The time it takes to prepare month-end accounts is increasing significantly, according to new research.
Over half of UK finance decision-makers admit that it currently takes over a week to prepare and submit them, a rise from 39-55% from last year.
Even more striking is that almost a third say it takes over two weeks and one in 10 confessed it can take over three. This was 17% and 6% respectively in 2023.
And when it comes to how efficiently that time is spent across finance departments, the results revealed well over a third of decision makers cited multiple inefficiencies such as lack of access to relevant software.
Sparkes: month-end shouldn’t be like climbing Everest
Others were spending too much time managing data in spreadsheets, and manual data management with a lack of automation.
Paul Sparkes, Chief Product Officer at iplicit, the accounting software provider which commissioned the research, said: “If you’re not wrapping up one month’s figures until well into the following month, you’re spending most of your time looking backwards – and the information you’re working with is old information.
“Month-end is a vital temperature check on the business. Without timely reporting, decision makers are in danger of not knowing what’s going on in their own organisations quickly enough to act on the data.
The research was undertaken in August and surveyed the views of 1,000 UK-based finance leaders (CFO, FD, Head of Finance, VP etc) who work in organisations with an annual turnover between £1m and £10m. It investigated the core areas of end-of-month reporting, the inefficiencies and challenges involving existing accounting software and the stress associated with their role.
“It’s almost 2025 – automation and cloud technologies are available now that can be implemented in days and provide a return on investment in months. The technology that exists now is far more intuitive, making it much easier and quicker for finance teams to get to grips with a new system,” added Sparkes.
“Let’s face it, month-end reporting shouldn’t feel like climbing Everest every single month, yet for many UK finance teams, it does. The latest research from iplicit highlights a growing epidemic of inefficiency, with more than half of finance leaders taking over a week to close their books.”
“After all, isn’t it time your finance team spent less time closing the books and more time writing the next chapter of your success story?”
Related
The research in detail