blackline journal entry [product brief]

Product Brief

Centralizing Journal Entry for Improved Accuracy in ReportingBlackLine Journal Entry

The BlackLine Journal Entry product modernizes the journals experience by providing advanced accuracy and control with improved efficiency at every step of the process.

BlackLine Journal Entry provides a controlled, template approach to centralizing and automating journal entries. It is a complete journal entry management system that allows you to create, review, and approve journals, then electronically certify and store them with all supporting documentation. Journals can be posted to the general (or sub) ledger system either on demand or in a scheduled batch. Moreover, pre-posting validation means journals are not rejected from the general ledger due to entry errors.

According to customers, using BlackLine’s Journal Entry product cuts time and effort by as much as 90% when compared with manual processes.90

BLACKLINE JOURNAL ENTRY — CENTRALIZING JOURNAL ENTRY FOR IMPROVED ACCURACY IN REPORTING

The world’s most trusted solution for Finance Controls and Automation. 2

Manual

Time-consuming

Error-prone

Risky

Automated

Efficient

Accurate

Compliant

Traditional Approach

The traditional approach to journals meant entering them into spreadsheet or directly into the general ledger. The way it’s always been done is an email-driven, time-consuming, and inefficient process with unnecessary delays that often leave managers waiting for staff to complete journals. When journals are managed in an offline or manual process, it is difficult to ensure a thorough and accurate review. This leads to incorrectly booked journals with manager sign-off occurring after posting or the due date. The manual nature of the journal entry process exposes companies to unnecessary risk – risk of fraud and human error. Both of these impact the accuracy of a company’s financials and its reputation with customers, partners and shareholders.

Modern Approach

Until recently, companies had no choice but to accept the risk associated with manual journal entry processes. But new technology means that’s no longer the case. Automation with BlackLine will improve existing controls, increase efficiency, and improve visibility into journals. The BlackLine Journal Entry product enables organizations to create, validate, support and approve journal entries before posting to a general ledger system. It replaces manual creation of journals, validates the data to ensure the journal is created properly, and enforces workflow via the controlled certification process.

The elimination of manual processes increases efficiency and frees staff to focus on more important tasks as repeating journal entries are automatically and reliably entered. According to customers, using BlackLine’s Journal Entry product cuts time and effort by as much as 90% when compared with manual processes. Even more important is the increased confidence in correct, timely, and traceable journal entries.



Questions to Consider

Change is scary, but evolving accounting processes is critical to modern finance and accounting. It is through proper assessment of current practices that we can discover gaps, deficiencies, and red flags. Consider the following questions when evaluating your journals management process.

Do you enter journal entries manually and/or via manual Excel upload? How many journal entries do you create per year?

Do you have a clearly defined approval process? If so, is it responsive to different parameters?

— Ex: Journal entries under $10,000 are subject to one approval process, while entries over $2MM are subject to a 3-tiered – Preparer, Approver, Reviewer – process.

Does your process support different approval workflows?

Does your journal entry process provide/support a full audit trail?

Do you have a journal entry validation process? Are you journals validated automatically, i.e. through a rules-driven system?

Where do you store support documents? Is supporting documentation easily available for auditor review? Are you storing your supporting documents in binders, in file cabinets in a far off room? Can you find every document?

Do you enter journal entries in multiple systems?

Can you automatically create standard and recurring journals?

Are there any particularly manual and large scale journals you are compiling on a monthly-basis? Ever wondered if there was a way to automate those labor-intensive journals?

How do you accommodate complex intercompany journals?



Automation with BlackLine

When companies leverage the Journal Entry product on the BlackLine unified platform, they quickly realize increased efficiency while improving control, accuracy, and visibility.

Control, Centralize & Automate Journals• Replace mundane and manual steps in your finance and accounting processes

• Reduce risk of inaccurate bookings, bad data entry, etc., by automating the manipulation and summarization process of large volumes of data with Transaction Matching

• Maintain all supporting documentation in one place for easy tracking and auditing (stop wasting reams of paper in binder after binder too!)

• Post to multiple ERPs automatically and track with real-time updates

Streamline Workflows & Increase Efficiency• Integrate workflows that streamline the approval process and create a full audit trail

• Automate the complete creation of standard and recurring journals

• Convert manual, error-prone procedures into rules-based processes

• Reduce tasks that previously required many labor-hours to a few seconds

Ensure Accuracy & Enhance Visibility• Configure journal templates to be compatible with different general and sub ledger systems

• Ensure all necessary information is captured for a particular journal type

• Implement powerful validation rules and relational look-up tables to prevent failed journal entries that require follow up

• Import journal entries and journal lines from report writers and spreadsheets

The BlackLine Journal Entry product modernizes the journals experience by providing advanced accuracy and control with improved efficiency at every step of the process.



Journals Grid

1. JE Status

Monitor and report on the status of all JEs, from creation to automatic posting.

2. Workflow Status Electronically route JEs for approval.

3. Import from Excel Quickly import completed or partially completed Journals from excel. This is useful when report

writers or 3rd party systems write thousands or tens of thousands of lines to a spreadsheet.

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Journal Entry Template

1. Header Items

Header items are configured to match your journal templates and general ledger. All fields are

backed by validation rules, which prevent users from entering bad data. For systems/journals

where header fields are not required, this is an optional but useful reference tool.

2. Line Items Like header items, Line items are configured to meet client needs. Items can be keyed in by a

preparer or imported in bulk. Users can define logic and validation for this section as well.

3. Items

Each Journal entry can be linked to the account reconciliations product

and associated with the reconciling items it addresses.

4. Supporting Documentation

Upload supporting documents in any file format.

5. Certification Details

BlackLine automatically identifies and displays different steps in the process, including the dates

on which workflow or posting events occur. This data is available to management and auditors.



BlackLine - The Unified Cloud for Finance and Accounting

BlackLine is the leader in Enhanced Finance Controls and Automation (EFCA) software and the only provider that offers a unified cloud platform supporting the entire close-to-disclose process. The BlackLine Finance Controls and Automation Platform is designed to help midsize companies and large enterprises strengthen controls, lower compliance risks and gain greater efficiencies and visibility. Delivered through a scalable and highly secure cloud model, and built from a single code base, the platform supports many key accounting and financial processes including the financial close, account reconciliations, intercompany accounting and controls assurance, fueling confidence throughout the entire accounting cycle.

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© 2015, BlackLine, Inc.This document contains information that is confidential and proprietary to BlackLine, Inc. and may be used only for the purpose of evaluating the features and capabilities of BlackLine’ products and services vis-à-vis the recipient’s business needs. All other uses or disclosures of this information are strictly prohibited.

blackline journal entry [product brief]

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