The closing process can be high-stress for finance leaders and their teams. It’s arduous and complex, with many finance departments still reliant on a range of manual tools (like Excel, Teams and SharePoint) to perform and monitor their closing activities. This leads to a lack of confidence in the numbers that come out of the process.

For businesses to grow, take advantage of new tech and make good decisions, they need reliable data. So we commissioned some research to find out what’s going on in the closing process as organisations across the UK. The report is independent and representative of mid-sized and large UK companies.

Why reliable data is still an issue for many finance leaders at the close.

One of the causes is the prevalence of manual processes; still. Excel is still the software of choice. Only 15% of companies do not use either Excel or other collaborative tools for account analysis and reconciliation. According to our research, tasks that are still mainly carried out using spreadsheets include: accruals (57%), manual journal entries (54%), close calendar management (53%). A surprising reality in the age of AI.

At the same time, the closing process has become increasingly complex. There is a range of data to be processed at the end of the financial period. It appears that it arrives with the finance team in very different ways, leading to a process that is more complicated than it needs to be. Issues that contribute to  complexity were cited as late collection of information (44% mentioned this), multiple files (38%), a reliance on certain key individuals (35%) and 34% said they were held up by a lack of co-ordination between teams.

This has an effect on the risk profile. A largely manual, and increasingly complex, process is difficult to track. This makes it hard to have absolute certainty in the data. Finance leaders know that this reliability gap can result in issues like; a loss of credibility of the finance function with senior management and investors, compliance failures potentially leading to audit qualifications or sanctions, and late detection of fraud with lasting financial and reputational consequences.

It all breeds uncertainty in the data. As a result, we found 67% of finance leaders surveyed had improving the reliability of accounts as a top priority. Certainly, they cannot take advantage of new technologies if they do not have confidence in the quality of the data feeding into the system.

How can finance leaders improve their data reliability in the closing process?

To take advantage of new tech like AI, the data needs to be reliable. It needs to be collected and processed better. More than 75% of finance leaders said they trust artificial intelligence across all closing tasks, whether for detecting anomalies or reducing team workload by automating repetitive and time-consuming tasks (84%).

This confidence (or perhaps hope) is tempered though. Fewer than half report feeling ‘absolutely’ confident. Finance leaders are looking for a solution, but not yet sure where it will come from. We discovered that their main priorities are to improve review and control activities. 53% want to improve accounts analysis, half want advances in analytical review processes and 50% want better control of manual entries.

So the ways to improve data reliability and the workload for the financial team is to:

• Use specific tools, rather than spreadsheets to collect data.
• Create continuous reporting to reduce delays across the organisation.
• Invest in an organisational system to give visibility on progress.
• Encourage inter-team collaboration.

Automating these sections of the closing process will reduce the burden. The financial closing process requires an intense effort over a short period. Closing timelines are between 3-8 days for 74% of companies. It currently places a significant burden on teams, who report stress coming from the quality of tools available and a lack of time for analysis. The quality of tools includes the widespread use of spreadsheets.

While these can be helpful during the closing process, they are not suitable for all activities and should not be considered the primary or most critical tool for managing it. 93% cited tool quality as a source of stress. Perhaps this contributes to the finding that fewer than 1 in 2 finance departments consider the close management to be ‘very satisfactory’.

What’s needed in the finance team of the future?

Finance leaders are looking for finance people who can combine analysts, AI pilots and human decision-makers. The accountants of the future are moving away from their number-cruncher image and developing strong analytical skills. Over half of the finance leaders we spoke to said that accountants and finance teams will need to focus on analytical thinking and problem-solving.

There will be a greater focus on how to interpret data and respond with appropriate measures or ideas. To do this successfully finance leaders need more confidence that their numbers are reliable.

Whatever the future holds. Reliable data is the best way to meet it head on.

Olivier Cornet is UK Country Manager, Sixthfin

Report: The Sixthfin Accounting Transformation Report - Financial Close in the AI Era: Sixthfin x Odoxa Study (2026)