Sponsored by IBM

• Why it’s strategically important, and what steps are required to automate the last mile of Finance.
• Author: BPM Partners
• Date: March 2011
• Pages: 15
• This white paper is available for Instant Download

Executive Summary:

The Last Mile of Finance is a term that describes the business processes and activities that take place between the trial balance and the filing of SEC‐required statements and other statutory reports. At present, the Last Mile has become much tougher to traverse due to new regulatory disclosure requirements including eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) and efforts to enhance Internal Controls over Financial Reporting (ICFR).   The penalties for getting financial statements wrong or filing them late can be extremely costly. They include Security Exchange Commission (SEC) fines and technical defaults on debt and bonds, not to mention negative exposure on stock price and a higher cost of capital. Simply put, organizations have strong motivation to avoid these penalties.