Many companies don’t realize they can use BlackLine’s reconciliation templates to achieve account accuracy, systematic consistency, accountability, and transparency while automating the reconciliation process – saving dozens of hours per month to be redirected to more meaningful close tasks. If you’re already using BlackLine for task management, reconciliation is an excellent way to get more from your investment.
Using BlackLine, you can standardize your financial close process with various reconciliation templates to help substantiate your balance sheet accounts. Some templates include standardized accruable, amortizable, bank account, and subledger; however, there are many other customizable templates to help you create systematic consistency for your company’s reconciliations.
Benefits of Using BlackLine’s Account ReconciliationTemplates
1. Consistently documented purpose, preparation, and review procedures.
2. Established due date rules, dashboard visibility, and reports to monitor the timeliness of your reconciliation process.
3. Tracked Monthly or Quarterly reconciliation histories with substantiation.
4. System controlled segregation of duties between the reconciliation preparer and approver(s) to significantly mitigate risks.
5. Global or account specific:
- Account reconciliation auto-certification rules with established thresholds to automate your account reconciliation process.
- Reviewer/approver procedures and languages that are customizable based on your company policy (which is best practice for publicly traded companies and SOX compliance).
6. Controls that decertify a previously completed account reconciliation if an account balance is updated to ensure reconciliation accuracy is maintained.
7. Many pre-built connectors make it easy to import ERP trial balances into BlackLine in both the account and financial reporting currency using flexible frequency options.
8. Templates can also be used from account grouping into a consolidated reconciliation template.
- Account groupings can be configured for a single entity or multiple entities.
- One example of a typical group reconciliation would be a fixed asset group using the subledger template.
- A multiple entity grouping can be used for intercompany accounts with their offsetting entity elimination.
9. Additionally, rules can be configured to auto-certify (review/approve) an account:
- When there is no activity, and the account balance is zero.
- Grouped intercompany accounts are eliminated within an established threshold amount and/or % difference.
- Subledger account support is within an established threshold amount and/or % difference.
- Amortized account support is within an established threshold amount and/or % difference.
- The certification can be configured to initially auto-certify the first two months in a quarter and then require manual certification by the third month in the quarter.
Get Started Using BlackLine’s Reconciliation Templates Today
If you’re looking for a more efficient way to reconcile your accounts, BlackLine’s reconciliation templates may be the solution. Our implementation team can help you leverage these templates to streamline and automate the reconciliation process.
If you want to learn more, contact our BlackLine Implementation team.
