From aeronautics to zoology, accounting is tied to virtually every industry. As long as there is money to be made for a product or service, revenue will need to be accounted for. Accounting professionals provide important services such as filing taxes, closing books, and maintaining financial compliance, among others. But today’s accounting professionals often spend most of their time on transactional requirements and repetitive tasks, leaving them little room for making operational and strategic decisions.

Accounting automation, often referred to as Robotic Process Automation or RPA, is the solution to this issue. Whether you are entirely unfamiliar with this concept or you’ve heard about it but aren’t 100% convinced it’s worthwhile for your business, this article just may make you a believer in workflow automation.

What is accounting automation?

Accounting automation is an operational process that leverages software to automatically perform manual tasks. Otherwise known as automated accounting or accounting process automation, accounting automation software takes the work out of paperwork by seamlessly and accurately examining financial statements, computing tax filings, evaluating accounts receivable, inspecting account books, filing paper or electronic documents, and much more.

Automation and AI technology aren’t confined to the future, either; they’re the here and now. Many business owners, who either contract external accounting professionals or have an accounting department, are already automating various accounting tasks. According to Acumen Research and Consulting, the global automation software market is expected to reach a valuation of more than $46 billion within the next five years, an increase of nearly 17% compared to 2020. That’s just for automation software, never mind automation in general.

Accounting automation, or RPA, is as popular as it is today for one simple reason: It works. As is the case in other professions, time is money — the longer it takes to do something, the more it costs. This kind of intelligent automation streamlines work processes, resulting in greater productivity, efficiency, and fewer errors in recording financial data.

Let’s go over these benefits more in-depth and learn how they relate to the challenges that your accounting team and accounting professionals face:

What are the main advantages of accounting automation?

Addresses hiring challenges

In the aftermath of the pandemic and The Great Resignation, in which approximately 47 million people nationwide quit their jobs in 2021 alone, according to CNBC, many business owners are struggling to fill open roles and get more people on their payroll. Manufacturers, retailers, and the hospitality sector have all been hit hard and received a considerable amount of attention from the press. But accounting firms are in a similar bind, particularly CPAs. In an annual survey conducted by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, finding qualified staff was cited as a leading issue by CPA firms of various sizes, be they sole practitioners or those with 21 or more staff members.

Since financial automation can operate on its own, tasks that would traditionally be performed by an accounting professional can be conducted via artificial intelligence. Not only that, but RPA software also improves accuracy, which saves time and reduces workloads related to financial reporting.

Increases efficiency

There’s a reason why the educational journey to becoming an accountant takes as long as it does. When numbers are involved and precision is pivotal, accounting professionals need to know what they’re doing. Their knowledge must extend beyond best practices since their assignments require a great deal of critical thinking.

But at the same time, a considerable portion of their day-to-day accounting tasks are mind-numbingly repetitive. In fact, according to a poll conducted by Kelton Global, a leading global insights firm, the accounting and finance professionals surveyed said they spent more than half of their time in the typical month engaged in repetitive tasks, activities that could be finished easily through workflow automation.

Accounting software eases workloads by systematizing monotonous accounting tasks so they can be completed quickly and autonomously. Instead of manually inputting data and transactions into a spreadsheet, which drains resources, automation does it … automatically. An automated accounting system gives accounting professionals more bandwidth to attend to the affairs requiring greater attention to details, such as client correspondence, providing strategic insights to their employers or clients to enhance revenue, and more.

Improves data quality

Accounting is a specialty; clients and business owners hire accountants because they have a great deal of knowledge about tax law, bookkeeping, reconciliation auditing, and other capabilities. But regardless of their expertise, mistakes happen, and seemingly minor oversights or transposing of numbers can result in enormous complications, even investigations by the Internal Revenue Service.

Automation helps to minimize errors by reducing the need for spreadsheets and manual data entry. This way, it reduces risk and provides more certainty in remaining error-free.

Maximizes productivity

Even though workflow automation and artificial intelligence are both already in place, many are concerned that it won’t be long before automation increases its foothold and winds up replacing large swaths of the labor force, including accounting professionals.

That is highly unlikely in accounting. Accounting software streamlines those repetitive tasks that prevent accountants from attending to the affairs that artificial intelligence can’t replicate, such as strategic initiatives, advising, assessing budgets, and consulting with other financial professionals. Thus, it complements accounting professionals by giving them an extra set of hands so they can focus on more high-value assignments and increase productivity.

Automate accounting with NetSuite

Whether you are looking to optimize your accounting practice or get the accounting portion of your operation addressed so you can focus on your area of expertise, NetSuite is a comprehensive accounting automation solution. Replete with a wide variety of features that address traditional and specialty accounting tasks – such as revenue recognition, expense reporting, journal entries, transaction matching, invoice consolidation, and more — NetSuite is the world’s premiere cloud accounting software, boasting over 31,000 customers worldwide and counting. Inspirage can get you set up with a customized implementation.

Please contact us today to learn more about this accounting automation, or RPA, tool and our other capabilities that can help your business work smarter.

NetSuite ups its game with exciting new innovations in its 2020 Release 2

#1 Planning Rules

The NetSuite Supply Planning scope can include multiple locations to generate the global supply plan. Planning item categories and additional items can define the item scope. The newly introduced Planning Rules carries the supply chain transfer rules for items between locations.

#2 Hierarchical Pegging

Pegging creates a peg chain between a supply transaction and a demand transaction that can be viewed from either side. For example, if a supply order is late you can easily see the impacted demand. Hierarchical Pegging enables a planner to drill-down from a parent item to the next level of the related child item. This can span across other locations. The planning engine honors the supply allocation when generating pegging information.

#3 Separate Planning Repository

The Planning Repository stores transactional information from NetSuite into a new set of tables for the supply plan run. This planning repository puts you in control of how often you refresh the plan inputs, provides a time consistent view of supply and demand for the planning engine and planner’s review and enhances supply planning performance.

#4 New Tools for Materials Requirements Planning

A repository with timely and consistent information and a workbench to review orders, suggestions and exceptions before releasing / updating orders are some of the new tools released for Material Requirements Planning. In addition, sales orders are included in predicted risks, ensuring goods ship on time.

#5 Planning by Exceptions & Pre-defined Exception Messages

All challenges to the supply plan are listed on the Exceptions tab. This gives the planner the ability to put tasks in autopilot mode so that their focus can be on Exceptions.
With this new release, planners now also have access to Pre-defined Exception Messages that can be set to trigger action for the following areas:

• Insufficient lead time
• Item has no activity
• Negative starting balance
• Negative time fence balance
• Past due demand
• Past due supply

For example, an exception for insufficient lead time for a proposed planned order can alert the planner of potential supply challenges.

NetSuite’s Supply Planning solution is integrated within the NetSuite ERP and provides seamless access between your company’s regular transactional system and planning system. There is no need to source an external supply planning tool. Leverage NetSuite’s Supply Planning capabilities to create an agile and integrated supply chain supported by functionality that grows with your evolving business requirements.

If your business requires a more robust planning solution, Inspirage’s Oracle NetSuite & Planning Cloud Integration addresses this need. Inspirage provides an out-of-box integration solution between NetSuite and Planning Cloud, leveraging our iHub CS proprietary integration middleware platform with pre-built, ready-to-deploy connectors. The solution takes into consideration the necessary entities required for planning which can be configured from business to business, according to the industry. This integration seamlessly connects your supply chain business processes providing the relevant inputs to the Planning Cloud engine using the data stored in NetSuite. It also works in reverse, providing the right outputs back into NetSuite from Planning Cloud. Contact our team to learn more.

Wholesale distribution is a vital link in the modern supply chain. As of 2016, there were more than 300,000 companies involved in wholesale distribution in the U.S. alone, while worldwide annual sales from wholesale distributors were nearly $7 trillion, according to the consulting firm Allen Austin. While the industry’s size and scope are impressive, today’s distributors face big challenges on both sides of their operations, i.e. from manufacturers and retailers:

• Many manufacturers feel pressure from rising commodity prices, which in turn spur them to raise prices or seek alternative distribution channels. Wholesale bypass is also an appealing option and has been identified by IBISWorld as a significant threat to wholesalers in every industry from sporting goods to groceries.
• A lot of retailers have also pursued disintermediation. Big box chains already purchase most products directly from manufacturers, and other dealers have also looked for ways to trim selling costs by doing the same. Retail margins are thin – among the lowest tracked by the S&P 500 – and wholesale is one cost among many.
• At the same time, firms at all points in the supply chain are consolidating, thereby reducing the relative buying power of distributors. For example, just four firms control 85 percent of the U.S. beef market, while two companies have 90 percent of the country’s non-craft beer sales.

Small and medium-sized distributors in particular have their work cut out for them. In addition to the broad, long-term risks of being perceived as middlemen who don’t add any value, they also have to deal with day-to-day issues such as fluctuating fuel costs, rapid price changes and stock forecasting.

There’s good news, though – most of the biggest hurdles in front of SMB wholesale distributors are solvable with the right technologies. Modern ERP systems, such as NetSuite, in tandem with synergistic solutions for logistics and supply chain management (SCM), give these SMBs much more visibility into their operations, along with the ability to make better decisions. As a result, they can become more agile while avoiding the complex and siloed legacy IT systems common at larger, more established rivals.

Here’s how an integrated approach to technology pays off, in the context of several frequent problems in wholesale distribution:

Demand planning

Staying competitive as a whole distributor requires fulfilling customer orders under many different – and often challenging – circumstances. As more retailers switch to just-in-time inventory and many products become unexpectedly popular thanks to internet marketing campaigns, wholesalers need sufficient demand planning.

A sudden July 2018 spike in demand for physical copies of a particular video game – thought to be less important now that digital distribution is so prominent in that industry – underscored the relevant risks here. Fortunately, ERP systems give you a clearer picture for forecasting demand by integrating historical sales trends, supplier data, seasonal considerations and much more.

Inventory management

Manual spreadsheet-based processes are still common in inventory management. Although doing most of this work within Excel has some advantages in terms of simplicity and control, it also comes with significant inefficiencies. Modifications are time-consuming, human error is inevitable and critical data may not be synced across the organization.

In contrast, automated inventory management via ERP helps you track bin locations, expiration dates, reorder quantities and in-transit orders across multiple warehouses. That puts you in a much better position to deal with both manufacturers and retailers.

Wholesale distributors benefit from the implementation of modern ERPs.

Reporting and analysis

Without effective reporting, it’s impossible to know where your operations stand at any given moment in time. Moreover, you’ll likely waste too much time sifting through redundant information spread across multiple silos.

Implementing ERP and SCM tools with the help of an experienced partner such as Inspirage helps you consolidate IT systems and standardize your reporting processes. Accurate reports help you gain more value from business intelligence, comply with industry standards and understand any potential weaknesses within your operations.

Purchase order management

The automation provided by modern ERPs is a major step up from the manual processes that have traditionally underpinned purchase order management. Details about shipment locations and histories are easily accessible for more streamlined decision-making throughout the organization.

Revitalize your wholesale distribution operations with Inspirage’s help

Wholesale distributors have to continually evolve to stay relevant in a rapidly changing industry in which both manufacturers and retailers are rethinking their business relationships. Inspirage is here to help in the search for technical solutions as well as in their implementation, through expert project management and consulting.

Inspirage is a Platinum level member of Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) and has over 100 pre-built Oracle solutions. Inspirage has been a go-to partner for customers looking to integrate NetSuite with Oracle products such as Oracle Cloud WMS and PBCS. Connect with our team today to learn more about how we can help you find and implement right solutions for your wholesale business.

One Glass at a Time

Wine and spirits distributors have long faced a complex supply chain with its highly regulated nature, but it’s become even more challenging with increased global variety. To maintain relevance and drive growth, companies must innovate through new products, new lines of business, and supply chain capabilities. To accomplish their goals, businesses need flexibility and must have agile technology services to support them.

In the viticulture and winemaking industry additional issues may arise for companies considering how to improve the economies of scale. To become a dominant player in this competitive environment there are some questions to consider:

• How do we get a strong presence in the growing online market?
• How do we get a 360 degree view of supply chain starting from vendors through to customers?
• How do we measure the quality of our products and ensure standards are captured and maintained?
• Does our staff have the right systems and tools to scale up especially during the busy seasons?

Protect the Bottom Line

Not having the answer to any of these will lead to undesirable impacts on the company’s performance and will directly affect the bottom line.

If customers are looking for one application to run their entire wine and spirits business from end-to-end including integrated ecommerce, financials, inventory management and CRM—they can now take advantage of having one system to manage inventory and financials as well as helping to expand sales presence through an integrated ecommerce platform.

NetSuite ERP can help

And does the bulk of the critical, complex processes on its own.

• NetSuite has ability to plan, forecast demands, inventory management, warehouse management and even the entire manufacturing process starting from MRP (Material Requirements Planning) to the final product
• NetSuite has an extensive Wholesale Distribution (WD) solution that allows Wine Distribution Companies to quickly setup their operations with NetSuite WD providing the backbone for sustaining and growth. In WD modules, NetSuite can go on about monitoring the distribution process precisely & seamlessly.
• NetSuite Manufacturing can be tailor-made for the Wine Industry starting from the definition of Routing (Optimum resources required in the Plant) and the BOM (Bill of Material).
• Added to this, NetSuite has a robust e-commerce platform, SuiteCommerce Advanced to boost the online presence and drive demand.

Customers can easily see potential to improve all aspects of the business functionalities through NetSuite. Wine and spirits companies could examine these:

• Supplier – What (type of grapes), when (demand determination), from Whom (vendor evaluation), how much (quantity to meet the demands), how to bring (inbound Supply Chain)
• Input – Raw Materials (grapes), Inventory Management, Quality Maintenance
• Process – Manufacturing Process (Routing: Sorting->Destemming & Crushing-> Fermentation-> Maceration-> Maturation) BOM, Work Order
• Output – Warehouse Management (where to store the wine, under which environmental conditions)
• Customer – Packaging, Reaching to customer (outbound supply chain), Reviews.

Manage & Grow Operations & Business

As wine and spirits, producers, importers and distributors look to manage their operations and grow their businesses, it’s no wonder that more and more in the industry are turning to NetSuite as their solution of choice. With NetSuite as the IT backbone, wine and spirits distributors are better able to automate processes, plan demand and supply, manage and account for trade promotions, and drive efficiencies, which frees up time to focus on expanding their business into new markets and to perfect their product offerings. For more information on how Inspirage can help, contact us.

Inspirage Honored with Award at SuiteWorld Las Vegas

Tonight, Inspirage was honored with the NetSuite Alliance Newcomer of the Year Award in Las Vegas, Nevada during the annual SuiteWorld Conference. While presenting the award, Greg West, Senior Vice President Global Alliances, NetSuite stated “this company joined the NetSuite alliance program in 2017 and have shown a steadfast commitment to making NetSuite a central pillar of their already successful Oracle practice.” He continued “Inspirage is a Platinum level member of Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) and has over 100 pre-built Oracle solutions, Inspirage has been a go-to partner for customers looking to integrate NetSuite with Oracle products such as Oracle Cloud WMS and PBCS. Logging over a million cloud fusion project hours, they have been committed to building out all of the necessary components to lay a strong foundation for a thriving NetSuite consulting practice in the years to come.”

Accepting the award, Kevin Creel, President, Business Strategy and Development stated that “We are honored to receive this prestigious award from NetSuite, and we will continue to build on the success that we have achieved this year – being a five time consecutive Oracle Excellence Award winner for Specialized Partner of the Year – we know that these milestones are an important part of getting to know you and are proud to be a part of providing our solutions to NetSuite as a trusted partner this year and in the years to come.”

Atul Jain, NetSuite Sr. Practice Director added, “With nearly 500 consultants delivering services in nearly 50 countries around the globe with our own IP, we were able to rapidly cross-train our consultants on NetSuite and work directly with the NetSuite sales team to land lighthouse accounts. We will remain committed to building out all of the necessary components to lay a strong foundation for a thriving NetSuite consulting practice in the years to come.”

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About Inspirage: Inspirage is the integrated supply chain specialist firm solving business critical challenges from design to delivery. The company delivers end-to-end consulting and implementation solutions that link Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Product Lifecycle Management, Supply Chain Management and Logistics Management. Inspirage partners with their customers to break down information silos and optimize performance to accelerate innovation, fuel growth and achieve operational excellence. Inspirage is a Platinum level member of Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) and has been recognized by Oracle with numerous awards, including the 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014 Oracle Excellence Award for Specialized Partner of the Year and the 2017 NetSuite Alliance Newcomer of the Year. Headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, the company has global presence with offices in North America, Europe, Middle East, and Asia.

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For further Analyst or Public Relations Contact:
Celeste White, Inspirage 855-517-4250 | celeste.white@inspirage.com

Join Inspirage at the largest gathering of NetSuite users, partners, and developers at the industry’s #1 Cloud ERP conference. Over three jam-packed days, you’ll gain valuable insights into ways to overcome your business’ barriers to growth, and you’ll learn valuable tools you can start using to grow your business the moment you return from the conference. Hear your peers describe their challenges with growth, learn from product experts and partners about the latest NetSuite features and tools, and network with the NetSuite community. Make sure to stop by Booth 214 and chat with the Inspirage NetSuite Team!

Why Attend

NetSuite has helped guide businesses across all industries to guide them through the many phases of growth, from start-up to ramp-up to IPO and beyond. At SuiteWorld, we’ll show you how to crush the five barriers to successful growth and explain why NetSuite is the last business system you will ever need.

SuiteWorld is where you will:

1. LEARN – how successful organizations have grown and transformed their businesses to address the next set of challenges.
2. STAY CURRENT – with new trends and challenges affecting business today.
3. EXPAND – your network with an opportunity to engage with more than 7,500 business leaders from around the world.
4. ENGAGE – with a growing ecosystem of NetSuite partners when you visit the SuiteWorld Expo.

 
Register Now!