Financial Reporting Statistics reveal a stark truth: the gap between high-performing finance teams and everyone else is widening. In just three years, the financial reporting landscape has transformed more dramatically than it did in the entire decade before.
The pressure is universal. Finance teams across industries are expected to deliver faster insights with leaner resources. Month-end closes that once took weeks now happen in days for some teams, while others still struggle through manual processes that drain time and accuracy.
So what separates the leaders from the laggards? These 85 statistics answer that question. They show you exactly where your peers stand on close times, automation adoption, consolidation challenges, and the technologies reshaping financial reporting.
Whether you're a CFO evaluating your current setup or an FP&A professional building the business case for change, these benchmarks give you the data you need to see where you are—and where you need to go.
Must-Know Financial Reporting Stats
1. Only 18% of finance teams complete their month-end close in three days or less. Half still take longer than five business days.
[Source: Ledge, 2025]
2. Finance teams that use automation cut their consolidation workload by 50% every single close cycle.
[Source: FYIsoft]
3. Processing an invoice takes 9.2 days on average. But automation brings the cost down from $9.40 to about $2.78 for top teams.
[Source: Quadient, 2025]
4. 99% of multinational corporations struggle with intercompany reconciliation. Even worse, 92% say these problems drive their best people to quit.
[Source: Abacum]
5. 76% of CFOs say streamlining accounting and finance processes is their top priority for 2025.
[Source: Cherry Bekaert CFO Survey, 2025]
6. Getting financial reports done on time is the number-one challenge CFOs face. That's why 79% work with finance partners to fix it.
[Source: Consero Global CFO Survey, 2024]
7. The financial automation market hit $8.1 billion in 2024. By 2030, it'll reach $18.4 billion—growing at 14.6% every year.
[Source: ResearchAndMarkets.com, 2025]
8. 64% of organizations say automation has seriously cut down their manual work.
[Source: BetterCloud State of SaaSOps Report, 2024]
What These Numbers Really Mean for CFOs and FP&A Teams
Statistics are nice, but you need to know what they actually mean for your job. Every number here points to a real problem that CFOs and FP&A professionals deal with every single day. Let's break down how these benchmarks affect your work and what you can do about it.
Why Slow Closes Cost You More Than Just Time
When half your peers take more than five days to close the books, you might think you're doing fine if you hit that mark. But here's what that delay actually costs you.
How This Hits Your Daily Work:
Board meetings with stale data: Your close takes 10-15 days. That means you're showing up to board meetings with month-old numbers. Markets move fast. By the time you explain what happened last month, your competitors are already reacting to this month's changes. The 18% of teams closing in three days? They're discussing strategy with fresh data, not explaining ancient history.
Cash flow blind spots: A slow close means your AR and AP aging reports are outdated before you even look at them. Invoice processing averaging 9.2 days makes this worse. You can't spot cash problems until they've already hurt you. Teams automating this down to three days see trouble coming weeks earlier and fix it before it becomes a crisis.
Stuck out of strategy talks: Here's a brutal fact: 60% of finance leaders don't get invited to strategic planning meetings. Slow reporting makes this worse. When you can't deliver timely insights, executives plan without you. They see you as a scorekeeper, not a strategic partner. The CFOs earning their seat at the table deliver insights while decisions are still being made.
Losing to faster competitors: Your competitor launches a new pricing strategy. Your five-day close means you're analyzing last month's impact while they're already tweaking this month's approach. Finance teams closing in three days model responses and brief leadership while there's still time to act.
When Bad Data Breaks Your FP&A Process
Almost half of CFOs—49% to be exact, say poor data quality blocks them from making critical decisions. This isn't about missing a few numbers. It's about not being able to trust any of the numbers you have.
Where This Destroys Your Work:
Forecasts you don't believe in: You spend weeks building a rolling forecast. Then you present it to leadership, and someone asks a basic question about the underlying data. You freeze because you're not sure the numbers are right. That's why 55% of organizations don't adjust forecasts when new information comes in—they don't trust their data enough to act on it.
Budget meetings that waste everyone's time: Your data lives in five different systems. Manual consolidation means variance analysis turns into explaining why your numbers don't match operations' numbers. You spend hours fixing data problems instead of analyzing why revenue missed the forecast.
Scenario planning that goes nowhere: The AI and FP&A market is growing at 34.8% annually because everyone wants better analytics. But garbage data makes even the smartest AI useless. You can't model "what-if" scenarios when you're not confident about "what-is" right now.
Fighting with other departments: Finance numbers don't match what sales reports. Marketing has different revenue figures. Operations uses completely different metrics. FP&A becomes the referee instead of the strategic partner that drives performance.
Multi-Entity Headaches That Steal Weeks Every Quarter
Remember that 99% struggle with intercompany reconciliation? That's not a technical accounting problem. It's a strategic roadblock that stops CFOs from seeing their whole business clearly.
The Real Cost of Manual Consolidation:
M&A integration that drags on forever: Manual consolidation takes 15+ days. Try integrating an acquisition with that timeline. You can't model combined performance. Post-merger integration takes months rather than weeks because finance can't quickly consolidate the new entity's numbers.
No idea which entities actually make money: Companies with four or more entities start looking for consolidation solutions because they're drowning. You can't compare entity performance. You don't know which units are underperforming. The 50% reduction in consolidation time from automation isn't just about speed—but finally seeing what's actually happening in your business.
Your best people quit: That 92% linking consolidation problems to talent retention? Smart finance professionals don't want careers built on reconciling intercompany transactions in Excel. Automate consolidation, and you can give senior talent strategic work that keeps them engaged.
Audit season becomes a nightmare: Only 67% of CFOs with automation feel ready for audits. Without it, that drops to 52%. Manual consolidation creates gaps, version control disasters, and reconciliation mismatches that make auditors suspicious and extend the audit timeline.
Building the Business Case When Everyone Wants ROI Numbers
Here's an awkward truth: 68% of finance leaders say AI delivers significant ROI, but 71% admit they can't measure it accurately. You need to make the business case for automation, but how do you quantify it?
Numbers You Can Actually Show Your CFO:
Cut invoice costs by 70%: Processing costs drop from $9.40 to $2.78 per invoice. Process 10,000 invoices yearly? That's $66,200 in annual savings from one process. Now multiply that across AP, AR, and financial close.
Get a week back every month: Cut your close from 10 days to 5. Your five senior analysts at $120K each? That's roughly $50K worth of strategic analysis time recovered every year—time that goes into forecasting and planning instead of closing books.
Avoid expensive compliance disasters: 92% of organizations using RPA report better compliance. A single material weakness or restatement can cost millions in remediation and damage your stock price. Prevention is cheaper than cleanup.
Grow without hiring armies: Handle 30-50% more volume without adding headcount. When 71% of CFOs are training existing teams instead of hiring, automation lets you scale up without ballooning your cost structure.
Strategic Wins You Can't Put on a Spreadsheet:
Actually get invited to strategy meetings: The 64% of CFOs moving into strategic leadership roles didn't get there by delivering perfect historical reports. They earned it by providing timely insights. Automation makes that possible.
Beat competitors to the punch: Close in three days instead of ten. You can analyze competitor earnings and brief leadership before their next board meeting. Speed creates competitive advantage.
Attract people who actually want to work for you: 73% of employers can't find skilled finance talent. Top candidates want modern tools and strategic work, not manual data entry. Your tech stack becomes a recruiting tool.
What You Should Do About It, Starting This Week
Reading statistics is fine. Taking action is better. Here's exactly what successful CFOs and FP&A leaders are doing right now.
This Week:
- Measure your close time honestly. Compare it to the 18% hitting three days. Calculate what you'd gain from those extra days.
- Count the hours your team spends on manual consolidation each month. Multiply by their hourly rate. That's your current cost.
- Find your worst data quality problems. Track them back to their source, usually manual entry or disconnected systems.
- Ask your team what they'd automate first. The 95% already using automation started with their biggest pain points.
Next 30 Days:
- Build your ROI case using real numbers: 70% cost reduction per invoice, 50% less consolidation time, and recovered analyst capacity.
- Map your current systems. Find the gaps. The 77% optimizing existing tech first are connecting what they already have instead of buying more tools.
- Pick your highest-volume, most repetitive process. Start automation where wins are obvious and measurable.
- Set baseline metrics now: close time, consolidation hours, error rates, invoice costs. You can't improve what you don't measure.
Next Quarter:
- Create your automation roadmap. Prioritize by ROI and ease of implementation. Join the 78% making finance operations their top tech focus.
- Fix your skills gap through training and smart hiring. The 71% investing in upskilling see better results than those trying to hire their way out.
- Redesign FP&A to operate on real-time data rather than monthly cycles. The 55% not updating forecasts are losing to competitors who do.
- Earn your strategy seat by delivering insights, not history. CFOs who took on strategic roles first transformed their functions.
The State of Financial Close in 2026
Month-end close still eats up more time and creates more stress than almost any other finance process. Everyone talks about three-day closes like they're normal now. They're not. Most teams still struggle.
9. Half of finance teams take more than five business days to close. By the time leadership gets financial data, it's already old news.
[Source: Ledge, 2025]
10. Before automation: 53.8% of firms burned over 5 hours weekly just scheduling and assigning work. After automation: 75.8% cut that to 5 hours or less.
[Source: Financial Cents, 2025]
11. Top-performing teams using automation? Their longest close time is 5 working days. Many hit 3 days consistently.
[Source: LLC Buddy, 2025]
12. One company went from a 10-day close to 5 days—a 50% improvement—just by implementing automation.
[Source: LLC Buddy, 2025]
13. Manual consolidation? Plan on 15+ business days if you're managing multiple entities without automation.
[Source: dataSights, 2025]
Ask ten finance pros about the ideal close timeline, and you'll get different answers. Some swear by three days, which keeps everyone moving and prevents anyone from becoming a bottleneck. Others say five days gives enough breathing room for accuracy without killing momentum, but the real answer here will depend on your transaction volume, the number of entities you manage, and the level of automation in your processes.
CFO Priorities and Challenges in 2025
CFOs walked into 2025 facing economic uncertainty, rapid tech changes, and regulators demanding more from everyone. Here's what keeps them up at night.
14. Finance transformation stays at the top of the CFO priority list for the second year running. Enterprise growth strategy jumped fifteen spots to take second place.
[Source: Gartner CFO Survey, 2025]
15. Nearly two-thirds—64%—of CFOs are moving beyond just managing money. They're becoming strategic leaders.
[Source: Cherry Bekaert, 2025]
16. Bad data blocks 49% of CFOs from making critical decisions. Another 39% worry constantly about data accuracy affecting their operations.
[Source: Cherry Bekaert, 2025]
17. Before buying new tech, 77% of CFOs focus on getting more value from what they already have. Smart move.
[Source: Cherry Bekaert, 2025]
18. The skills gap hits from both sides: 44% say tech experts don't understand finance, while 40% say finance people struggle with technology.
[Source: Houseblend, 2025]
19. To fix the talent problem: 71% invest in training existing teams, 61% hire new people, and 17% outsource work.
[Source: Cherry Bekaert, 2025]
20. 60% of finance leaders don't even get invited to strategic planning meetings. Only 28% have final say in those decisions.
[Source: Vena Solutions, 2022]
21. More than half, 55%, of organizations never update their forecasts when new information comes in. They're flying blind.
[Source: Vena Solutions, 2022]
Financial Automation: Adoption and Impact
Automation hit critical mass. Organizations across every industry figured out that manual processes can't scale. The numbers prove it.
22. Three out of four finance and accounting teams, 75%, now use automation tools. Highest adoption rate across all business functions.
[Source: Quadient, 2025]
23. 59% of finance leaders already use AI. Of those, 37% apply it specifically to accounts payable automation.
[Source: Quadient, 2025]
24. AI investment is accelerating: 64% plan to invest this year, up from 57% last year.
[Source: Intuit QuickBooks, 2025]
25. 46% of accountants use AI daily. That's way ahead of small businesses, where only 28% use it every day.
[Source: Intuit QuickBooks, 2025]
26. 81% of accountants say AI makes them more productive. 86% say it reduces their mental workload.
[Source: Intuit QuickBooks, 2025]
27. Manual invoice entry dropped fast: from 85% of all invoices in 2023 to just 60% in 2024.
[Source: Dokka, 2025]
28. Electronic payments now handle 62% of all enterprise transactions. Businesses want faster, safer payment options.
[Source: Dokka, 2025]
29. Only 32.6% of invoices are processed without human intervention. Best-in-class AP teams push that to 49.2% touchless processing.
[Source: Quadient, 2025]
30. 75% of AP teams already use AI. 61% believe it'll significantly impact accounts payable in 2026.
[Source: Quadient, 2025]
31. The AP automation market is exploding, growing at 12.8% annually as companies rush to cut costs and boost efficiency.
[Source: Dokka, 2025]
32. Automation is everywhere: 95% of accountants use it. Top uses? Payroll (47%), AP/AR (46%), and data entry (43%).
[Source: Intuit QuickBooks, 2025]
33. One company automated their close and moved from closing on the 24th to closing on the 12th—12 days faster.
[Source: LLC Buddy, 2025]
34. 58% of finance pros want to automate the boring, repetitive stuff, especially financial close and reporting.
[Source: DocuClipper, 2025]
35. 44% of finance teams use intelligent process automation for various financial processes.
[Source: DocuClipper, 2025]
36. 39% of teams use AI to catch errors and spot anomalies, making financial data more accurate.
[Source: DocuClipper, 2025]
37. 28% use AI-driven analytics to improve forecasting. Better predictions, better decisions.
[Source: DocuClipper, 2025]
38. 80% of finance executives have implemented RPA or plan to. It's not optional anymore.
[Source: DocuClipper, 2025]
39. 92% of organizations say RPA improved their compliance. Fewer mistakes, better audit trails.
[Source: DocuClipper, 2025]
40. Generative AI adoption jumped from 33% in 2023 to 71% in 2024. More than doubled in one year.
[Source: DocuClipper, 2025]
41. Financial services companies see a 4.2x return on their generative AI investments. Real money, real results.
[Source: DocuClipper, 2025]
The Bottom Line on Automation
Organizations automating their finance processes see massive improvements: invoice costs drop 70%, close times shrink by half, and manual work decreases dramatically. All while accuracy improves, and teams are freed up for strategic work rather than data entry.
Multi-Entity and Consolidation Challenges
Managing multiple entities, subsidiaries, or divisions? Consolidation is one of the most complicated and error-prone parts of financial reporting. The stats show just how bad it gets.
42. 99% of multinational corporations struggle with intercompany reconciliation. 92% say it drives their talent away.
[Source: Abacum]
43. 75% of finance managers say their close processes don't work well because of manual workflows and disconnected systems.
[Source: Abacum]
44. Companies managing four or more entities start desperately looking for automation solutions to cut manual work and speed up closings.
[Source: Sage Advice, 2024]
45. Automated consolidation cuts workload by 50% every single close. Teams report doing in minutes what used to take days.
[Source: FYIsoft]
46. Manual consolidation across multiple entities? Plan on 15+ business days spent chasing mismatches and fixing spreadsheets.
[Source: dataSights, 2025]
47. Automated consolidation can cut the month-end close by 70%. Plus, you get real-time visibility, complete audit trails, and better strategic intelligence.
[Source: dataSights, 2025]
48. One national restaurant chain automated consolidation and went from spending days on it to finishing in minutes.
[Source: FYIsoft]
49. A U.S.-Europe manufacturer automated consolidation across different ledgers, charts of accounts, and currencies. Close time dropped significantly.
[Source: FYIsoft]
Technology Spending and ROI
CFOs are investing heavily in technology to improve their finance operations. Here's where the dollars are going and what they're getting back.
50. 44% of CFOs increased their tech spending in 2025. Another 43% kept it the same. Only 14% spent less.
[Source: Gartner CFO Survey, 2025]
51. AI tools, automation, and data analytics each hit 54% for planned spending in 2025. Clear priorities.
[Source: Gartner CFO Survey, 2025]
52. 45% plan to invest in budgeting and FP&A tools. 35% want business intelligence. 27% need better financial reporting solutions.
[Source: Gartner CFO Survey, 2025]
53. Accounting firms spent an average of $19,000 on tech last year. They're planning to spend $20,000 this year.
[Source: Intuit QuickBooks, 2025]
54. 78% of CFOs say fixing finance operations is their main tech spending focus for 2025.
[Source: Quadient, 2025]
55. 68% of finance leaders see significant ROI from AI. The problem is, 71% admit they can't measure it accurately.
[Source: Eftsure, 2025]
56. The AI and FP&A market will grow at 34.8% annually from 2025 to 2034 and that's a massive growth ahead.
[Source: DocuClipper, 2025]
57. More than 40% of finance executives are prioritizing data management, technology, and AI skills in their 2025 hiring.
[Source: DocuClipper, 2025]
Reporting Speed and Accuracy
How fast you report and how accurate those reports are directly impact your organization's ability to make smart, timely decisions. Here's what the numbers show.
58. The top benefit 53% of CFOs cite from working with finance partners? Better accuracy and consistency in reporting.
[Source: Consero Global, 2024]
59. Over 51% of CFOs save major time by outsourcing part or all of their finance function.
[Source: Consero Global, 2024]
60. Only 35% of CFOs with partners need 21+ days to close. Without partners? 48% need at least 21 days. Big difference.
[Source: Consero Global, 2024]
61. 74% of CFOs working with finance partners feel totally ready for their next funding event.
[Source: Consero Global, 2024]
62. 67% of partnered CFOs feel completely prepared for audits, compared to only 52% without partners.
[Source: Consero Global, 2024]
63. Automated consolidation platforms standardize and consolidate data in minutes instead of days or weeks.
[Source: FYIsoft]
64. Data reconciliation and reporting can drop from two weeks to 25 minutes with proper automation.
[Source: LLC Buddy, 2025]
The Human Element: Skills and Staffing
Technology matters, but people still make it all work. The finance profession faces serious talent challenges that affect everyone.
65. Half of CFOs say employee engagement is a major problem. 45% point to a lack of skilled finance professionals.
[Source: Houseblend, 2025]
66. 73% of financial industry employers can't find skilled talent. The shortage is real.
[Source: DocuClipper, 2025]
67. CFOs without finance partners are twice as likely to struggle with hiring: 29% vs. 15% for those with partners.
[Source: Consero Global, 2024]
68. 61% of business leaders say AI's automated tasks have made their work-life balance better.
[Source: DocuClipper, 2025]
69. 62% of accountants call themselves AI evangelists at work. They're not just using it—they're promoting it.
[Source: Intuit QuickBooks, 2025]
70. 95% say technology helps them spend less time on compliance tasks and more time on strategic advisory work.
[Source: Intuit QuickBooks, 2025]
71. Accountants spend 62% of their time on compliance work on average. They want to reduce that slightly to 58%.
[Source: Intuit QuickBooks, 2025]
Compliance and Risk Management
Regulatory requirements keep getting more complicated, and today we see risk management concerns shape everything finance teams do.
72. 64% of treasury professionals say their function needs digital transformation. 44% plan to use APIs to change how they manage treasury.
[Source: DocuClipper, 2025]
73. 94% of corporate tax departments feel hopeful or excited about tax technology. They see automation coming, and they want it.
[Source: DocuClipper, 2025]
74. Financial institutions will increase RegTech investment by 128% between 2023 and 2030. Compliance tech is booming.
[Source: DocuClipper, 2025]
75. 74% of public companies plan to invest in sustainability reporting tech this year to handle ESG data collection and reporting.
[Source: DocuClipper, 2025]
76. Increasing automation by just 15% can cut compliance costs by 10% for most companies.
[Source: DocuClipper, 2025]
77. 87% of companies align sustainability reporting with GRI standards. 63% use TCFD for climate-related financial disclosures.
[Source: DocuClipper, 2025]
78. 52% of finance leaders say security threats—fraud, phishing, cyber attacks- keep them up at night.
[Source: Houseblend, 2025]
Strategic Planning and Forecasting
CFOs are moving from just reporting what happened to actively shaping what happens next. Strategic planning and forecasting become the real value drivers.
79. 33% of companies want to automate manual processes to optimize spend management.
[Source: DocuClipper, 2025]
80. 39% of businesses don't practice agile planning. That makes them vulnerable when things change fast.
[Source: Vena Solutions, 2022]
81. 41% aren't using their organizational data to drive decisions. They're leaving insights on the table.
[Source: Vena Solutions, 2022]
82. 93% of accountants use AI to support strategic business advisory work for clients. Advisory is the new normal.
[Source: Intuit QuickBooks, 2025]
83. 82% of accountants have proprietary AI systems in use or in development. They're customizing tech for their specific needs.
[Source: Intuit QuickBooks, 2025]
84. 46% of CFOs felt pessimistic about the economy in Q2 2025 due to tariff chaos. But they moved fast to protect their businesses.
[Source: Grant Thornton, 2025]
85. 2025 forced everyone to rethink operations. Trade restrictions and tech changes put CFOs at a crossroads where they must transform or fall behind.
[Source: Gartner CFO Report, 2025]
Ready to Join the 18% Closing in Under 3 Days?
G-Accon automates financial reporting and multi-entity consolidation for teams managing Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, and FreshBooks. Eliminate manual data entry, cut close times by 50%, and give your CFO the real-time insights they need to drive strategic decisions.
What These Financial Reporting Statistics Mean for Your Team
These statistics show finance teams at a turning point, and the gap between high-performing teams and everyone else keeps widening. Organizations investing in automation, clean data, and integrated systems are pulling ahead, while those who are delaying further fall behind.
Whether you're closing in three days or three weeks, or you manage two entities or twenty, improvement starts with knowing where you stand. The finance teams hitting best-in-class results aren't smarter or luckier; they're using better tools and following proven processes.
Solutions like G-Accon tackle these challenges head-on by automating data flow from accounting systems into Google Sheets. Manual data entry disappears, real-time updates happen automatically, providing a foundation for faster, more accurate financial reporting. When your data syncs on its own and reports refresh with one click, your team can focus on analysis and insights instead of gathering numbers.
