Up-to-date, accurate information is essential for decision-making regarding loans and borrowers. Credit analysts are often in charge of delivering that crucial component. But problems arise when these team members yearn for more thoughtful, strategic work instead of hand-keying information and scrubbing for manual mistakes.
Generic automation isn’t a solution for slow processes
Automation is an increasingly common solution used to free employees from manual data entry while still delivering accurate, timely information. The problem is that the actual financial spreading solution is sometimes an afterthought tacked onto an existing platform, or it exists in a separate system, with limited capabilities and integration.
Boilerplate applications, inaccurate information, and inflexible scanning can bog down processes and result in more work if teams are:
- Tracking down documents across emails and hard drives
- Digging through numbers, manually looking for exceptions
- Constantly monitoring for issues, especially with outsourcing
True speed comes from getting smarter throughout
Better information can become more readily available
The financial spreading process starts with borrowers. They can become frustrated when they don’t know what financial statements to send and if there’s no secure, easy option to do so. These hurdles can slow down the process before it even begins since organizations can’t do anything until they have the right information.
Time used for calls and emails to figure out what teams need from borrowers and how borrowers can hand it over can be better spent. A secure portal with a well-outlined request list can communicate to customers the lending documents that are due.
Once teams obtain documents from a borrower for the first time, they can review the financial statement, decide how to map line items and amounts, and learn more about the borrower. Going forward, the foundation will be set for how to confidently apply mapping and extraction.
Solutions can handle your process more intelligently
An end-to-end automation solution is capable of more than pulling and sorting information. An intelligent workflow that knows what comes next can streamline the entire process. It can store output in a central repository, with adjustments automatically posted and checked against important criteria.
This smarter process could even automatically stamp a review complete based on established rules and policies without anyone touching it. Then, the software can notify the next responsible team member when it’s time to act – all while linking relevant financial spread information and historical data.
Transformation can help your entire commercial lending program
How much time can you save with automated, smarter financial spreading?
Download our guide to see how much speed you can gain while increasing accuracy.
Crowe can help
Our automated financial spreading solution is accompanied by a Crowe team that troubleshoots financial statement input issues before you look at the spread.
Our process aims to help you work faster. But we automate financial spreads, eliminate manual work, and optimize workflows intelligently so you can focus your time on making the right lending decisions.
