Local government finance teams often rely on several manual processes that can be time-consuming and inefficient. Here are the 10 most common manual processes slowing down finance teams:
- Budgeting in spreadsheets: Finance teams frequently use Excel for budget preparation, leading to version control issues and making collaboration difficult.
- Data entry: Manual input of financial data into spreadsheets increases the risk of errors and takes up valuable time that could be spent on analysis.
- Expense reporting: Manual expense systems are slow and labor-intensive for employees filling out reports and finance teams processing them.
- Financial reporting: Creating financial statements and reports manually requires many work hours and carries a high risk of mistakes.
- Reconciliation: Manually reconciling Excel spreadsheets and updating data in multiple places is time-consuming and prone to errors.
- Approval processes: Manual workflows for approvals, especially for expenses, can be lengthy and inefficient.
- Budget revision tracking: It is challenging to consistently track budget changes across different document and spreadsheet versions during planning and development.
- Performance data aggregation: Non-financial information is often housed in various systems, making running performance data a manual aggregation task.
- Disbursements: Manual payroll and accounts payable processes can be inefficient and lack proper controls.
- Revenue estimation: Manually estimating revenues to determine available financial resources for funding operations can be time-consuming and less accurate.
By automating these processes, local government finance teams can significantly improve efficiency, reduce errors, and focus on more strategic tasks that benefit their communities.
For more ideas on how to eliminate manual processes from your department or agency, see https://intellipay.com/reconciliation/
Further Reading
Factors Shaping Local Government Financial Decisions
A Guide to Local Government Annual Budgeting
Dale Erling has 15 years of experience in banking, financial services and payment processing.
