The term sounds classic and may even make you panic when you hear it. Control linked to finance: endless databases, invoices, expenses, balance sheets... However, both in the conventional business world and in the new paradigm that is now opening up for many companies with the digital era, financial controls are much simpler to use, understand, implement and automate than one can imagine.
Definition of financial controls: Which are the most common and how are they applied?
To understand what financial controls are, let's start by giving a definition of the concept. We can say that they are the analysis and study of the real results of an organization, taking into account the circumstances of the company and its projects, as well as its short, medium and long term plans. financial objectivesThe financial controls are the analysis and study of the actual results of an organization, taking into account the circumstances of the company and its projects, as well as its programs and short, medium and long term plans. . In other words, they are the tools with which the development and impact of the strategies carried out and their influence on the general finances of a project will be evaluated.
The financial indicators or KPIs (as they are now called), with which the different financial statements are measured, will vary depending on the objectives of each plan. In other words, these reviews of finances are a fundamental pillar for any business, since through the financial reports, a vision of the economic health of the company will be obtained.
What are the most common controls?
But, as the concept is very broad, the question arises, "what are the most common financial controls? Everything will depend on the projects to be evaluated and the stage of development of each project. Even so, there are three typologies that appear in every strategy:
- Balance sheet. Essential at the beginning of each project to evaluate the overall financial situation and financial statements of the organization at the beginning of the control or audit.
- Income statement. Summary of the business operations that have been carried out in a given period of time. It includes several different statements and is, as its name indicates, the result of subtracting the different financial expenses that have been generated from the income. This financial control is used to analyze the profitability of an operation or the general activity of the company. It also verifies with data whether the financial objectives set are being met.
- Cash flow or also called cash flow statement. This financial review evaluates the variations that have occurred in terms of cash and cash equivalents, determining whether or not more liquidity is needed.
Obviously, for the different projects and operations carried out in any organization, these and other financial control processes are established. However, these three have been and are the most common.
The importance of financial controls in any company
And we say that they have been and are indispensable because the advent of the online world has not diminished the importance of financial controls. Today, because of their relevance for planning or when organizing cost accounting, these economic examinations are still used, but in a digitized and automated way. And why are they so important, for example, in the process of invoicing customers and suppliers? :
- They measure the different financial processes and economic flows, helping to understand the financial health of our projects.
- They are ideal for controlling the sending of invoices: the workflow of invoices, the receipt and acknowledgement of invoices that have been issued to the customer, essential for controlling income and financial expenses.
- They are used to measure the invoice issuing processes, the financial risks in them and a subsequent and consequent optimization of these processes.
- They offer information transparency, both internally and to customers.
- Early detection of incidents, such as in the easyap supplier portalwhere the appropriate information is presented to each supplier.
What has changed with the online world is the application of these financial processes. Little by little the notebook and the traditional pen with which financial reports were made give way to technology and its advances.
Financial Controls | Automation
Advantages of implementing and automating financial controls in the invoicing process
Material and time savings are significant thanks to these technological advances. The cost calculator reflects the savings to the company of automating the invoicing processes to carry out financial controls more efficiently. A clear reflection of the benefits of implementing and automating financial services controls is that now, with companies such as Easyap, electronic invoices are issued and processed almost instantly, whereas before they were operations that involved multiple procedures and, above all, time.
Another novelty in the implementation and automation of these financial processes is that an event can be recorded in a much more agile way. Simply, the event is recorded with a time stamp on each invoice and the project's financial auditors will monitor its evolution on site. You can even measure the traceability of the financial statements by checking each and every step taken and the financial instruments you work with.
Therefore, and by way of conclusion, it is absurd to ignore the importance of these financial processes and their automation. But in this new digital era, in which the implementation of automated financial processes is key and something that most companies already do, it is even more so. So whether you work with companies specializing in financial controls such as Easyap or in-house, the savings in two fundamental aspects of life - time and money - should be highly valued.
