BlackLine

BlackLine is used to monitor our close processes, account reconciliations, and task management. It is only used in our accounting department, but benefits the entire company by ensuring that the data is accurate. We used to manage the close process in Excel which yielded no accountability and did not assure us that the work was getting done accurately.

The accounting department uses BlackLine for monitoring month end close tasks and balance sheet account reconciliations. We are currently implementing the matching module.

We currently use BlackLine for tasks, transaction matching, and reconciliations. BlackLine helped us improve period-end close flow and documentation. Our reconciliations are consistent across the company and many get picked up by auto-certification rules so we don't have to review and document each period. The reconciliations contain the necessary time and date stamps that our auditors look for to prove that dual review is happening in a timely manner. Probably the highest impact product we implemented was transaction matching for our bank activity. Our implementation consultant was extremely helpful and knowledgeable about setting up matching rules. These rules automatically match off transactions, so we only have to look at the exceptions. We were able to get an impressive match rate of 95%.

Currently I hold a system administration role and I also perform monthly/quarterly reconciliations in Blackline as a preparer. Business problems that Blackline addresses mainly would be having the ability access reconciliations across all regions on one platform. We have over 30 regions that perform reconciliations on a monthly basis. So to be able as a system admin keep all accounts assigned accurately and up to date is a must with the volume we see every month.

Blackline is a document repository and a financial closing tool for Journals, accounts and intercompany invoicing. The system helps in centralizing data, and standardizing our closing process all around the company.

Reconciliatin Automation and Helping clients to match large datasets

We use BlackLine to prepare, review and approve journal entries to post to Oracle ERP. We also use BlackLine to prepare, review and approve month end Reconciliation and to document all related support. We also use BlackLine for reporting and data analysis. BlackLine helps us manager the month end close and reporting process seamlessly.

Our organization uses Blackline in all parts of our Accounting close process - for journal processing, tasks, and reconciliations. We also use additional functionality they offer like matching, automated journals, and much more. The Blackline interface is very user friendly and helps keep all things close tasks organized, especially in such a large company with so many teams and tasks/journal entries.

We currently utilise Account Recs across all areas of Finance globally. We previously used Tasks however have since moved to a alternative system that QAD have been utilising for many years internally within Finance for other areas. Reporting is also utilised by certain individuals, most so by myself as I'm the System owner at QAD so I report on metrics, user count, user assignments. ETC. The big thing BlackLine addressed is preparing Excel reconciliation files for anything and everything - setting thresholds and auto-certification limits allowed us to streamline and really focus on account recs that are material.

Our Business uses a variety of BlackLine products, most notably Journals, Reconciliations, and Tasks. We are starting to implement cash app and variance analysis soon. BlackLine helps address the very manual processes we have and either completely automates them or automates part of them improving the efficiency. In my BlackLine experience and journey the best way BlackLine has improved my job has been with account reconciliations, specifically using their transaction matching product. This allows a bank reconciliation to be almost completely automated allowing a much faster and accurate close process. Matching goes much further than just bank reconciliations and we have slowly been implementing it into reconciliations that require a higher level of detail.

BlackLine is a great solution to complement and enhance our SAP instance. We utilize account reconciliations, tasks, variance analysis, compliance, and journal entry models. A lot of these models are now tied to our month-end and year-end processes which have helped us close our books quickly and efficiently. When it comes to SOX audits, our BlackLine systems pose few issues due to the audit behavior nature that is engrained in the culture. I find it easy to satisfy my audits with BlackLine, and for that I am thankful!

Starbucks initially implemented the BlackLine solution to go paperless for journals (using tasks) and reconciliation preparation and approval back in 2012. In 2019 we implemented the matching and journal module for our revenue accounting team, which supports over 10,000 retail stores and roughly 1.5 billion in sales monthly. After a few years of learnings and working with BlackLine and various account managers, we were able to realize time savings of over 200 hours per month for a single team. In 2021, journals and matching expanded to other teams within the Starbucks accounting organization, and another 200 hours per month of time savings were achieved. This took partnering with members of the BlackLine development team and having some tough conversations with our support teams at BlackLine. We had some challenges with new releases and had to actively work to understand the impact to our users and escalate tickets as needed. In 2022 we hit a good stride and truly had an amazing story to share. As winners of the 2022 Modern Accounting Award, Starbucks was recognized as pioneers. I value our partnership with BlackLine, UHY, and our internal technology department to achieve success to date.

I use it for reconciliations and keeping track of monthly and quarterly tasks.

My company uses BlackLine for monthly and yearly reconciliations and tasks. It helps centralize all our needs vs. using several other software such as Google docs, box, etc. Everything is extremely user-friendly; the interface is easy to follow, and you are able to make notes on reconciliations and tasks, so whoever is approving can read it. BlackLine is pretty customizable per user, we use the matching feature for some of our reconciliations, and it has been a complete time saver.

I use BlackLine for journal entries. BlackLine organizes them and allows us to view other coworkers' journals as well. The filters help us find certain things in long works.

Use Blackline during month-end closing for the account recon. Our whole entity is using the process in order to avoid paper filling and increase recon convenience. Also the recon history is much easier to find. Approval is also convenient if the manager is out of office. Blackline helps a lot

We use it to faciliate account reconciliations, journal entry approvals and task management. Our various SAP systems automatically send account balances and journal entries to BlackLine. We can also manually import account reconciliations for our locations that are not on SAP.

My experience with BlackLine has grown over the last 2 years as our company utilizes more of what BlackLine has to offer. The automation available within BlackLine have been a huge time saver when it comes to posting entries, analyzing accounts and submitting final reconciliations. Highly recommend for companies looking to move beyond manual entries and Excel backup, as BlackLine can accommodate so much more than what I originally thought.

BlackLine is used for tracking month end tasks, create journal entries linked to ERP, perform reconciliations, store data source and automate reports.

BlackLine has helped to streamline our Reconciliation process for timely close and reporting at our company. We have implemented it globally and help to meet our compliance for reporting. BlackLine has added compliance to SOX controls for better performance and execution. We have over 700 users who prepare, approve and review our reconciliation.

BlackLine brings automation, standardization and visibility to our organization's accounting and finance function. It integrates well with other systems and brings a welcome level of improved efficiencies and accuracies. Highly recommend BlackLine to all companies.

We use Blackline to complete all of our month-end account reconciliations (over 1500 GL accounts). We also use it for Task Management in our Finance/Accounting team. What used to be a very manual and time-consuming process each month (completing and reviewing account reconciliations) is now an efficient and streamlined process within our organization. Consistency and automation are crucial for our growing organization, and Blackline provides that to us.

BlackLine is used in the accounting department. We are using it to be more consistent with recons and tasks--stored in one location. This year we implemented and used the variance analysis component and it worked extremely well. It was convenient to have variances automatically highlighted and the analysts' comments in one document for review vs several.

We use BlackLine to reconcile our patient clearing account and to reconcile what comes in our deposits against what we post to accounts in our EMR. BlackLine allows us to better identify what has or has not been posted and to drill down at a granular level to find what is missing.

We use BlackLine as our primary software for all aspects of our close process. BlackLine makes it easy for us to group accounts and link Journal Entries to Tasks, and complete Reconciliations to find and correct variances prior to close.