[r00fus]

Do you work on corporate finance? Because constantly running such reports is not free. Can't just handwave away the nontrivial administrative overhead.

Heres a snapshot - monthly financial closes often require forward or reverse accounting so things are properly budgeted and balanced.

A trial balance report is easy to run, but then the numbers have to be reviewed & approved and discrepancies resolved.

[nradov]

Running automated reports is essentially free. With a properly designed accounting system it becomes impossible to create discrepancies in the first place. This requires a paradigm shift akin to doing software development with full continuous delivery (100% automation of the build / test / release) cycle but some forward thinking companies have done it successfully.

[jacques_chester]

I believe the point r00fus is making is that a lot of these transactions require human intervention. Lots of situations require professional judgement -- accounting is not simply bookkeeping (for which yes, computers can carry the can).

Still, from an ignorant outsider's POV, it would be interesting to run towards the pain. My instinct is that smaller batch sizes are better overall.

[nradov]

Sure many transactions require human judgment. Shift left. Make those decisions before entering transactions into the main accounting system. Don't wait until the end of a certain period and then try to figure out everything all at once.

[wtvanhest]

Most decisions are made prior to entering data in to the system. One area that is an example are accruals. You must wait until the end of the month to know what invoices haven't hit the accounting ledger to then know what accruals to enter. It gets complex because invoices are not standardized and it typically requires a level of judgment as to whether they should be entered.

Then there are other transactions. Is this capex entry really capex or should it be opex? Well, we need a meeting with a technical accountant.

There have been a lot of steps toward automating accounting, and most (lets say 95%) of transactions are instant and require no intervention.

The 5% remaining require human intervention. In order to close the books faster you would need to either figure out a way to automate the rest (really hard) or hire a bigger finance and accounting staff who would then be idol most of the month.

I dont work in accounting, I work in FP&A, so I am sure there are other examples I dont know about.