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BlackLine: Automating Core Financial and Accounting Processes

CIO VendorTherese Tucker, Founder & CEO
In many organizations, the office of Finance is increasingly entrusted with managing business intelligence and enterprise performance. The focus is on the capture of high-quality data to develop more accurate forecasts, quickly seize opportunities, and nimbly sidestep business risks. These goals require real-time access to fast-changing financial information globally. In this complex environment, companies with strategic Finance and Accounting organizations who are leveraging technology have an edge over the competition.

In this new and evolving role as stewards of business information and decision support, Finance and Accounting must operate in real time and be more efficient, cost-effective, and productive. Accountants must be freed from time-consuming tasks so they can be accountants—professionals focused on the analysis of metrics rather than their physical capture. At the same time, company controllers must seek real-time standardization across their organization to ensure effective compliance and reporting, with unimpeded visibility into business data.

New technology and process improvements combine to transform and modernize the way finance and accounting teams work. BlackLine’s Finance Controls and Automation platform delivers a fresh approach that increases the quality, accuracy, and efficiency of the information that informs the Office of the CFO.

BlackLine complements existing enterprise systems for Corporate Performance Management, Governance Risk, and Compliance and Enterprise Resource Planning. Gartner recently recognized BlackLine as one of four “Leaders” in its new FCPM Magic Quadrant (Financial Corporate Performance Management), confirming BlackLine’s longstanding customer-focused direction. The new Financial Corporate Performance Management category focuses exclusively on financial close software companies, providers of intercompany management, account reconciliations, journal entries, variance analyses, and financial controls testing products.


BlackLine’s Finance Controls and Automation Platform helps Finance and Accounting strategically assist the Office of Finance to improve business performance outcomes.


BlackLine modernizes the way organizations automate their financial close process, enhancing accountant productivity, assuring robust controls and compliance, and improving overall business performance. BlackLine’s Finance Controls and Automation Platform helps Finance and Accounting strategically assist the Office of Finance to improve business performance outcomes. Accountants no longer need to spend countless hours manually processing account reconciliations, journal entries, task management, intercompany transactions and transaction matching to achieve a fast, efficient and accurate financial close. They can replace these toilsome and error-prone spreadsheet-based exercises with automated processes that validate the underlying data.

Automation of key finance and accounting processes is a critical step on the road to closing with confidence and achieving balance sheet integrity’. Accurate financial statements begin with accurate numbers and information, which is best achieved by leveraging technology to reduce potential manual errors. Companies must automate their current financial and accounting processes, liberating Finance and Accounting staff from performing repetitive, inconsistent, and manual spreadsheet-based processes. While enterprise systems are a necessary step in the direction of automating core processes, too many other financial and accounting tasks remain manually intensive.