • Link metrics to clear actions. • Challenge assumptions early. ✅ 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝘁 𝗶𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗲𝘀 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 • Use dashboards that flag red in real time. • Track lead indicators like pipeline health, stock, and working capital. ✅ 𝗕𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 • Tie metrics to what’s causing results, not just results. • Use variance analysis to show what’s coming if no action is taken. Finance should be the early warning system, not the rearview mirror. When finance leads in real time, the company stays ahead of problems, not buried under them. Cheers, Ajibola. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵, 𝘭𝘦𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵. ♻ 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦.

Reporting is a heavy lift... But when the right systems are in place - form improves, effort compounds, and what once felt impossible becomes part of your rhythm. 71 days into my journey at Workiva, and I'm seeing firsthand how the seemingly "back office" work of fund reporting is becoming a frontline business differentiator. Last week I was focused my learning on how we support public and private fund managers - from mutual funds and ETF's to hedge funds, private equity, and more. What I'm quickly realizing is this: The lines between compliance, brand and business growth are getting thinner and thinner. Many firms are still doing reporting the hard way. Public fund teams are chasing consistence across Form N-PORT, shareholder reports, and prospectuses - each with its own spreadsheet and stress cycle. Private fund teams are reconciling portfolio data, building LP updates in PowerPoint, and putting together Form PF disclosures under pressure. Each report gets done, but at what cost? We help them re-architect the whole process. - For public funds: Prospectuses, factsheets and regulatory filings all pull from one, connected data set - so updates can flow across reports instantly and consistently. - For private funds: Investor letters, financials and regulatory forms pull from portfolio company data that's centralized and audit-ready, reducing fire drills and freeing up teams [I'm calling this capacity liberation btw] - For everyone: Collaboration moves into one secure, real-time platform - not a patchwork of Word docs, emails and...hope. ☺️ What that unlocks for our customer executives is big: - Reporting cycles shorten - freeing up time for strategic finance - Audit and review become faster - reducing period-end friction - Investor materials get sharper - improving transparency and trust - Risk is lowered - but so is the opportunity cost of manual effort This is more than automation. It's transformation. When reporting stops draining resources and starts reinforcing trust, our customers get better compliance, better insight, and a stronger position in the market. In a world where investor expectations are rising and regulations aren't slowing down, that might just be the edge that separates good from great. What's one legacy process in your organization that's become a "cost of comfort?" #FundReporting #SEC #FinancialServices #MondayInsights ++++ Every Monday, I'll be sharing what I'm learning - A synthesis of how Workiva helps fund managers, finance and accounting leaders, and operators win. From reporting to risk, sustainability to strategy - Clarity is the common thread. I hope you follow along, and share with your friends in finance 😊

The best COOs I’ve worked with don’t wait for clean reports. Because clean reports are part of the problem. They’re complete, but they’re late. And by the time they land in a COO’s hands, the story is already over. COOs don’t need more data. They need earlier signals. And a system that forces the right questions while the business is still moving. A COO I worked with put it bluntly: Every finance review felt like a retrospective on the business. Clean numbers. Clear story. Wrong timing. She didn’t need better reporting. She needed more visibility into what was happening now. So we built something different. A Weekly COO Financial Dashboard designed for decision-making in real time. Now every week she can see: ↳ Where revenue is coming from, and if it’s the right revenue ↳ Margin shifts before they become problems. ↳ Cash pressure building weeks in advance. ↳ Where operations are creating (or destroying) profitability ↳ Exactly where the business is drifting off track, and why. Because the role of a COO isn’t to review performance. It’s to shape it. That starts with better questions. Here are 13 financial questions every COO should be asking. Why they matter. Who should have the answer. And how to follow up. ♻️ Share with a COO who has the data, but not the insight

A VP of Finance we recently spoke with wanted better financial clarity. Every Monday, he manually updated his cash forecast in Google Sheets. Every quarter, he wrestled with a 3-year plan. His board needed scenarios, but building them meant late nights and spreadsheet suffering. He knew he needed a system. But he hesitated. Would it really be flexible enough? Could it actually speed up his decision-making? Was it worth the investment for a small but ambitious company? After seeing Pluvo, he realized: ● He could integrate real-time actuals into forecasts ● He could automate reporting to his board ● He could create scenarios in minutes, not days His takeaway? The cost of not moving forward was bigger than the cost of change.When you're scaling and the next big decision could change everything, agility and clarity matter more than perfection. The right system doesn’t just save time—it makes you a better partner to your board, your team, and your future self.

It’s one of the most common complaints I hear from CFOs. There's no "single source of truth."   Tableau is tracking MRR and other KPIs. NetSuite/Workday is tracking financials. But somehow these systems never agree, and it's a behemoth task for Accounting to reconcile. Why is that? Because there’s a gap between operational data and financial data. Inevitably, BI and data engineering teams set up KPIs and dashboards using operational data like billing, usage, Salesforce opportunities, etc. Meanwhile, the Finance team lives in the ERP. There are tons of adjustments made in the ERP to ensure GAAP compliance. All the adjustments are done in Excel or PowerBI, creating another source of disconnect. This can mean days of manual work, and stress. One of our goals at Leapfin is to bridge the gap between operational and financial data, and it’s incredibly gratifying to see Accounting teams able to get exactly what they need every month – JEs that are accurate, compliant, and have clear audit trails. Even more so, we are seeing Finance and Ops teams using the same single system via Leapfin to run KPI reports like MRR, LTV, cohort/churn. Some are even using Leapfin data to help drive real-time Google Ads bidding! Every day I am amazed by the speed, confidence, and decision-making that a real single source of truth enables.

How Adobe’s CFO is Using Agentic AI to Transform Corporate Finance. The Transition from Financial Reporting to Real-Time Predictive Orchestration: Adobe’s Blueprint for an AI-Driven Finance Function From "Bean Counters" to "Bot Commanders" Adobe’s finance department is no longer just tracking the money; it’s building the machines that manage it. In a deep dive into the company’s internal transformation, CFO Dan Durn reveals how Adobe has effectively turned its finance wing into a high-stakes AI laboratory. While other companies are cautiously piloting "chatbots," Adobe has deployed a fleet of autonomous agents to handle the heavy lifting of closing the books, tax compliance, and multi-year forecasting. The result? A "continuous close" environment where the quarterly scramble is being replaced by real-time, AI-driven strategic steering. Key Takeaways: The "Zero-Day" Close: Traditionally, closing a global company’s books takes weeks of manual reconciliation. Adobe is moving toward a "zero-day" close, where AI agents monitor transactions in real-time, flagging anomalies and reconciling accounts instantly. This allows the finance team to spend 90% of their time on strategy rather than data entry. The "Agentic" Budgeting Cycle: Adobe has replaced static annual budgets with a dynamic "agentic" model. Thousands of internal agents ingest real-time market data and internal performance metrics to suggest budget reallocations on the fly, allowing the company to pivot capital toward high-growth areas in days, not months. The Rise of the "Finance Engineer": Durn is aggressively hiring for a new hybrid role: the Finance Engineer. These are professionals who understand GAAP accounting but are equally proficient in prompt engineering and agentic workflows. In this new lab, "Excel proficiency" is a baseline, not a differentiator. Ethical Guardrails as a Moat: A key part of the "lab" is the testing of "Financial Trust Layers." Adobe has built proprietary systems to ensure that AI-generated financial insights are auditable and compliant with SEC regulations, solving the "black box" problem that keeps most CFOs awake at night. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/ejg7whXF Who Should Care: - CFOs & Controllers – Seeking a roadmap for moving beyond legacy ERP systems. - Financial Analysts – Who must upskill into "AI auditing" to remain relevant in a flattened organization. - Enterprise Software Vendors – Facing a world where customers (like Adobe) build their own agentic tools rather than waiting for "off-the-shelf" updates. - Audit & Compliance Firms – Who must now learn to "audit the agent" rather than just the spreadsheet. - Business School Deans – Needing to integrate data science deeply into the core accounting curriculum.