Global Shift to Remote Work Presents Significant Challenges for Completing Critical Accounting Process During Quarterly Close
FloQast, a provider of close management software created by accountants for accountants to close the books faster and more accurately, has proved to be an essential tool for accounting and finance teams that have been forced to move to 100% remote work. For organizations that are used to working together in the office, this quarterly close has been a difficult and challenging process as many have moved to work from home. FloQast’s collaborate-anywhere capabilities have helped minimize this disruption, ensuring continued business continuity despite the busy period which requires many accounting teams to conduct month-end and quarterly closes, complete their annual audit, and prepare financial statements for board meetings.
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While organizations and employees have access to video conferencing and team messaging apps for communication and collaboration for dispersed coworkers, these tools simply help complete a process remotely the same way it is done in the office. Close management software helps accounting teams streamline the business process, whether in the office or remote, to improve overall collaboration and efficiency, resulting in faster and more accurate closes. Because of this, many of the more than 850 accounting teams that use the FloQast close management platform have been able to make the move to 100% remote work with minimal disruption. Key capabilities of FloQast’s software include:
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- Architected for Virtual Collaboration: FloQast’s cloud-based platform was built to have zero reliance on on-premise infrastructure and requires minimal support from IT. This means no VPN is required as all financial data is securely accessible in the cloud, allowing for full implementation in just two-to-four weeks.
- Seamless Team Communication: Whether communicating about a specific task or documenting reconciliation review, FloQast includes a dynamic review notes module to identify and approve all relevant items, creating transparency and accountability across the team. Integration with team messaging platforms such as Slack further enable accounting teams to quickly communicate and manage the close in ways which with they’re already familiar.
- Shared Visibility: A shared, organized folder structure that is intuitive to accountants allows teams to better monitor close status without having to bother colleagues. At-a-glance dashboards alert the team to exactly where they are at any given time. Close analytics help teams identify bottlenecks and where to focus efforts to drive continuous improvements.
Jerry Raphael is the chief financial officer at Stack Overflow, a popular website for developers and technologists with advertising, recruiting, and SaaS collaboration products. He credits FloQast software for helping his accounting and finance teams make a seamless transition to its current fully remote environment. “It would have taken us at least a month to get everyone set up at home if we hadn’t already been using FloQast before the coronavirus outbreak. Instead, we were ready on the first day of shelter-in-place.” He adds, “We’ve had a lot on our plate including onboarding a new controller, our first 100% remote month-end close, our annual audit, and financial reporting for a board meeting — and we managed it all with zero loss of productivity, thanks to FloQast.”
“FloQast’s focus as a company, especially during these challenging times, is to be the best possible partner to our customers to ensure business continuity,” said Mike Whitmire, CPA*, co-founder and CEO of FloQast. “It has been extremely gratifying that a vast majority of our users have moved completely to remote work faster than anyone thought was possible, and they did it all without dropping the ball on closing their monthly and quarterly books.”
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