Tipping Point: 2021 State of Automation in the Back Office ReportAuditoria conducted an online survey of 600+ US-based finance professionals in spring 2021 between the ages of 30-60+ . The 2021 State of Automation in the Back Office Report indicates that the corporate finance back-office must step up and embrace automation and shed the reputation that they are slow to adopt new technology and learn how to streamline most back-office processes.

What are the overall challenges across the finance back office?

Which areas of finance do you use artificialintelli-gence (AI) today?

How much time does your team spend following up, seeking approvals, requesting documentation, and communicating with vendors, customers, and internal stakeholders each week?

Gatheringdata foranalysis

Analyzingdata forinsights/reports

Communicatingwith internaland externalstakeholders

Which areas of finance do you use artificialintelligence (AI) today?

29.2

%

12.4

%

16.9

%

Time spenton repetitive

tasks

Time spentusing tools thatno longer work

28.4

%

Time spentchecking andupdating data

1.6%

Others

11.4

%

Lack ofresources to

invest intechnology

Inaccurateor outdatedprocesses

16.9

%

16.6

%

24.3

%

3.0

%

22.1

%

17.1

%

Audit andCompliance

relatedactivities

Trying to learnand improve

my company’sbusiness

processes

Others

1-5Hours

Doesn’tapply tome

<1Hours

>10Hours

6 -10Hours29.8%

38.7%

20.2%6.4%

5%

We don’t useAI in finance

42.2%

AccountsPayble

13.3% 13.1%

GeneralLedger

9.6% 6.6%

Audit

7.3%Tax

2.1%

Treasury

Oth

ers0.

4%

FP&A

5.4%

AccountsReceivable

accounts payable

accounts receivable

33% 24%MOST MANUAL WORK

time spent on repetitive tasks

time spent on updating data

29% 28%TOP CHALLENGES

BACK OFFICE

not sufficiently automated

58%

hours

MORE THAN HALF

on follow-ups, approvals, documentation requests and communicating with stakeholders

spend more than

wee

kly6-10+

reduce manual and repetitive tasks

55+%

MO

ST U

SEFU

L B

E N

E F

I T

vendor managementaccurately accruing and tracking expenses

MOST CHALLENGING

32%

invest in new tech to improve processes

TOP PRIORITY

38%