CFOs across industries are looking for ways to attain higher efficiencies, better reporting, and cost optimisations. At the same time, the finance leaders have been transforming their roles to become a fundamental custodian of digital transformation. With the changing business models, finance professionals are not only expected to drive more informed decision-making but also advise business leaders through their technical and commercial skills. As this strategic focus has grown, finance and accounting professionals have been struggling to meet the volume and variety of the existing operational transactions their job encompasses.
Automate Finance and Accounting Processes with UiPath
The adoption of ERP systems in the early 90s initiated the automation of finance and accounting processes. Many organisations re-engineered their F&A processes to map with the workflows in the available ERP systems — and still, not all the processes were automated.
Another challenge, despite the deployment of ERP systems, is that many financial documents are being processed on the physical paper and the data entry is manual. To digitise such documents, it becomes mandatory to employ an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology. Even when the data is extracted, due to the unstructured nature of the data, a software system cannot process it without human intervention.
Before Robotic Process Automation (RPA), the major focus of IT programs was to streamline the processes through business process management methods — that come with high development costs and still can’t assure complete automation.
Enhance ERP capabilities with RPA
Where RPA can be applied in Finance and Accounting function
Finance and accounting function is one of the key areas where automation if done correctly, can have a significant positive impact on reducing costs, improving efficiency, and streamlining processes. Here are some of the processes that can be automated using RPA

Procure to pay

Order to cash

Record to report

Accounts receivable and payable

General accounting

Tax, treasury, and compliance
