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BlackLine

BlackLine

Overview

What is BlackLine?

BlackLine automates the the processes required to finalize periodic closing of the books. Beyond close/reconciliation management the product includes capabilities to enhance the management and control of financial processes throughout the accounting cycle.In October 2020, BlackLine acquired Rimilia, an AR…

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Recent Reviews

amazing we want more

10 out of 10
March 28, 2024
I use BlackLine (BL) for reconciliations - in my case I cannot integrate the tool for credit cards recs with BL for some reason. I would …
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Excellent Product!

9 out of 10
October 22, 2023
BlackLine will allow us to more efficiently and effectively complete account reconciliations. We will be able to more readily analyze our …
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Goes Beyond

9 out of 10
October 21, 2023
BlackLine helps Carlisle Companies automate financial close processes across a disparate Finance and IT landscape. It gives us better …
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BlackLine Works!

10 out of 10
September 27, 2023
We have many affiliates within the organization. While not all of them use BlackLine, I support the administration of the affiliates that …
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 5 features
  • Detailed Audit Trails (50)
    8.7
    87%
  • Journal entries and reports (39)
    8.4
    84%
  • Customizable Workflows (33)
    8.0
    80%
  • Multi-currency management (26)
    7.6
    76%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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N/A
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What is BlackLine?

BlackLine automates the the processes required to finalize periodic closing of the books. Beyond close/reconciliation management the product includes capabilities to enhance the management and control of financial processes throughout the accounting cycle. In October 2020, BlackLine acquired…

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Features

Consolidation and Close

Consolidation of data from multiple entities with currency management, reporting and audit trails.

8.1
Avg 8.3
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Product Details

What is BlackLine?

BlackLine automates the the processes required to finalize periodic closing of the books. Beyond close/reconciliation management the product includes capabilities to enhance the management and control of financial processes throughout the accounting cycle.

In October 2020, BlackLine acquired Rimilia, an AR automation solution. Rimilia's capabilities are now part of the BlackLine platform.

BlackLine Features

Consolidation and Close Features

  • Supported: Financial data consolidation
  • Supported: Journal entries and reports
  • Supported: Multi-currency management
  • Supported: Detailed Audit Trails
  • Supported: Reconciliation Automation
  • Supported: Close Checklist
  • Supported: Customizable Workflows

Additional Features

  • Supported: Intercompany Non-Trade
  • Supported: Intercompany Balance & Resolve
  • Supported: Intercompany Net & Settle
  • Supported: Compliance
  • Supported: Financial Reporting Analytics

BlackLine Videos

BlackLine Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationApple iOS, Android

Frequently Asked Questions

Reviewers rate Detailed Audit Trails highest, with a score of 8.7.

The most common users of BlackLine are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(316)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-25 of 241)
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March 28, 2024

amazing we want more

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I use BlackLine (BL) for reconciliations - in my case I cannot integrate the tool for credit cards recs with BL for some reason. I would love this feature - it works fine with Cash recs . The tool I am using is ReconNet product from Trintech where the system talk between each other. I would be delightful if same can be used for the credit cards. I also have variance analysis and tasks to complete . I find variance analysis not much user friendly to navigate, I need to export in excel the figures in order to have a better picture. Really lovely the tasks feature instead that allows me to complete my job paying attention to deadlines and it's useful as reminder.
  • Tasks feature
  • Integration with SAP
  • Reconciliations easy and clean
  • Fast
  • allows me to manage my time efficiently
  • Improve Variance analysis to be more user friendly without need of downloading in excel
  • Integrations with other tools like ReconNet - Trintech product for Credit Cards recs
  • More flexibility in the grouping - sometimes groups done by currencies left me with more recs to complete
Well suited for reconciliations of cash deposits from stores, amazing connection with SAP Hana fashion that allows me to save lot of time where reconciliation is already certified with no need to provide support for Audit purposes and for my reference if any adjustment is needed by using the Required adj reports. BlackLine improved my work life for month end activities by reducing my time spent on recs from 10 working days to 5 working days - a whole week !! love it
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We currently use it for our tasks, account recons, journals, and hope to have variances turned on here in the next few months. These modules have helped us speed up the journal entry and approval process. It has also streamed lined our reoncs to a cnetral data base from being saved per user on multiple locations.
  • Account Reconciliations
  • Journal Entries
  • Tasks
  • Would like to have some out of the box examples on how to automate journals
  • Need to have a easier way to put custom screens/data on the home screen
  • Would like to have the ability do more on the mobile app
For my job I relay a lot of journal entry uploads. Until we brought BlackLine on, it was easy to load in SAP but all the other accounting and finance users could not get my backup easily without reaching out to me directly. BlackLine has given the ability to have this readily available to the others.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
BlackLine has been a lifesaver for my finance team. There was some job transitioning after we had completed our setup, as two employees moved out of state. With a completely manual close process, we were at a 7+ day close. With two people gone, and no replacement for them provided, we were able to continue our close process with no hiccups, and even lowering the close to 4.5 days with the assistance of our BlackLine products. We use tasks to keep up with the differing tasks (monthly, quarterly, yearly, etc.). We use journal entries and are loving the separation of duties and audit trail it provides. We use reconciliations, which has changed my world, as I have over 300 recs a month to complete. With our account setups, it is not only able to reconcile the accounts that had no account activity for me to review, but it's also able to process my recurring and amortization items for me. We recently started using the matching feature and it has changed our 2-day cash reconciliation to a couple of hours. It worked so well, we implemented it at our foreign locations as well.
  • Reconciliations can be set up in many different ways, however you need, and is very easy to use.
  • Tasks have made it so we always know where we are at as individuals and as a team. If someone is behind, we can view that, and someone can jump in and assist when necessary. A very team-friendly addition.
  • The journal entries function is a great process as there is a definite separation of duties and an audit trail that cannot be edited, which can be provided upon request. When it can be set up to automatically "speak" to your accounting system, the process is even better as there is limited manual touching.
  • I have not found the customer community to be as helpful as we were told it would be.
  • When setting up our Matching abilities, we did not have a team big enough to have one or two people 100% focused on that set up and it took longer than we anticipated because of that. It was understandably upsetting/frustrating for the BlackLine set-up team, but it should have been something they were aware of as it was explained that we had limited staff and could not give 100% to this project until it was complete. We were able to give them a small amount of time each week.
  • Deleting/removing tasks or duplicate reconciliation accounts is not always easy to do, and requires someone with quite a bit of knowledge of the admin side to walk someone through it.
BlackLine has worked well for our companies, as we have a very old ERP system that is limited to what can be done within the system. Everything was done manually through Excel and binders to keep everything together, and each location had their own way of closing, so there was no consistency. It took longer to complete our close, and it created opportunities for a lack of separation of duties within the process. BlackLine has everything in one place, easy viewing of past months, strict separation of duties implemented (based on your specifications,) easy viewing for an auditor to get everything they need without a lot of hands on from the team, and works the same across all of our global locations, but in their local language and currency. BlackLine may not be a huge assist to those that have ERP systems that can handle doing the Recs, the JE's, the approvals, etc., all within its own system, as long as every location is on the same system. If they are all on different accounting systems, BlackLine can assist in providing consistency across all accounting locations, so processes can be the same no matter where they are located.
Seth Turner | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I have been using BlackLine Financial Close Management for month-end close including Reconciliations, prepaid amortization schedules, and task management. This product has helped organize our month-end close processes throughout our company including subsidiaries. BlackLine has streamlined our close and post-close processes giving our teams more time to focus on more value-adding projects.
  • Intuitive User Interface
  • Reconciliation Management
  • Task Management
  • Amortization Schedules
  • Integration with other Apps
  • Additional Inter-company Features
BlackLine makes it easy to prepare and review reconciliations. It provides a summary of what is complete and what is remaining, giving management a quick complete snapshot of progress. In addition, the amortization schedule functionality streamlines the reconciliation process and provides an easy-to-read summary. BlackLine has streamlined our close and post-close processes giving our teams more time to focus on more value-adding.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use BlackLine for Account Reconciliations and Close Task Management
  • Automation
  • Audit Trail
  • Documentation
  • Better response time on support tickets
BlackLine is suited for automating mundane tasks and streamlining processes. For example I used to have to manually tie out Excel balance sheet recs to the TB. It was time consuming but necessary to ensure we were within our controls. Now with BlackLine we don't have to do the tie out as it's all automated with the system. Also if a rec is certified but the balance changes after the system will automatically notify the preparer which prevents us from having a higher risk of unreconciled balances.
November 02, 2023

BlackLine is the best!

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use BlackLine for month end close, cash app, and research.
  • User friendly
  • efficient
  • ease of searching for applications
  • verifying invoice amounts
The ease of use is really helpful for beginners. This system is easily adaptable and can be manipulated to suit your company.
October 24, 2023

Reporting and Insights!

Amanda Lochtefeld, CPA | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We utilize BlackLine for Account Reconciliations, Journal Entries and Tasks. We utilize various reports from the tool to evaluate performance and track key performance indicators. Additionally we rely on both manual and automated controls around the tool.
  • Reporting
  • User access provisioning
  • Connects to Tableau
  • Connects to multiple ERP systems
  • Dashboards
  • App bugs
Well suited in both our manufacturing and retail entities. Additionally connects with various ERP systems. The task module allows for designating key tasks clearly for close tracking.
October 22, 2023

Excellent Product!

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
BlackLine will allow us to more efficiently and effectively complete account reconciliations. We will be able to more readily analyze our many accounts and even auto-certify some accounts. This will free up personnel to complete other tasks or conduct further analysis on other areas. Overall, our quality and assurance will go up.
  • Account recons
  • Reporting
  • Matching
I think BlackLine will provide amazing insight and efficiency to any mid-size or larger company across the world. Many companies do not realize their inefficiencies and BlackLine can provide them a way to more easily succeed. Even companies that think their processes are perfect would stand to give BlackLine a run.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I implement BlackLine for my clients and they use it to automate their various Close to Report processes, from recs to journals. BlackLine is a one-of-a-kind tool in the market. It helps tackle various intercompany pain points through a methodical, well-thought-out, end-to-end solution.
  • Connecting to SAP
  • Automating recurring manual steps
  • Visibility to leadership
  • Less time spent initially acting upon tickets
  • Better connectivity with ERPs other than SAP
  • Provide a list of choices for generally requested customizations
BlackLine is a one-of-a-kind tool in the market. It helps not only with managing IC transactions but also with identifying potential data issues that can help improve data quality and processes upstream.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are excited at the opportunities we have to implement BlackLine's Account Rec and Task Modules as a part of initial implementation as well as pursue future opportunities like Smart Close and FR Analytics. Our team is expecting to significantly reduce manual effort so we can repurpose our team to focus on improving our deliverables as a finance function and focus on more value-added analysis work.
  • Scalability to be able to start small and then continue to expand the use of BlackLine with additional modules
  • The implementation process is smooth and it is nice to have dedicated support throughout the process
  • Customer focus of hearing what users want to see for future products
  • It is a bit daunting to implement at first
  • Change management with internal Finance teams
BlackLine is well suited for the journal entry, accounting rec, and close process. It aims to simplify and reduce manual effort.
Angelique Peltier | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use transaction matching in BlackLine to reconcile our fiduciary bank accounts. BlackLine has moved us out of the traditional Excel bank reconciliations and opened the door to automation. Our month-end close process for these accounts is more efficient than we ever imagined it could be, because of BlackLine.
  • Transaction Matching
  • Automation
  • Reporting
  • Education Documentation
  • Commenting on transactions
  • Easier ways to rebuild match sets and data sources
Bank reconciliation and data matching are two scenarios we have found BlackLine to be the most useful.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We currently use Tasks, Journals, and Accounts. The product addresses our need to keep all data in one area where good data can provide accurate reports.
  • Automation
  • Tasks
  • Data Storage
  • We need more flexibility with usage on portable devices
  • Better responses to our BL Support Cases
  • Less System Issues
The system is wonderful. It facilitates our close.
October 21, 2023

Goes Beyond

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
BlackLine helps Carlisle Companies automate financial close processes across a disparate Finance and IT landscape. It gives us better visibility into the close process to manage risk and drive process improvement.
  • Automate
  • Manage risk
  • Drive efficiency
  • APIs
BlackLine is a great product for account reconciliation and journal processes.
September 27, 2023

BlackLine Works!

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We have many affiliates within the organization. While not all of them use BlackLine, I support the administration of the affiliates that use it. I am also encouraging the implementation of its use for those that do not. We primarily use Task Management and Account Reconciliations. We have rolled out the SAP Connector and are now training on Enhanced Reporting.
  • Ease of use
  • Organization
  • Support
  • Security
  • Design Options
  • Aesthetics
  • Organization structure
  • Access management
I think it is integral to use this system to gain efficiencies and centralize the organization of your balance sheet information.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I am a reviewer of reconciliations and monitor monthly tasks to determine where we are on our close process. We needed a repository for all reconciliations and supporting documentation, as well as reportable data we can look at in a dashboard or report.
  • Customer Support is AMAZING
  • Everything is user friendly
  • BlackLine cares about listening to customer's needs.
  • Daily certification!
  • Being able to maintain seeing the reconciliation while entering a comment.
  • User groups for industries (financial institutions)
BlackLine has been awesome at creating reconciliations in a uniform manner, allowing visibility into our close process, and being a repository for all of our supporting documents.
September 18, 2023

BlackLine

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We currently use BlackLine to prepare account reconciliations and manage tasks. BlackLine helps us with efficiency in our account reconciliations and automating the process instead of having our team spend time manually reconciling. It has been a great time saver and has brought tremendous visibility to our accounts and processes.
  • Account visibility
  • Efficiency
  • Automation
  • More information to the users of all the BlackLine capabilities
In my opinion, BlackLine is great if a company wants to improve visibility, reconciliation efficiency, management and overall organization of all things finance in one place. I think it would be less appropriate if the company is small and there wouldnt be much efficiency because of low volume.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
My team uses BlackLine for Bank Reconciliations and Balance Sheet Reconciliations. It's one place to reconcile and record your entries with a place to attach backup for audit purposes.
  • Matching
  • Amortization Schedules
  • To me, It doesn't feel intuitive or as user friendly
In my experience, you will get what you put into BlackLine. I used to work with BlackLine in a previous role and it was only used to do reconciliations. It kept a good record of what makes up your GL balance and is easy to attach and find documentation pertaining to your rec. Upon joining this new organization, which utilizes BlackLine to a greater capacity, it's clear to me that if you are willing to dedicate the time and effort to utilize BlackLine, it can be an efficient tool. We use this now to record amortization, so we only have to make the initial entry.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We previously had a very manual process which was fully excel based. With the BlackLine tools, we have been able to modernize our accounting function and increase flexibility and automation within our department. We use BlackLine for account reconciliations, journals, transaction matching, intercompamy management, and AR automation.
  • Great customer service
  • Application always works
  • Many product offerings
  • Getting data from ERP can be challenging
In my experience, the tool always works! It has solved multiple business problems and added significant automation for us.
September 18, 2023

Love BlackLine Recs

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use BlackLine for our Account Recs and Tasks. Tasks helps help us on schedule and account recs help keep our finances in control.
  • no need for spreadsheets
  • Easier way to find an answer in the Community center. I ask a question and see a lot of customer comments, and but I'm looking for the instructions to do something.
Unfortuneately, we only use 2 modules but are excited about the other modules the BlackLine has to offer and we think would be a great fit, like matching.
September 18, 2023

We love BlackLine!

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Blackline has helped eliminate so many of our Excel spreadsheets and manual close processes. This is one of the best software implementations I have been a part of. We continue to work with them to think about our processes in new ways and work toward more efficiency and automation. I cannot recommend this enough!!
  • Account Reconciliations
  • Variance Analysis
  • Task Management
  • Prices do go up yearly
In my opinion, if you are still doing account reconciliations and variance analysis in Excel, you need Blackline!! You will not regret investing in this program. As long as your company/department is willing to change processes to become more efficient, this is a home run!
September 18, 2023

Recommend BlackLine!

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Blackline to complete account reconciliations, journal entries, and task management. These products have helped with maintaining visibility and manage workflow.
  • Workflow Management
  • Visibility
  • Easy of use/navigate
  • Adding new entities into existing grouped account recs
  • Bulk re-assignment of journal masters
  • Ability to select specific journal masters to run to create child journals
Blackline is excellent at workflow management. We were printing journal entries, account reconciliations, and support, and routing for approval. Using BlackLine has completely eliminated this process.
September 18, 2023

Blackline Basics

Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
[...] currently uses Blackline for its Task and Account Reconciliation Management. Blackline allows us to harbor month-end close tasks to manage close timing + centralize reconciliations for internal and external auditors.
  • User Friendly
  • Provides Optimal Resources
  • Allows management team to orchestrate seamless month end closes
  • Live user support
  • Providing relatable user cases for a company
  • Helpful user hints within each interface (instead of within community)
Account reconciliation feature are perfect for day to day accountants. Need more work done on FRA to be more of an FP&A reporting feature
Naomi Garcia, MBA | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We currently use BlackLine to reconcile and manage more than 1m properties. Currently we are leveraging BlackLine to work through account reconciliations related to Construction, Development, Property and Fund accounting for our logistics real estate clients. We reconcile at the property level to allow us to see detail which can be complicated by the different phases of the real estate cycle. BlackLine allows us to have a more comprehensive and trustworthy insight to our financials, which is essential to our public parent company. Being able to report confidently in critical times is imperative to our continued success. Naturally BlackLine filled the gap!
  • Reporting is dynamic and user friendly
  • Matching is sophisticated enough to shave off hours
  • Auto-Reconciliation is a lifesaver
  • Journals could be a little more intuitive and robust
  • Would love to see more APIs, particularly with Yardi or customizable for any ERP
  • Embed AI for all customers to use across the platform entirely- not just for journals or matching
BlackLine allows us to have a more comprehensive and trustworthy insight to our financials which is essential to our public parent company. However, I would love to see BlackLine integrate more seamlessly with Yardi and other ERP systems to continue to mitigate risk with file transfer automation. The dashboards are also very intuitive for most users, however I would love to see interactive dashboards for system admins as well
September 15, 2023

Great product

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I am currently the system admin. I create users, assign and redistribute users and build teams and organizational structure. I also use it by jumping in to prepare, approve or review as well train others how to use it.
  • Audit Trail
  • Attaching documents
  • Template Layouts
  • Amortizable Schedule
  • Reporting and Dashboards are customizable to certain extent
  • Pricing and all inclusive pricing and cost per user
It is overall a good product for Reconciliations based on other products that I use. It is laid out well and easy to train on.
September 15, 2023

User Friendly

Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Blackline was used to perform balance sheet reconciliation as well as posting financial adjustment during month end closing. It is user friendly system where system will prompt error message when incorrect data inserted. The batch upload template of the financial adjustment template save time and work in efficient way to reduce any potential mistake.
  • system prompt details error message when something not right
  • time saving and less hassle when using batch upload function
  • produce accurate result
  • system respond speed is slow when perform financial adjustment
  • it take time to run when switching from individual task to team task
  • searching tool is slow to respond
BlackLine is a good tool help to reduce error when posting financial adjustment. The approver can clearly see all the supporting documents and related entries which certainly help to reduce time to find it manually.
The fallback will be the slow response from the system when searching the journal entries under department.
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