Service
Automated Financial Reporting
Automated financial reporting means the monthly pack assembles itself. Extracts run from your ledger and your subledgers on a schedule, the templates refresh against the new data, the checks run, and the file lands in the right inboxes. Nobody retypes a trial balance, and nobody has to remember which tab to update first.
Who it is for
Who this is for.
- 8 things this engagement covers, listed below with what each one includes.
- A 9-step process, the same one on every engagement.
- 6 questions answered on this page.
Overview
Most reporting packs are not slow because the numbers are hard. They are slow because a person exports four reports, pastes them into a workbook built years ago, fixes the ranges that moved, rebuilds the commentary page, and mails the result to a list kept in their head. Every step is a place where a figure can quietly go wrong.
Finalert builds the pipeline and runs it each period. Your controller still reviews the pack and releases it. What changes is that the assembly, the tie-out and the distribution stop eating the first week of the month, and a number that does not agree gets caught before anyone outside finance sees it.
This service takes that assembly out of human hands and puts it into a pipeline you can inspect. Sources are named, the mapping from account to report line is written down, the checks that prove the pack agrees to the ledger run every time, and each version that goes out is recorded. The judgment stays with your finance leadership. The clerical work does not.
Finalert builds and runs automated financial reporting for U.S. companies that produce the same pack every month and produce it by hand. The scope is the assembly line, not the analysis. We connect to your general ledger and to the subledgers that matter for reporting, schedule the extracts, map each account to its report line, and build report templates that rebuild themselves against fresh data. The output is whatever you already send: a board pack, a lender pack, a departmental set, a consolidated statement with the entity detail behind it.
This is deliberately narrower than a dashboard project and narrower than a data warehouse build. A dashboard answers questions on screen. A reporting pipeline produces a document on a date, in a fixed format, with the numbers agreeing to the closed ledger. Those are different problems and they fail in different ways, so we build them separately. If the dashboards come later, the mapping and the extracts we write here are the same ones they will sit on.
Checks that run before anything is sent
Automation without validation only lets a wrong number travel faster. Every pack we build carries its own tie-out checks. Total revenue on the summary page agrees to the ledger. The balance sheet balances. Segment detail sums to the consolidated line. Period-over-period movement above a threshold you set gets flagged rather than quietly printed. Account codes that appeared since the last run and have no mapping stop the run instead of dropping out of the total.
A failed check holds the pack. The pipeline sends an exception notice to the named owner with the failing test, the figures on both sides and the run identifier. Nothing goes to the distribution list until someone clears it. This is the part most spreadsheet processes never had: a defined place where a break is noticed by the system rather than by whoever happens to read page nine.
Distribution, versions and the audit trail
Delivery is part of the build. Each pack has a named recipient list, a delivery date and a format, and the pipeline records what was sent, to whom, at what time, and from which run. When someone asks why the number in the September pack differs from the one they remember, the answer is a lookup rather than an argument. Restatements are issued as a new version with the change noted, not as a quiet overwrite of the old file.
There are limits and we state them at the start. Finalert builds and operates the reporting. Your finance leadership owns the numbers, the commentary and the decision to publish. We do not sign tax filings, issue audit or attest opinions, give legal advice, or act as your accountant of record. Where the automation depends on how an account is treated, we write the rule down and ask your controller to approve it rather than deciding it ourselves.
What you get
What the engagement covers.
8 items
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Scheduled ledger and subledger extracts
Automated pulls from your general ledger, payables, receivables, payroll and billing systems on a timetable that matches your close, with a log of every run and its row counts.
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Account to report line mapping
A written mapping from every account in your chart to the line it appears on in each report, version controlled, so the pack and the ledger cannot drift apart unnoticed.
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Self-rebuilding report templates
Your existing pack layout rebuilt so it refreshes against new data instead of being retyped. Formatting, subtotals and comparative columns hold from period to period.
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Tie-out and reconciliation checks
Tests built into the pipeline that prove the pack agrees to the closed ledger, the balance sheet balances, and segment detail sums to the consolidated figure before anything is released.
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Variance and threshold flags
Movements beyond the tolerance you set are flagged for review rather than printed without comment, so your team looks at the exceptions instead of reading every line.
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Exception handling and hold rules
A failed check stops the run and notifies a named owner with the failing test and both figures. The pack does not reach the recipient list until someone clears it.
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Automated distribution to named lists
Each pack goes to a defined recipient list on a defined date, in the format that audience expects, with delivery recorded rather than left in one person's sent folder.
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Version control and audit trail
Every run is stored with its inputs, its checks and what was sent. Restatements are issued as a new version with the change noted, so the history stays readable.
How it runs
How the work runs.
We build the pipeline against a period you have already closed, so there is a known answer to test against. Nothing goes live until the automated pack and your manual pack agree. Here is how the work runs.
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01
Inventory the current pack
We collect every report you produce, who receives it, when it is due and how it is built today, including the workbooks and the manual steps nobody wrote down.
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02
Map sources and accounts
Each report line is traced back to its system and its accounts. Gaps, duplicated logic and figures that exist only in a spreadsheet are listed and resolved with your controller.
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03
Agree checks and tolerances
Your team defines what must tie, what variance is worth flagging and who is notified when a test fails. These rules are written down before any code is built.
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04
Build extracts and the data layer
Scheduled extracts are set up against your ledger and subledgers with named service credentials, then landed in a structure the report templates can read repeatedly.
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05
Rebuild the report templates
Your pack layout is rebuilt as a template that refreshes rather than one that is retyped. Comparatives, subtotals, rounding and formatting are matched to the version your readers already recognize, so nothing looks unfamiliar on the first automated run.
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06
Parallel run against a closed period
The pipeline runs against a period you have already closed and the output is compared line by line to your manual pack. Every difference is explained before we continue.
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07
Set up distribution and versioning
Recipient lists, delivery dates, formats and the retention of each run are configured, with the audit trail turned on so sent packs can be retrieved later.
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08
Cutover with a manual fallback
The first live period runs automated with your old process still standing behind it, and the two outputs are compared before release. Once two periods land clean with no manual correction, the old build is retired.
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09
Run, monitor and maintain
We operate the schedule, watch for failed runs and clear them, and update the mapping whenever your chart of accounts, your source systems or your reporting requirements change. Each change is logged against the pipeline.
Our approach
How we approach it.
A reporting pipeline earns trust the first time it catches something a person would have missed, and loses it the first time it ships a wrong number quietly. These are the rules we build to on every engagement, whatever the systems underneath.
- Reproduce before you automate
The first automated pack must match your last manual one line for line. We reconcile the two and explain every difference before anything is switched over.
- Every number traceable to source
Any figure in the pack can be traced back through its report line and mapping to the ledger entries behind it. No cell is allowed to exist without a documented origin.
- Fail loudly, never silently
When a source is missing, an account is unmapped or a check breaks, the run stops and tells someone. A pipeline that patches over a gap is worse than one that halts.
- Your format, not ours
We rebuild the pack your readers already know rather than replacing it with a house template. Changing the layout is a separate decision your team makes on its own timing.
- Documented and handed over
The mapping, the schedule, the checks and the recovery steps are written down in plain language so your team can read, change and run the pipeline without us.
- Clear line on ownership
We build and operate the reporting. Your finance leadership approves the treatments, owns the commentary and decides what gets published. We do not sign or opine on anything.
Proof
What clients say, and what the work has done.
- 110+ U.S. businesses served
- 100% client satisfaction
- 111 services we run
Finalert is an outstanding accounting, financial advisory and analytics company that delivers a wide range of services and solutions with the highest level of professionalism. Their expert team, with whom I have personally worked, possesses exceptional skills that enable customers to meet their financial and accounting needs seamlessly. Their dedication to excellence and customer satisfaction sets them apart, making them a trusted partner in the industry.
Wajdi Al MowafakDirector, Financial Business · NonprofitQuestions
Common questions.
The questions controllers ask most often before they hand the monthly pack over to a pipeline, covering accuracy, what happens when a source system fails, and where the line sits between us and your team.
Do we have to change our accounting system?
No. The pipeline reads from the ledger and subledgers you already run. We connect through the interfaces your systems provide, using named service credentials at the access level the job needs. If a system genuinely cannot be read on a schedule, we tell you that in the first fortnight rather than after the build has started.
How do we know the automated numbers are right?
We build against a period you have already closed, so there is a known answer. The automated pack has to match your manual pack line for line before anything goes live. After that, the tie-out checks run on every period and hold the pack if it does not agree to the ledger.
What happens when a source system is down?
The run stops and a named owner is notified with the failing step and the run identifier. Nothing partial is sent. When the source comes back the run is repeated from the start rather than resumed halfway, so the pack is always built from one consistent set of extracts.
Can we still edit the pack before it goes out?
Yes, and most clients do. Commentary, narrative pages and any late adjustment are yours. The pipeline produces the numbers and the layout, your controller reviews and releases. Where an edit changes a figure, it is better applied at the source so the next period carries it automatically.
Is this the same as a dashboard project?
No. A dashboard answers questions interactively on screen. This produces a fixed document on a date, in a set format, tied to the closed ledger. The two are built differently and fail differently. If you want both, the extracts and the mapping built here are what the dashboards would sit on.
What is not included?
We build and run the reporting. We do not sign tax filings, issue audit or attest opinions, give legal advice, or act as your accountant of record. We do not decide accounting treatments or write your commentary. Where automation depends on a treatment, we document the rule and your controller approves it.
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About Automated Financial Reporting
Ready for numbers you can build on?
Talk to a Finalert consultant about your books, your reporting, or the decision you are trying to make.
110+ U.S. businesses served
What happens next
- A twenty-minute call An accountant on the line, not a salesperson.
- A scope and a price, in writing What the work covers, and what it costs.
- Onboarding on your schedule We start when you are ready, not before.