Manual work is killing your finance team’s potential.

If you’re a controller still wrangling spreadsheets, chasing down emails for approvals, or spending nights reconciling numbers from siloed systems—you’re not alone. But it’s time to stop. Because the truth is, manual processes don’t just slow you down—they’re costing your organization accuracy, agility, and strategic momentum.

Let’s explore why now is the moment to let go of manual work—and what modern finance teams are doing instead.

The High Cost of Manual Finance Work

At first glance, a few spreadsheets might not seem like a problem. But manual financial workflows lead to compounding inefficiencies:

• Error-prone reporting: Copy-paste errors, broken formulas, and version confusion derail accuracy.
• Lost time: High-value talent spends hours on low-impact data entry.
• Slow closes: Month-end drags on as reconciliations and intercompany eliminations pile up.
• Poor visibility: Static spreadsheets can’t give you real-time insight into financial performance.

A Gartner study found that finance teams spend up to 70% of their time gathering data rather than analyzing it. For controllers, this is a missed opportunity to play a more strategic role—partnering with leadership, supporting forecasting, and driving data-backed decisions.

What Modern Controllers Are Doing Instead

Leading finance teams are shifting from manual to automated, real-time, cloud-based systems. Solutions like Sage Intacct are designed to give controllers back their time—and unlock deeper insight into the business.

1. Automating the Close

Sage Intacct enables continuous close processes, where transactions are captured and reconciled in real time. That means:

• Automated bank feeds
• Integrated AP/AR
• Built-in approval workflows
• Real-time dashboards for variance tracking

Instead of rushing at month-end, you close faster with more accuracy—and more peace of mind.

2. Eliminating Data Silos

Manual work thrives when systems don’t talk to each other. Sage Intacct integrates with your other tools—CRM, payroll, project management—so data flows automatically across departments.

You get:

• A single source of truth
• Live visibility into revenue, expenses, and project performance
• Less time chasing numbers, more time acting on them

3. Real-Time Financial Reporting

Forget waiting weeks to see how your business is performing. With Sage Intacct’s dimensional reporting, you can slice and dice data across business units, departments, locations, vendors, or projects—with zero Excel required.

You can build customizable dashboards to track KPIs, drill down into transactions, and answer the big questions fast:

• Which product lines are underperforming?
• Where are we overspending?
• How do we improve cash flow next quarter?

This kind of insight is what elevates a controller from tactical to strategic.

It’s Not Just About Efficiency—It’s About Impact

By moving off manual tools, controllers don’t just save time. They gain influence.

When your numbers are always accurate and up to date, you earn the confidence of your CEO, your board, and your auditors. You have the space to partner on growth initiatives, scenario planning, and operational improvements.

And when audit season rolls around? Your data is clean, your workflows are documented, and your reports are ready to go.