The recession has sent company finance departments looking for ways to cut costs, and although the spotlight often falls on other parts of the organisation, some are finding savings much closer to home. Increased use of outsourcing and shared services can seem like obvious judgment calls, and their use in finance and administration has increased dramatically over the past few years.

But whether either of these routes have been followed, or not, there are still areas of the finance function that can benefit from increased automation – such as general ledger account reconciliation and the financial close process.