The institute of Robotic Process Automation (IRPA) defines RPA as the application of technology that allows employees in the company to configure computer software or a robot to capture and interpret existing applications for processing a transaction, manipulation of data, triggered responses and communications with different digital systems.
The automation which requires hard-codes and languages to manage the workflows and Application Programming Interfaces (API’s) into software programs.
RPA imitates the action of individuals and that’s what helps in making RPA unique from other technologies used for automation.
O yes! We all believe that Robots are the technical version of humans just with some technical codes and languages.
RPA functions in the same manner just the way that a human accountant interprets and analyses the data from the physical document which gets procured and then it transfers it to the multiple applications on the computer.
Robots without any hassle can transfer the data across various applications and helps in mimicking activities such as making clicks, typing and simplifying the files and making a move between the windows.
The robots can just use the native apps and add AI and Machine Learning models which magnifies the capabilities and the learning experiences.
RPA has an important role to play for Accountants in conducting automated operations across the operations.
The organizations employed human accountants to perform the laborious and repetitive tasks to eradicate the accounting errors from financial transactions, statements, invoices and much more.
RPA can improve efficiency and effectiveness without increasing the risks which a firm needs to face as per the situations in the market.
RPA can lower the cost and even enhances the customer experiences as with automation their queries can get solved at a faster rate.
Accounting firms can make a shift from the traditional approaches of full time equivalent revenue models (FTE) and where revenue is determined by all the individuals on their time-based productivity towards the outcome-based models which need to add value from the traditional transactional models.
The RPA bots deployed for automation are much more at risk which helps in processing a large volume of recurring tasks.
The potentiality of these RPA bots is much higher and these bots can work without mood swings, fatigue, stress and they are not bound to work from 9-5.
Though there are various costs associated with RPA for its initial installation and maintenance costs and the return on investment with RPA gets much higher.
Moreover, for the accounting departments the ROI might not be the motivating factor.
RPA delivers better risk management and compliance along with higher accuracy, better functioning and improvised functioning of the process.
This becomes much more important end of the month reporting for accounts receivable, slowing down the sales outstanding value.
Robots sets the Financial and accounting resources free to function on higher value activities and along with that developing the focus on outcomes.
The overall process enhances employee engagement though competitiveness and delivering the best customer service of all time.
RPA along with AI in the accounting firms
RPA, AI and machine learning along with other advanced cognitive technologies complements one another.
RPA can function properly based on the rules which are being made out so that they can perform repetitive tasks that further get enhanced with AI, machine learning and cognitive technologies.
This might not function as a not only proof of RPA but will function as an on-ramp for AI in the enterprise.
It allows the computer vision to get easier, faster, stable and better results of automation veen for virtual environments.
This appears much more useful for all the situations where the traditional process management ways that make use of SAP, Flash, PDF and images fails or gets difficult to use.
Exception management is a different area which is of high interest. UiPath has started using machine learning to authorize RPA bots to recover by themselves in case of errors.
The advanced algorithms for exception management can get closely monitored employees behaviour to create RPA bots which helps in solving major and complicated exceptions.
Cash in point: Cash Application
Cash applications are the perfect example to demonstrate how RPA can complement other technologies which have slight changes in its functionality along with cognitive and machine learning technologies.
The inputs which have been initiated for cash applications formally involve open and aging receivables and payments received which gets brought in the suspense accounts from the financial statements received from the banks which are clear and applicable.
There are several other inputs which are demonstrated in the cash applications which includes payment remittance which include advice instructions from all the customers via Email notifications where the documents get attached to check as well as in the free form messages or notes within the bank transactions.
In such situations, Machine learning as well as cognitive technologies can carry different actions such as extracting the information of payments from images of cheques, outward and inward remittances from emails and all the supporting documents along with the bank transactions and messages.
Matching the payments to inaugurate the receivables with the help of remittance information.
RPA can be taken into consideration to start the process of open receivables using the information from the existing accounting system and to get the bank statements and transfer it to the accounting system.
RPA can further assist in automating the process of matching the payments to open invoices and make closing statements for the same.
RPA is just a fresh start
RPA can bring positive rewards that the company deserves in the long run and with RPA the companies can become more competitive and standstill in the market.
RPA can provide immunity to the accounting firms in this cutthroat and can even attract new clients for the company as it proves that with RPA the company has the audacity to have an edge over its competitors.
The human accountants can further devote their time towards doing something more productive and they are set free from the laborious and repetitive tasks which are more prone to errors.
RPA helps in simplifying the working environment for the human accountants as well as the accounting firms at large.
Parth Patel is a serial entrepreneur and CEO of SyS Creations which is a top provider of RPA in Accounting. Operating the IT Infrastructure of SMEs and startups keeps him on his toes and his passion for helping others keeps him motivated
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