How Automation can Streamline Bank Reconciliation in Business Central

Manual bank reconciliation can be tedious and time-consuming. Accountants can spend hours logging into the bank and manually downloading and importing the bank statement files. Simultaneously, they have to ensure they don’t miss any bank statements required for reconciliation. Handling all these tasks without automation requires a lot of upkeep by the accounting team. With the rise of automation, bank reconciliation no longer has to be a hassle. In enterprise resource planning systems (ERP) like Microsoft Dynamics Business Central (BC), your accounting team can automate the bank reconciliation process with a trusted solution provider.  

Using an ERP like Business Central in conjunction with a trusted reconciliation solution provider can significantly save your team time and money spent on the reconciliation process. When integrating automation in your accounting processes, your team can better identify posting errors, match transactions to the ledger, and quickly locate fraud within a day’s work. Automation can empower teams to think smarter not harder through the following capabilities: 

• Fully automated end-to-end bank reconciliation

When deploying automation using a solution like SK Global’s Bank Statement Integration, a bank statement can be automatically imported directly from the bank. From there, transactions can be automatically pulled and categorized from the imported bank statement and automatically matched and posted. Automated solutions like SK Global’s can identify the errors as you are posting the bank reconciliation journal. Once identified, an accounting team can adeptly address any errors. From there, the bank reconciliation journal will be automatically posted. 

• Transaction mapping in one place 

Instead of accessing a third-party vendor, Business Central with its robust network of solution vendors lays the foundation for mapping to occur all within the bank reconciliation journal. Accountants no longer have to complete transaction mapping in a third-party solution, which ultimately just creates more problems. Using a third-party solution for transaction mapping would require bringing over all that data back into the ERP, which would lead to data being kept in disparate systems.  

• Custom data mapping to create missing bank transactions 

Sometimes, the ledger doesn’t include all transactions listed in the bank statement. When this happens, your team needs to have the ability to add in a missing transaction as easily as possible so you can quickly complete the reconciliation process. Finding a solution that completes custom data mapping per your team’s specifications and automatically adds in those missing transactions will save your team time!  

• Reconciliation based on your team’s preferred frequency 

Your accounting team probably has a preference for when you complete your bank reconciliations. Some solutions don’t give you the flexibility to reconcile when your team wants. That’s why it is important for you to find a solution vendor that builds onto Business Central and gives you the flexibility to reconcile daily, weekly, or monthly.  

• Minimized chance of lost data using API connectivity  

Since automated, embedded reconciliation solutions pull bank statements directly from the bank using an API, there is a high chance that your team will have access to all the data needed for reconciliation within the ERP. After the reconciliation is posted, your team will have full access to the posted reconciliation. This will make it easier than ever for your auditing team to find completed, accurate proof of reconciliation for their audit.  

Choosing a reconciliation solution that provides all the bells and whistles needed for a truly automated bank reconciliation process is difficult, especially when you have just moved to an ERP like Microsoft Dynamics Business Central. Within Business Central, there are hundreds of ISVs that handle automation of AP and AR processing.  

Now how do you choose a solution that fits your reconciliation needs when your team has so many options? Typically, when accounting teams are looking for a solution in Microsoft Dynamics Business Central, they look for solutions that are: 

• Easily embedded within Business Central 

Embeddedness is an essential requirement for many because an embedded solution means more time within one centralized environment and prevents the need to move between disparate systems to collect bank statements and transaction information. An embedded solution increases the automation capabilities within Business Central by bringing external banking information directly into Business Central without the user ever having to leave the Business Central environment.  Users see high data synchronization and minimal chance of sensitive bank account information being leaked to third parties. With direct bank integration, bank files are no longer stored on a desktop but are safely stored in the cloud.  

• Known for their great customer support

When problems arise, you need quick, easy access to a customer support team. That’s why having a great customer support team is an incredibly important requirement for teams looking for an automated reconciliation solution in Business Central. If your team has problems connecting to the bank to get your bank statements, a long wait time for support or lack of response from support can throw off the flow of your accounting team’s processes and create unnecessary obstacles to completing your bank reconciliation.  

• Securely connect to banks for streamlined access for bank statements 

Bank connectivity is a critical piece for many end users since an automatic connection to the bank can enable faster, secure downloading of a bank statement and its lines without ever having to leave your Business Central environment. Having a hands-off data transmission through API or SFTP connection will minimize the times your team needs to log into your bank account.  

If you’re looking to learn more about bank reconciliation solutions in Business Central, don’t hesitate to talk to our team at SK Global at sales@sksoft.com. Our team can consult with your accounting team on how we can automate your bank reconciliation processes within Business Central.