Checklist: Is Manual Reporting Slowing Down Your Cash Strategy?
This article is written by Treasury4 A 6-Point Gut Check for Treasury and Accounting Teams The report wasn’t late, but it wasn’t early.The spreadsheet opened with a warning—something about links.One tab said “FINAL_v2,” another said “USE THIS ONE.”Someone changed the numbers, but didn’t say which ones. It was 5:07 PM.You sent it anyway. If that felt familiar, this checklist is for you. But not just to save time. To fix the manual breakdowns holding your cash strategy back: No time to read? Take these takeaways with you: What This Checklist Is (and Isn’t) This isn’t a tech wishlist. It’s a real-world gut check for teams who are still duct-taping their way through: You don’t need a full overhaul. You need to know where the friction is—and how to start fixing it. How to Use This Checklist Pick one report you run regularly. Then go line by line. If the problem shows up, check the box. That’s your signal: there’s a fix worth pursuing. Small improvements—like cleaning up version control or documenting categorization rules—save hours weekly. But more importantly, they give you space to get out of triage mode and into strategy. Your Manual Reporting Breakdown Checklist: You spend more time gathering data than analyzing it It starts with a simple request: “Can we get an updated Cash Position Report by 10?”You check the ERP. One export. Then the bank portal. Another. Then your GL detail for classifications, and maybe a budget file to explain any large movements. Now it’s 9:26 AM and you’re still stitching together numbers instead of analyzing them. The CFO’s follow-up—“Where did that $1.4M go?”—is going to be harder to answer than it should be. Short-term fix: Pick one high-friction report—Cash Visibility, Collections, or Forecasting—and consolidate the source files you always pull. Even if it’s still manual, combining them into a single, stable worksheet reduces rework and gives you a more consistent base. No more chasing down the same data five different ways every time. Long-term fix: When your data lives in a structured system—with change tracking, dimensional filters, and consistent inputs—you skip the manual prep. Reports populate automatically, and your job shifts from gathering to interpreting. You can break down cash by entity or region, trace variances to specific transaction types, and answer questions like: Instead of scrambling to gather inputs, you’re interpreting patterns—and giving leadership answers they can act on. Reconciliation happens manually in Excel You’re scanning rows in the Statement of Cash report, trying to figure out why the inflows don’t match what’s showing in your GL.One transaction’s miscategorized. Another’s double-counted. You sort by vendor, trace back through AP exports, and manually match payments against receipts. Again. It’s late, and you’re still cross-referencing cells instead of reviewing exceptions. Short-term fix: Write down the rules you already use—what fields you match first (amount? vendor?), what you do when the data doesn’t align, and where you allow for timing differences. Turn that into a simple reference doc. Then build formulas to automate the first pass, so you’re not relying on visual spot checks every time. Long-term fix: In a modern cash & treasury management platform, reconciliation logic doesn’t live in your head—or your Excel formulas. It’s embedded in how the data flows and flags exceptions automatically. You can reconcile faster, trace line items down to the transaction level, and answer: Instead of redoing the same matchups every cycle, you’re reviewing only what’s changed—and trusting what hasn’t. Categorization rules aren’t documented You know that vendor X always goes under Office Expenses. That transfers between accounts shouldn’t show up in Cash Flow from Operations. That refunds hit a separate line—unless they’re credit memos, in which case… it depends. It all lives in your head—or maybe scattered across sticky notes and half-finished SOPs. Short-term fix: List the rules you apply without thinking. Start with categories you touch the most—like transfers, one-off reimbursements, or CapEx. Even a rough reference doc can speed up your own process and help others step in with confidence when needed. Long-term fix: When categorization logic is embedded in your system—not manually applied—it happens once, and it sticks.Every transaction is labeled accurately from the start, so your reports reflect reality: Clean categorization = cleaner reporting, less rework, and fewer questions down the line. Multiple versions of the same report exist Your manager is reviewing FINAL_v4, but AP is still working off FINAL_v3_REVISED. Meanwhile, someone just shared a file called “Use This One (NEW).xlsx.”You’re all looking at different numbers—and no one’s sure which is right. Version control shouldn’t depend on memory, naming conventions, or Slack threads.At this point, it’s not just a workflow problem—it’s a data integrity and access control issue. Short-term fix: Pick one location—shared drive, folder, or workspace—and make it the single source of truth for recurring reports. Set a clear naming convention (like LIVE_[ReportName]) and communicate which version is active. It’s basic, but even this reduces risk and confusion across the team. Long-term fix: In a system with built-in version control and change tracking, there’s no ambiguity. Everyone sees the same report—same filters, same timestamp, same logic—whether it’s a Cash Visibility dashboard or a Statement of Cash rollforward. Because the data lives in a centralized, governed environment, changes are tracked, access is permissioned, and every update is transparent.No last-minute file swaps. No conflicts across departments. Just one version—clean, current, and review-ready. Only one person can run the report You’re out for two days. Someone pings you asking how to refresh the Forecasting report.You left notes… somewhere. But the logic isn’t obvious, the filters are finicky, and there’s a manual adjustment you always make that no one else knows about. Now they’re either guessing—or waiting on you. Short-term fix: Write down the steps, filters, and edge cases for one key report. Don’t worry about formatting—just capture the logic and common pitfalls. Share it in your team drive. It’s not a full handoff. It’s a safety net. Long-term fix: When reporting lives in the system—not in one person’s brain—it becomes scalable. Rules and logic are documented, data access is governed, and processes aren’t blocked by PTO or context gaps.Anyone…
Franklin
Top 9 Treasury Management System Benefits
This article is written by our partner, Nilus You’re prepping for a board call, and someone asks, “Where’s our cash right now across all entities?” If your answer still involves logging into eight portals and piecing together spreadsheets, it’s time to rethink how you’re working. It’s time to start evaluating a modern Treasury Management System (TMS). In an era where treasury teams are under increasing pressure to do more with less, legacy tools simply can’t keep up. Disconnected bank portals, manual reconciliations, and error-prone forecasts slow down decisions and increase risk. But the right TMS flips that script, streamlining complexity, improving liquidity management, and turning financial operations into a competitive advantage. Whether you’re a CFO, a global treasury lead, or a finance professional ready to elevate your function, this post will walk you through the top 9 reasons to invest in a TMS, with real examples, practical takeaways, and none of the fluff. Because in treasury, precision isn’t optional, it’s mission-critical. Here’s how a modern TMS will transform your treasury operation. 9 Key Benefits of a Treasury Management System 1. Cash Forecasting That Keeps Up Updating a rolling 13-week forecast every Friday shouldn’t feel like rebuilding a spreadsheet from scratch. But for many treasury teams, it does. That’s because data lives in five different systems, timelines shift, and nothing is ever quite up to date. A modern TMS automates the heavy lifting, pulling in real-time inflows and outflows from ERPs, banks, and AR/AP systems. It means your forecast evolves with your business, not behind it. The outcome? Fewer last-minute surprises, tighter variance control, and no more scrambling to clean up models before Monday’s liquidity review. 2. Automate the Boring Stuff (and Get Hours Back) You shouldn’t have to babysit a payment run or manually tag every line item in your bank statement. But if you’re using spreadsheets or outdated systems, that’s often the case. A TMS takes those tedious routines off your plate: think payment batches that route through built-in approvals, nightly bank reconciliations that match transactions automatically, and AI tagging that classifies inflows and outflows without manual input. These aren’t just “nice to haves,” they’re hours of work handed back to your team every week. When automation takes care of the repeatable stuff, your team can focus on higher-value tasks like liquidity planning, debt strategy, or vendor negotiations. That’s the real payoff. 3. Real-Time Liquidity, No Detective Work Required Let’s say the CFO needs a cash update before a board meeting. You could spend the next hour chasing balances across APAC, EMEA, and the U.S., or you could just open your dashboard. With a TMS, you get a real-time view of every account, entity, and currency in one place. You’ll know where cash is sitting idle, which regions need support, and how much headroom you really have to invest or borrow. It’s like flipping on the lights in a room that used to be full of blind spots. 4. Spot Risk Before It Becomes a Crisis Treasury risk isn’t abstract; it’s watching a surprise FX swing shrink your cash buffer overnight, or discovering too late that a key counterparty is exposed. A good TMS keeps tabs on the risks you care about, like currency volatility, rate changes, and counterparties, and brings them to your attention before they blow up your plan. Scenario modeling lets you ask “what if?” and get real answers: What if interest rates spike? What if a vendor delay hits next month’s inflows? Think of it as your early-warning system, built right into your workflows, not buried in spreadsheets. 5. Audit Season Without the Stress Scrambling to pull reports the night before an audit? We’ve all been there. A TMS makes that scramble a thing of the past. With built-in controls, permission-based access, and audit trails that log every action, your compliance playbook runs quietly in the background. Whether it’s SOX, GDPR, or an internal policy review, the documentation is already there, no email digging or spreadsheet cross-checking required. You get peace of mind and more time to focus on higher-stakes decisions, not post-facto paper trails. 6. Stop the Tab Hopping: One Dashboard to Rule Them All If pulling together your company’s cash position means toggling between five bank portals, two ERP exports, and a trail of Slack DMs, you’re not alone. A modern TMS ends the madness by giving you one login, one dashboard, and one reliable source of truth. It connects to your banks, ERPs, and payment systems, consolidating balances and transactions into a single view. No more reconciling conflicting numbers or asking three people the same question. Just answers, fast, and in context. 7. Play Out the What-Ifs, Without Breaking Your Brain What if customer payments slip by 15% next quarter? What if your biggest vendor delays a shipment? What if rates spike by 50 bps? With a TMS, you can stop guessing and start simulating. Built-in scenario modeling tools let you test multiple outcomes instantly, without duplicating spreadsheets or building ten tabs for each scenario. It’s like stress testing your strategy in real time, so you’re not just hoping for the best, but planning for whatever happens next. 8. Keep Everyone on the Same (Up-to-Date) Page Treasury doesn’t operate in a vacuum, but it can feel like it when everyone’s using different numbers. A TMS brings consistency to your conversations. Whether it’s the CFO, FP&A, or procurement, each team gets tailored dashboards built from the same real-time data. No more version control issues or back-and-forth about “which spreadsheet is right.” It turns reporting into alignment, and turns alignment into faster, smarter decisions. 9. More Time for Strategy, Less Time Cleaning Up Spreadsheets Treasury teams aren’t short on work; they’re short on hours. A TMS gives you those hours back. Instead of spending your week chasing down missing bank data or fixing formula errors, you’re modeling funding strategies, optimizing working capital, or supporting the next big move. In short: less grunt work, more strategic horsepower. That’s what a modern treasury team needs to stay ahead. How…