Real-time reconciliation for smarter financial planning

According to studies, organizations that use automated reconciliation see a 95% reduction in errors, significantly enhancing financial accuracy and compliance with regulatory standards.

Financial reconciliation involves matching internal financial records with external sources to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the transactions. Real-time reconciliation utilizes automation and AI to continuously update the transaction records. This supports risk management and liquidity planning by providing real-time insights.

Understanding real-time reconciliation

Real-time reconciliation is the continuous process of automatically validating financial transactions immediately as they occur. It is unlike traditional periodic reconciliation, which happens in batches, daily, weekly, or monthly. This approach relies on software that integrates with ERP and financial systems, consolidating data from multiple sources to provide complete visibility. Automation can achieve up to 99% transaction auto-match rates, dramatically improving the efficiency of financial operations.

How real-time reconciliation reduces financial risk

Conducting reconciliation in real-time reduces financial risk by enabling instant detection and resolution of errors and discrepancies. This reduces the reconciliation time by up to 70% through ERP and treasury system integrations. Continuous monitoring lets you identify suspicious transactions early, helping prevent fraud and financial misstatements.

This ongoing real-time validation enhances compliance and audit readiness. Businesses reported that they spent 60% less time on audit documentation due to clear and automated audit trails. With real-time visibility, finance teams can identify and mitigate risks proactively, enhancing financial controls and reinforcing stakeholder trust by addressing issues before they escalate.

Real-time reconciliation’s role in improving liquidity planning

In liquidity planning, businesses must maintain enough cash to meet their obligations, optimize capital use, and prepare for financial challenges. Real-time reconciliation provides accurate, up-to-the-minute cash flow data, which enables precise liquidity forecasting and immediate visibility into the available funds. This dynamic view allows finance teams to manage intraday cash flows effectively, reducing unnecessary buffers and funding costs.

For example, companies that adopt real-time reconciliation report up to 24% improvement in cash flow management and a 75% productivity gain in finance operations. These insights help businesses optimize their working capital and strengthen financial resilience in volatile markets.

Business benefits beyond risk and liquidity

Automated reconciliation delivers significant business benefits in addition to risk reduction and liquidity management. By maintaining continuously reconciled books, organizations can eliminate financial close bottlenecks, achieving up to 70% faster close times and reducing manual workload by 80%. This automation boosts operational efficiency, allowing finance teams to focus on strategic analysis rather than routine data entry.

Reliable real-time financial data enables businesses to make informed decisions and increases organizational agility. Transparent, accurate financial management also improves creditworthiness and stakeholder trust. Firms report a 95% reduction in reconciliation errors and stronger audit readiness through automated, traceable audit trails.

Implementation considerations

Transitioning to automated reconciliation begins with assessing current processes to identify inefficiencies and data silos. This is followed by selecting appropriate automation technology that integrates smoothly with the existing ERP and treasury systems. Training finance teams in new tools and workflows is essential to ensure adoption and accuracy. Ongoing optimization through continuous review ensures reconciliation processes adapt to the changing business needs and regulatory requirements. Key challenges include integrating with traditional systems and encouraging cross-functional collaboration with both internal teams and regulators to maintain compliance.

Industry examples

Leading financial institutions have successfully utilized real-time reconciliation to reduce risk and improve liquidity. For example, a mid-tier European bank cut its monthly reconciliation time from 80 to 22 hours, reduced audit exceptions from 11% to 2%, and saved over £75,000 annually. The bank achieved these results by implementing an automated reconciliation platform that matched 85% of transactions automatically.

Similarly, a large multinational bank using FIS’s Optimized Reconciliation Service increased its system match rate from 87% to 97%, halved FTE costs, and reduced manual matching by 73%. As a result, it enabled faster, more accurate liquidity management and risk control.

How Optimus enables real-time cash visibility and risk reduction

Optimus, a leading platform for real-time liquidity management, integrates seamlessly with ERP and treasury systems. It empowers finance teams to act swiftly on real-time data, optimize working capital, and maintain regulatory compliance, which are key drivers of financial resilience and strategic advantage in today’s markets.

Key contributions of Optimus include:

• Immediate error detection and resolution to reduce financial risk.
• Enhanced operational efficiency through automation, therefore freeing finance teams to focus on strategic functions.
• Improved financial accuracy with up-to-date reconciled records that support precise liquidity planning and risk management.
• Timely decision-making by providing real-time insights and transparency into financial performance.
• Fraud prevention by immediately identifying questionable transactions.
• Scalability and integration that can handle growing transaction volumes without loss of efficiency.

Conclusion

Real-time reconciliation is pivotal in reducing financial risk and enhancing liquidity planning by providing immediate, accurate financial data that supports proactive decision-making. Organizations using automated reconciliation report faster financial close times and improved audit readiness, which enables them to respond swiftly to market changes. As financial operations evolve, real-time visibility becomes essential for sustainable growth, offering agility, accuracy, and a strategic advantage in managing risk and liquidity.