Tax season is a busy time of year for small businesses, especially given that there is a skills shortage in the industry. Without adequate resources, the end of the financial year can easily become a time of stress and long hours — an undesirable predicament for employees who may already feel stretched for time, writes Scott Wiltshire, vice president and general manager, Oracle NetSuite ANZ.

To alleviate tax-time stress, and reduce the burden on finance teams in general, businesses should look to automate as many financial processes as possible. However, many finance teams still don’t have the technology and systems needed to reduce time and costs.

Here’s how automating financial processes can help businesses year-round

Swift and accurate bill processing

Accounts payable automation software can automatically capture invoice data, record it, and match invoices to purchase orders and delivery receipts. Plus, automated journal entries eliminate the need to manually enter debits and credits, saving time and ensuring payments are recorded accurately.

Reduced end of month/quarter workload

 A continuous accounting approach — enabled by automation — can reduce workloads significantly as many of these tasks are completed daily. Automating long and tedious end-of-period tasks such as journal entries, account reconciliations, variance analysis and intercompany transactions reduces the manual workload of finance employees and minimises the chances of errors and omissions.

Automation simplifies compliance

Businesses operating across several countries face additional layers of complexity due to varying compliance obligations, which can quickly become a nightmare for small teams. Failure to adhere to tax laws and regulations can result in severe consequences, including hefty fines, legal disputes, and damage to the business’s reputation. Yet it’s not uncommon for compliance to be tracked manually in spreadsheets, leaving room for errors, oversights, and inaccuracies.

Automation software with embedded controls and support for local and international accounting standards, can help businesses stay up-to-date and compliant with changing regulations. It does this by automatically tracking changes to legislation and flagging any potential issues or discrepancies.

Reduced stress, frustration, and anxiety

Finance departments face higher stress during annual and quarterly reporting periods and when dealing with tax deadlines. This is amplified when tediously collating information from multiple software systems, which introduces the potential for human error and increases employee stress and frustration.

The automation capabilities of a fully-integrated ERP system can help eliminate manual data gathering tasks, allowing finance teams to focus on the narrative and the story behind the numbers. This helps to reduce regular cycles of stress and frustration, improves team morale and aids in employee retention as employees feel more engaged and valued in their roles.

A modern ERP system should leverage automation to enable continuous accounting, provide checklists that guide and track closing procedures, and enable finance teams to report financial results faster and focus more time for planning and analysis. This approach can help small businesses navigate tax season smoothly while also improving the speed and accuracy of finance processes year-round.

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