automating accounting, tax, and finance processes
TRANSCRIPT
Today’s Presenters
• Amy Lickey – Business Development Manager, Capitalize Analytics
• Eric Soden – Managing Partner, Capitalize Analytics
• Neeta Kamat – Product Marketing Manager, Alteryx
• Mihai Faur – Chief Accounting Officer, UiPath
• Simona Balan – Project Manager Finance Systems and Process Design, UiPath
• Jayson Varkey – Senior Consultant, Capitalize Analytics
Capitalize Analytics
• Data Architects• Data Scientists• Automation Engineers• Trainers• Consultants
• Since 2012• 50 Consultants across US• Cross industry - Energy (O&G), Financial Services, Health Care, Hospitality, Insurance,
Logistics/Distribution, Manufacturing, Public Sector, Retail, etc.
• www.capitalizeconsulting.com - recent archived webinars, blogs
• Partnerships
The Capitalize Business Process
Webinar1-on-1
DiscussionCustomized
DemoPOC/Hands-On
Putting it in Production
Agenda
• Financial Challenges Solved
• Explaining Alteryx and UiPath
• Alteryx Platform Overview
• UiPath Automation Journey
• Alteryx Demo
• UiPath Demo
• Full Automation Solution Demos• Accounting• Tax• Finance
• Closeout and Next Steps
• Optional Workshop
Financial Processes Challenges Solved• Application Integration:
• Automatically sync payroll and general ledger• Move closed deals to quote or invoice process automatically• Move data from accounting to tax (or vice versa)• Automate regulatory filings, tax filings
• Reconciliations:• Tick and tie automatically. Only focus on resolving issues• Ensure all systems match hourly, daily, weekly
• Accounting Close:• Automate each step of the process to drastically reduce manual work
• Forecasting and Accruals:• Build automated processes using many data sources with no data limits
• Management Reporting:• Fully automate collection of data and reporting to every level of the organization• Spend time analyzing results instead of compiling data
UiPath and Alteryx?
UiPath (RPA)• Automation• Keyboard and Mouse Processes• Complex web navigation• Fill out online forms• Calls other apps and programs• Monitor events and processes
• Orchestration
Alteryx (APA)• Automation and Analysis• Data Processes• Basic file download tool• Push data to DB/BI/Files/REST• Pulls, processes, and pushes data• Predictive Analytics• Geospatial Analytics
• Data Processes and Analysis
9
DATA
QUALITY +
PREPARATION
DATA
ENRICHMENT +
INSIGHTS
DATA
SCIENCE +
DECISIONS
AUTOMATING
INPUTS
AUTOMATING
OUTCOMES
100+ INPUTS AND OUTPUTS
260+ BUILDING BLOCKS
Cleansing + Blending
Exploration + Profiling
Calculations +
Transformations
Geospatial Analytics
Descriptive Analytics
Consumer + Business
Insights
Code-free Data Science
Predictive Auto ML
Code-Free Predictive +
Prescriptive Analytics
Assisted Modeling
Cloud Sources
Bots
Data Platforms
Files, Docs
Applications
Logic
BI Applications
Bots
Stakeholders
Business-Ready Docs + Email
Enterprise Apps + APIs
Production AI
THE ALTERYX APATM PLATFORMEND-TO-END ANALYTICS + DATA SCIENCE + PROCESS AUTOMATION
ONE UNIFIED
PLATFORM
SELF-SERVICE,
HUMAN-CENTERED
EXPERIENCE
PROVEN
GLOBALLY
LARGE, ACTIVE
COMMUNITY
OUR PLATFORM
• 260+ building blocks
• 80+ inputs
• Outcomes to 40+ solutions
OUR CUSTOMERS & PARTNERS
• 6,100+ Customers
• 36% of Global 2000
• 80%+ see outcomes in <14 days
• 400+ Partners
OUR COMMUNITY
• 150,000+ members globally
• 200,000+ published posts
• 16,000+ published solutions
• 60,000+ user-created extensions
• Self-service learning paths
AUTOMATING INPUTS
THE ALTERYX APATM PLATFORM ADVANTAGE
ANALYTICS + DATA SCIENCE
+ AUTOMATED PROCESSESAUTOMATING OUTPUTS
10
APA IN ACTION | CHICK-FIL-A
Advanced analytics to automate tax processes
Thousands of
individual files
Reduced manual efforts to identify potential tax savings
and reduced time to prepare 1099s from 10 hours to 10
seconds
AUTOMATING 1099SSALES TAX COLLECTION &
REPORTING1 2
Reduced risk of
manual errors
CloudSources
Bots
DataPlatforms
Files, Docs
Applications
Logic
BIApplications
RPA
Stakeholders
Business-ReadyDocs, Email…
Enterprise Apps & API’s
Production AI
DataBlending
Code-FreeData Science
Data Prep & Profiling
DiagnosticReporting
GeospatialAnalytics
PrescriptiveAnalytics
PublishingApp Controls
Explainable AI
Predictive Auto ML
ProcessAutomation
With hundreds of franchises across the U.S. and sales
tax requirements that change by the ZIP code, Chick-
Fil-A needed a system to update tax rates, manage
accurate collections and remittance, and ensure timely
processing.
2
Speakers
Mihai FaurChief Accounting Officer
Simona BalanProject Manager Finance
Systems and Process Design
3
1. Build a common repository early for automation ideas – use Automation Hub2. Empower everyone to feel like they can participate in the program3. Identify Automation Champions in your teams – they should coordinate with COE the
automation pipeline and prioritization of development4. Don’t take for granted how inaccessible automation can seem5. Ask your employees to name the robots – they will become their hard-working buddy6. Define your strategy and deadlines to reach your objectives:
Automation Journey – Lessons learned
Have an outcome-driven: Top-Down approach
Encourage every employee to share: Bottom-Up ideas
Automation Goals Digital Workforce %
Automation % within a Process
Automation Hub
Crowdsource an automation pipeline
Deliberate Strategy
System Integration & MDM - RPA is a defaultchoice after out-of-box packaged solution
Automate Testing
1 3
2 Citizen Led Automation
Citizen Development – StudioX A Robot for Every Person, everyone gets their own
Digital Assistant
4
4
Vendor balance confirmations Tracking of reception, invoices without PO VAT verification for vendors, VAT reporting on tax
authority portals Processing of vendor invoices using document
understanding and ML Credit cards – reconciliations, processing, clearing Payroll reviews and reconciliations Reclassification of employee advances Preparation and posting accruals: expense reports,
bonuses, freelancers, other accruals Preparation and posting of bank transactions, bank
reconciliation
Work is history. It’s time to reboot work.
Accounting & Payroll Operations
Update Salesforce accounts with open balance and creditinformation
Provide POs to Sales Reps received by billing department Assign Salesforce Finance cases to billing specialists Prepare draft Sales Orders in ERP using Salesforce
information Generation and delivery of invoices to customers Cash application Collections (prepare ageing reports showing previous
actions taken on respective customers, assign customersto collectors, upload in ERP latest collection activities)
Extract data for Sales Compensation VAT verification for customers
Commercial Finance
5
Procurement Dashboard Procurement Chatbot Insurance reporting Vendor onboarding Requisition assistant
Work is history. It’s time to reboot work.
Procurement
• Country Pack Reporting• Brute Force 2.0 – Revenue Recognition by ASC US 606• SSP calculations required for Revenue Recognition• Analytics over Consolidated Trial balance• Preparation of audit evidences as required by External
Auditors• Consolidation
Controllership
Equity Tax Reporting Transfer Pricing calculations Daily Cash position automation Chatbot for Credit Card and automation of CC
issuance Transfer of data from banking platform to Kyriba
Tax & Treasury System integrations where Out-of-box solutions are not
available or provide limited functionalities: Netsuite (ERP) with Workday, Coupa, Salesforce, Concur, Kyriba, Citi, Xactly
SaaS Reconciliations for users and licenses
Finance IT
#AutomationHub• Customer Zero & Automation First
mindset• Established F&A automation goals
and metrics• Developed operating model to
increase automations velocity from idea to development
• Effective pipeline management and qualification process
How was F&A able to make large strides in RPA?
124 Robots in Production
44.2K+ Hours Automated
41 Robots by Citizen Dev
14% Digital Workforce
43 Unattended
69 Robots by COE
+67 Robots / 118% Increase
81 Attended
14 Robots by Prof Serv
F&A RPA Metrics Nov’20 YTD
Think Automation First | Democratizing RPA
RPA Adoption by F&A Function
• Accounting and Payroll and Commercial Finance continue to be the leading functions inautomations, with 43 and 29 Robots;
• Process Design team continuing to partner with CoE on Automation Pipeline and prioritizing thedevelopment of new F&A Robots to increase adoption rates.
Department Production Robots
Hours saved by robots Total hours FTEs % Digital Workforce
Commercial Finance 29 25,587 64,480 40%
Accounting and Payroll 43 9,004 81,120 11%
Finance Admin 3 26 6,240 0%
Finance IT 5 144 20,800 1%
Treasury 7 1,612 10,400 16%
Procurement 6 1,331 31,200 4%
Tax 4 832 16,640 5%
Controllership 14 5,579 41,600 13%
Internal Audit 9 76 8,320 1%
FP&A 4 50 16,640 0%
Total Production Bots 124 44,241 297,440 14%
40%
11%
0%1%
16%
4% 5%
13%
1% 0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
-
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
30,000
Com
mer
cial
Fin
ance
Acco
untin
g an
d Pa
yrol
l
Fina
nce
Adm
in
Fina
nce
IT
Trea
sury
Proc
urem
ent
Tax
Cont
rolle
rshi
p
Inte
rnal
Aud
it
# Production Robots and % Digital Workforce
Configuration, Pricing, Quoting
Lead, Account, and Opportunity Management
Order Management, Provisioning, & Entitlements
Billing & Invoicing
Contracts
Collections, Cash App., & Rev. Rec.8x
19 Lead to Cash Process Automations
606 Rev Rec Bots
Automations that significantly improve employee experience and positively impact key KPIs Created operational efficiencies that
allow UiPath’s Commercial Finance team to scale alongside UiPath’s meteoric growth
Created new opportunities for career advancement and capacity to solve new business challenges
Positive impact on working capital metrics (days sales outstanding, collections, reduction in billing error rates)
Sir Paste-a-LotBilly and the
Mailman
Function: Billing TeamType: UnattendedEst Annual Hours Saved: 4,836Est Annual Cost Savings: $33,852Avg Monthly Sales Orders: 1,200Employee Satisfaction:
Headcount Sales OrdersSir Paste-a-Lot
Billy and the Mailman
Function: Commercial FinanceType: UnattendedEst Annual Hours Saved: 2,781Est Annual Cost Savings: $49,919Avg Monthly Invoices: 1,200Employee Satisfaction:
Challenges:• Accelerated growth in Sales Order and Invoice volumes
creating scalability issues within Billing Team• Tedious manual work with inherent risk of mistakes,
resulting in errors and re-billings that negatively impact collection metrics
• Costly iPaaS connector (Dell Boomi) requiring specialized resources to maintain integrations
Solutions:Sir Paste-a-Lot – Touchless Sales Order creation using closed won opportunity information from SFDC; transforming and passing data into NetSuite Sales OrdersBilly and the Mailman – Two Robots that in tandem, create PDF invoices and then delivers them to Customers via email, vendor portal, or coordinates physical delivery
Outcomes:Repurposed Billing employees to revenue recognition team; ability to manage scale alongside volume growth; positive improvement on various metrics
Function: Revenue RecognitionType: 8 Attended robots - some of the robots are scalable – can be run on multiple machines (up to 15) for faster processingTransactions: 19,000Restating of 2019 processing time: 10 hoursEmployee Satisfaction:
RPA Success Story: Robots automate Revenue Recognition
Robot Name:BruteForce 2.0
“
”
BruteForce 2.0 is fantastic! It is impossible to assess the time savings because it would simply be an impossible task to attempt. We could not have hired enough contractors to do this work in under 3 months with and unlimited budget.Jerry Walling – Director, Revenue Policy & Compliance
Revenue Recognition under ASC 606 – Brute Force 2.0
In 2018, the Accounting Board issued a new standard ASC 606/IFRS 15 for Revenue Recognition.
Many companies, including us, have struggled to transition to the new standard and achieve revenue compliance.
There are not many cost-effective solutions available on the market that can automate revenue recognition or that can transform any booking data into an ASC 606/IFRS 15 compliant form, hence the Revenue Recognition team, together with UiPath Professional services team, designed an automation to restate Revenue, under ASC 606, called BruteForce 2.0.
Under the BruteForce approach we have used our own RPA solution to recalculate revenues for 19,000 customer transactions.
This RPA solution is based on the ASC 606/IFRS 15 5- Step Model and is built to perform highly complex revenue accounting operations that would otherwise require a lot of manual effort:• Identify the contract(s) with the
customer• Identify the performance
obligations in the contract• Determine the transaction price • Allocate the transaction price• Recognize revenue as
performance obligations are satisfied
Function: Accounting OperationsType: AttendedEst Annual Hours Saved: 48Est Annual Cost Savings: $960Avg Monthly Transactions: 150Employee Satisfaction:
RPA Success Story: Robot identifies Noncompliant invoices – automation built by Citizen Developer in Studio X
Robot Name:Detective “You spent without PO”
“Detective “You spent without PO” has played a significant role in our ‘No PO no pay’ policy implementation, catching all noncompliant purchases instantly!– Mihnea Trantu, AP Team Leader
Noncompliant invoices robot
PO's are a very effective way of enabling efficiency in Accounts Payable when combined with goods and services receiving, allowing invoices to be processed and released for payment with as few touches as possible, ideally with no human intervention.
UiPath AP team wanted to ensure compliance to the No PO No Pay policy by deploying 1 attended robot to perform the following tasks:• Takes input from AP for non-
compliant invoices and filters out only unique names that have an active mismatch;
• The bot then saves down a separate excel file with only that individual's items and send an email out to them to action.
The automation helps solving the main challenges:• The end of rogue invoices.
Without a PO to accompany them, suppliers and requestors know that sending an invoice will not result in payment
• Centralizing workflow. All POs are issued only by the buyers. Ultimately, the company saves money by securing better supplier negotiations.
• Increased compliance. Suppliers know that to engage in business, they need to first receive a PO.
• Enhanced efficiency. By setting up an approval system, purchases are directed to a procurement department to be processed.
When do we use RPA?
• Complex online navigation to• Login
• Retrieve data (reporting tools, cloud drives, FTP)
• Input data
• Complex data extraction – PDF/Web scraping, emails
• Orchestration of multiple scripts, apps, file movement
When to use Alteryx?
• Data Exports – For other systems, clients, vendors, regulatory
• Data Imports – From other systems, clients, vendors
• Data Clean-up – Your data is probably spotless? ☺
• Automated Reconciliations and Exceptions
• Data preparation for reports and dashboards
• Automating Excel/SQL/Macro/Access processes
• Geospatial (Where?) or Predictive (What will happen?)
The scenario:
• Accounts Payable is responsible for ensuring what we receive matches what we expected and what we paid matches the PO.
• Must pull data from multiple systems and manually reconcile.
• Multiple companies, vendors, and accountants add complexity and possibility of human error.
• We continue to reduce headcount but acquire businesses.
• We should do this daily, but we do it monthly…at best.
• The current process cannot scale.
Accounts Payable PO -> Invoice -> Order Recon
Streamlining AP Reconciliations
UiPath
POs
Invoices
Orders
Alteryx
Cleanse
Recon
Notification
Reports
Automating State Tax ApportionmentThe scenario
• We do business and have locations in many states.
• We must calculate and pay taxes correctly and on time.
• We have many entities, multiple systems, and tax requires data from accounting (and others) before taxes can be finalized.
• The sales NEVER inputs the data correctly, so we are constantly going back for missing forms, tax exempt certs, addresses, etc.
• We are forced to run dozens of reports and build templates to upload for other systems, state websites, etc.
• We spend so much time getting and dealing with data, we aren’t analyzing the results.
• Our company is very worried about an audit and wants to ensure we are paying all taxes correctly. (We are so conservative…We are probably overpaying.)
Automating State Tax Apportionment
Recon and Report
Company 1
TX Filing
OK Filing
Company 2
NY Filing
CA Filing
WI Filing
Recon and Report
Combine and Cleanse
Accounting
Sales
Combine and Cleanse
Accounting
Sales
Procurement
Financial Forecasting Process Automation
The scenario
• Finance gets actuals and projections from nearly every department.
• Each company and department has their own system and style.
• We need to get information from everyone.
• We need to take prior performance and trends into consideration.
• We then build a model to forecast revenue and expenses.
• If anything changes, we start all over.
• Between wrangling data and random requests, we have no time to do the job we signed up for.
Financial Forecasting Process Automation
Forecast
Company/Dept
Company/Dept
Company/Dept
Company/Dept
Next Steps
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