Let’s be honest: managing your daily bank and broker statements can be time-consuming, especially if done manually. It’s also exceptionally boring and error-prone... So what can we do to make the process better?
Well, in order to streamline operations, reduce errors, and make data more accessible, you’ll need to understand how to automate bank statements and financial data.
Here are the three main automations needed to succeed.
1. Data Collection Automation
You’ll firstly need to automate your data collection from your providers, such as the banks and brokers you work with.
Since these statements often come as PDFs or text files, the best approach is to set up API integrations or to automate the downloading of files. This could mean automatically retrieving files from web portals, saving email attachments directly to your system, or even converting documents from one format into another.
2. Data Reconciliation Automation
Once the data has been collected, you’ll then need to verify it. Statement processing reconciliation involves checking that the transactions match the trades, the fees charged are correct, and the account positions are consistent.
Moreover, because each provider formats statements differently, your automation tools must be flexible enough to adapt to various structures. It’s only in this way that the automated reconciliation process can ensure accuracy.
3. Reporting Automation
Finally, once all that is done, you can generate many financial report types that document your controls on the data.
These will then support your accounting and audit processes, and their automation speeds up the process and minimises human errors that can occur with manual reporting.
Financial Automation Is the Present, Not the Future
By understanding how to automate bank statements and financial data, financial SMEs like yours can operate more efficiently, reduce fat-finger errors, and save your teams tens of hours every year.
But, of course, we understand that your knowledge is in finances, not programming, which is why our software is here to make all of the above true for you, too.
So, what are you waiting for? Get in touch with us now to find out more!