How to free up time with automated finance

The need for more time in the charity sector is a constant cause for concern, particularly for charity finance teams. As a result of high-pressure funding environments and charities’ determination to do the best possible work for their service users, lack of time has undoubtedly been a key challenge for charity financial teams, especially given the gravity of their work.

 

For this reason, many charity teams are curious about financial automation and its potential for freeing up time for staff to contribute to their missions. Many teams want to do away with cumbersome spreadsheets and find more time to think strategically about the future.

 

With more than four in five finance leaders working six-day weeks, and three in ten highlighting financial reporting as a major concern, identifying areas where charities can save time is vital. In this article, we outline steps a charity should take for successful finance automation, with insights from a report by AccountsIQ, “Demystifying finance automation”.

 

 

Find out where your team is feeling under pressure

 

Finance teams are tasked with complex operations and heavy manual work – from sorting through piles of paperwork to chasing up countless emails and navigating slow approval processes. These tasks are often needlessly repetitive, time-consuming and tedious.

 

Charities should ask teams in the relevant department to reflect on the areas that hold them back the most in terms of efficiency. In finance, it may be that staff are manually sorting through emails and approvals, or that they regularly become burdened with the difficult process of filing overdue and high value expense claims logged by the wider team.

 

Perhaps the finance team spends too much time re-entering data across different programmes, leaving room for human error and data gaps which have to be resolved later.

 

Taking into account how mundane tasks impact staff enjoyment of work can also help you ensure that automation is targeted in ways that open up time for staff to help the charity’s impact in new and more satisfying ways.

 

 

Select the right system

 

To inform your search for the right system, senior staff in the department should evaluate the current systems you use and how effectively different workflows are connected up.

 

It’s a good idea to find out whether prospective programmes have previously been used in an organisation similar to yours, and whether the supplier is equipped to meet your needs for support once implemented. Meanwhile, taking a long-term view of the next five-to-ten years will help you consider whether the system remains suitable as your charity changes with time.

 

“When it comes to the charity sector, relying on outdated, disconnected systems puts finance teams at a serious disadvantage,” says Darren Cran, CEO of AccountsIQ. “Adopting a cloud-based financial system isn’t just a nice-to-have – it’s a strategic necessity. These platforms seamlessly connect core finance functions with data capture, processing, and reporting tools, giving teams real-time visibility across the organisation. That level of insight empowers smarter, better decisions and helps drive real impact.”

 

 

Get the coding structure right

 

Once you have selected the right programme, it’s time to work with the vendor to personalise it to your charity. Getting the structure of the programme right will enable you to capture, process, and report every detail you need for the charity’s specific purposes.

 

This part is crucial, as the report explains: “Projects often fail or stall in getting the right outcomes because the coding structure in the software either isn’t flexible enough or hasn’t been given the planning and design resource it needs to be a success.”

 

 

Onboard automation

 

In many areas of charity work, as the AccountsIQ report suggests, moving from one system to another could create a high level of risk. To avoid risks materialising, identify what these would be ahead of time, and make sure the project is delivered to ensure continuity in these areas.

 

In finance this might mean ensuring Accounts Receivable stay up-to-date throughout the onboarding of the new platform so that the charity doesn’t miss out on vital expected funds during this period by sending out inaccurate statements.

 

It’s all about business continuity, the report explains. “Being able to capture and process your sales and purchase invoices, reconcile invoices, and provide accurate statements will ensure business continuity during a finance system changeover.”

 

During the testing phase of an implementation, a parallel run of both the old and new system is no longer necessary. But testing out your usual processes on the new system can help you ensure it will be successful before officially making the switch.

 

 

Gain time

 

Sometimes, it is only by investing some time in the short term that organisations can gain more time in the long term. Streamlining processes can mean that staff are freed from repetitive manual tasks and have more time to contribute their expertise and unique perspective in new strategic ways, helping to boost the charity’s impact.