Australian finance teams can lose hundreds of hours each year to work they could automate. For example, they might have to match bank transactions to invoices, chase overdue payments one by one, and re-enter the same customer details across three different systems. Finance automation solutions replace that manual work with automated software, which runs on its own using prompts and rules. Implementing these solutions lets staff leave busywork behind and focus on tasks that require human decision-making.

Below, we discuss what automated financial systems are, three areas where this automation often happens, and how Australian businesses need to introduce these tools.

Key takeaways

• Finance automation is most helpful in three connected areas: payments, invoicing, and reconciliation.

• Automated systems can reduce errors that come from manual data entry and can also free up finance staff to focus on exceptions and unique events rather than routine processing.

• Introducing these tools effectively requires careful setup and getting staff on board.

What are automated financial systems?

Automated financial systems are software technologies that execute financial processes on their own, without a human working through each step. These tools can generate an invoice as soon as an order is made, match an incoming bank transaction to its invoice, calculate goods and services tax (GST) on a sale, and pull data into reports.

What are the main areas of finance automation for Australian companies?

Finance automation systems use different mechanics depending on the scenarios they're applied to, and each workflow involves a catalyst, a rule set, and an output. Australian businesses usually build finance automation around three connected areas:

Payments

With automatic payments, a business doesn't have to wait for a customer to log in and pay their bills themselves. Instead, an automated payment collection system manages subscription or recurring charges. It checks a schedule daily, and when a billing or renewal date arrives, it puts the charge through using saved payment details. If a card gets declined, the system runs a retry schedule over several days. In Australia, this technology handles local payment methods such as BPAY and direct debit through the Bulk Electronic Clearing System (BECS) the same way it handles card payments.

Invoicing

A completed sale, signed contract, or subscription milestone prompts an automated invoicing system to pull customer and line-item data such as the type of goods or service sold, apply the applicable GST rate, format the document, and send it, often through the same platform that processed the sale. This eliminates the need for manual invoicing.

Reconciliation

An automated reconciliation tool matches a completed transaction with its invoice using identifiers such as the payment reference, the amount, and sometimes the payer's Bank State Branch (BSB) and account number. If it's a clean match, the software automatically closes the invoice and updates the general ledger. Unmatched entries are routed to a person who can resolve them.

How does finance automation benefit Australian businesses?

Finance automation offers real benefits for Australian businesses. It helps save money, free up employees' time, and improve accuracy.

Here's what that looks like:

• Efficiency: Finance teams no longer have to spend hours on reconciling accounts and generating invoices. Automated systems handle most of this work, leaving humans with a handful of special cases that don't fit the rules.

• Accuracy: Manual data entry can introduce errors, such as transposed numbers, missed invoices, and incorrect GST calculations. These tools reduce human error and eliminate variance when different people work on the same task.

• Cost savings: Reducing time spent on routine tasks lowers labour costs per transaction, while improved accuracy reduces the cost of fixing errors.

What constraints come with finance automation for Australian companies?

Finance automation comes with constraints: it's sensitive, sometimes complicates certain workflows, and shifts where human judgement is applied.

Here are some things to consider:

• Integrations can be complex: These tools must connect to existing accounting software, bank feeds, and customer relationship management (CRM) systems. Businesses running older or heavily customised platforms might find integration work takes longer than expected, especially when different data formats don't line up easily.

• GST and reporting accuracy depend on a correct initial setup: Automated GST calculation depends on properly configured rules for the business's specific situation. Errors in the initial setup repeat at scale and can cause further problems.

• People will still need to handle exceptions: No algorithm can catch every edge case. When a customer pays through a different bank account, sends a partial payment, or includes the wrong reference number, that transaction requires human review. The goal of automation is simply to reduce the amount of screening people have to do.

• Roles will change: Staff who have performed tasks manually for years might need training to understand their new responsibilities. They might also need reassurance that automation is changing their job, not eliminating it outright. Employers that fail to retrain and reassure staff might see slower adoption and increased mistrust of the new systems.

How can Australian companies determine the right finance automation approach for their business?

When introducing finance automation, think about where manual work is heaviest. A business with a high volume of recurring charges will likely get more immediate value from automating billing first. At the same time, a company that handles large numbers of one-off payments across multiple channels could see more benefit from prioritising reconciliation. Map out transaction volumes and where errors tend to occur, then choose a tool that saves you time, effort, and money.

How Stripe Revenue Recognition can help

Revenue Recognition helps to streamline revenue accounting and financial reporting – accelerating end-of-month close, reporting, and more – so you can close your books with greater efficiency and accuracy. It automates and configures revenue accounting to help support compliance in line with ASC 606 and IFRS 15 standards.

Revenue Recognition can help you:

• Gain a more complete view of your revenue: In the Stripe Dashboard, automatically recognise revenue for all Stripe subscription and payments and import non-Stripe data for a complete revenue sub-ledger.

• Automate revenue reports: Generate accounting reports that are ready for enterprise resource planning (ERP) upload – without engineering resources.

• Customise for your business: Create and automate custom rules to recognise revenue, in line with your business's accounting practices.

• Reconcile and close faster: Reconcile revenue faster and more accurately by tracing any journal entry amount down to the underlying customers and transactions.

Learn more about how Revenue Recognition can help you comply with global accounting principles, or get started today.

FAQs about finance automation for Australian companies