BlackLine - Power of Automated Account Reconciliations
November 23, 2020

BlackLine - Power of Automated Account Reconciliations

Michael Restuccia | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with BlackLine

Currently, BlackLine is being used within the Accounting department including the domestic and international teams. The company first explored an automated Account Reconciliation tool to address the inefficiency that existed within the close cycle. Prior to BlackLine the company manually reconciled all Balance Sheet accounts utilizing Excel spreadsheets. This proved to be inefficient as we had no meaningful way of prioritizing account reconciliations based on either a Risk Rating system or materiality. Furthermore, account reconciliations for which the balances remained the same throughout the year would still require a manual sign off to comply with our SOX controls. Implementing BlackLine reduced the inefficiency of manually signing off on reconciliations, prioritized reconciliations using risk rankings, and automated sign offs for reconciliations for which the balance didn't change month to month.
  • Automation of Account Reconciliation Sign Offs (Auto Certify)
  • Centralized location for all Account Reconcilations
  • Ability to Manage Account Reconciliation Frequency
  • Dashboards
  • More flexibility around addressing erroneous balances imported into BlackLine
  • Reporting
  • Reduced close cycle by 2 business days
  • Reduced the amount of time preparing and reviewing reconcilations
  • Provided management with visibility into the company's reconciliations
  • Measurement of KPI's through easy to use reports
For FloQast, the answer is easy as they have built their platform around integration with existing Excel workbooks which is exactly what we were trying to get away from. Cadency has a lot of similarities to BlackLine and in some areas it had a more fluid UI experience however the key differentiator was BlackLine's Data Import Template. The DIT allows users to upload directly into BlackLine large amounts of data which becomes crucial whenever updates are made to the company's existing Chart of Accounts.

Do you think BlackLine delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with BlackLine's feature set?

Yes

Did BlackLine live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of BlackLine go as expected?

No

Would you buy BlackLine again?

Yes

Overall, the product performs well and has reduced the company's closing cycle. From uploading large amounts of data to preparing/approving reconciliations, the UI experience is second to none and very easy to use.
The BlackLine support is very responsive and is delivered with the highest level of professionalism.
BlackLine is well suited for managing Account Reconciliations especially if you currently manage your reconciliation through Excel workbooks. Not only can you have account reconciliation automatically signed off, but you can also effectively manage the frequency of when the reconciliations is performed. This allows the accountants to focus on the value added tasks and addressing the high risk accounts.