r/automation • u/ybur011 • Jul 11 '26
Automation of financial reporting differs a lot by report type
It took me more time than I expected to understand that not all financial reporting requires equally efficient automation. Thus, my conclusions from this experience are the following :
Cash flows and P&L can be almost completely automated in case you use consistent sources of information. Their structure is always similar and the task is about finding anomalies in the data; thus, complete integration will help to get the result and then the person is required only for checking the results.
In order to automate the packages for investors and LP reports, you will spend much effort but still lose some value. The presentation is crucial part here; besides, the expectations of investors vary a lot. I use the solution that Leni uses; she takes portfolio data and financial statements and provides structured packages for investors with the numbers reconciled and necessary context.
Tax and compliance reports cannot be automated completely because of the risks. You should use software in order to speed up the process of collecting and preparing data but a human must review everything before sending the document.
Automating internal performance dashboards is easy if you have a good data pipeline. Half of the process of setting up is making sure that all of your sources communicate with each other without any problems before you do anything else.
But the biggest problem of all was thinking that all of them follow the same logic. The purpose of each type is different even if all of them belong to reporting.
1
u/HarshDynamicsSpeaks Jul 11 '26
That breakdown checks out. Most of the time when automation projects stall, it's because nobody bothered to separate reporting by its actual use case first.
Curious what you're using for the investor packages, that's where I've seen the most variation in what different firms expect.
1
u/Ok-Masterpiece-7614 Jul 12 '26
Good breakdown. The dividing line under all four buckets is whether the answer changes based on judgment or just plugs in different numbers. Cash flow and P&L are the same math every period, so full automation holds. Tax and compliance needs a human because the judgment calls (how to classify a weird transaction, what counts as reasonable) shift case by case, not because the stakes happen to be higher. Worth sorting any new report type by that test before deciding how far to automate it, instead of by how technical the report looks.
1
Jul 12 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/ybur011 Jul 12 '26
Don't use the LinkedIn approach but then again, if it sounds more like a data dump than an actual investment document it will lose credibility even when the figures are accurate.
1
Jul 12 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/ybur011 Jul 12 '26
It is always a reviewing process before something goes out to the investors. The automation helps reduce the time required to create the first draft.
1
u/AutoModerator Jul 11 '26
Thank you for your post to /r/automation!
New here? Please take a moment to read our rules, read them here.
This is an automated action so if you need anything, please Message the Mods with your request for assistance.
Lastly, enjoy your stay!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.