Where does your journal effort actually go?
Finance Automation handles both sides of journal execution by creating and posting.
Your choice is whether to coexist with current tools or replace them.
This isn’t a future problem. It’s a now problem.
The urgency isn’t hypothetical — it’s already here.
Three forces are converging now, and manual journal processes won’t survive any of them.
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S/4HANA deadline
December 2027
ECC mainstream support ends. Only 32% have transitioned. If you’re migrating anyway, why replicate manual journal processes in a new system?
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Talent crisis
17% fewer accountants
Since 2019. 75% of CPAs are expected to retire within the next 15 years. 99% report burnout. You cannot hire your way out of manual processes.
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Audit pressure
2x control findings
Journal entry control issues doubled as a percentage of material weaknesses (2019-2023). Manual processes are a control risk that’s easily removable.
Get one tool that does what other tools can’t. And what they can.
Other tools assume someone has already done the hard work. Finance Automation does the hard work.
Your choice: Finance Automation can post directly to SAP or output journals to your environment. Either way, you remove the manual prep that slows teams down.
Journal entry features
Journal entry automation only works if it solves the right problems. These features go beyond templates and posting. They target the root causes of effort, delay, risk, errors and rework.
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Rule-based automation
Leverage intelligent automation to handle large volumes of financial data with precision and efficiency. Achieve 60–75% reduction in your organization’s journal processing time.
Rules apply consistently, so there’s no spreadsheets and no second-guessing.
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Audit readiness
Every journal is created, validated, approved and posted from a single, governed system.
Data, logic and supporting evidence are captured automatically during execution to give auditors a complete, time-stamped trail without reconstruction or follow-up.
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Automated approvals
Approvals are orchestrated as part of journal creation — not bolted on afterward.
Routing, thresholds and escalations are applied automatically based on rules, so journals move forward without emails, manual chasing or late-stage surprises.
Stop documenting controls. Start enforcing them.
Most journal controls are detective — pieced together after posting from emails, spreadsheets and approval chains. That’s not control. That’s archaeology.
Finance Automation enforces controls during execution. Rules are applied during journal creation, and each step is recorded automatically. Auditors see what happened because the system did it — not because someone reconstructed it.
- Preventive, not detective
- Execution creates a record, so there’s no need to piece it together later
- SOX-ready because the process is governed, not because you documented it
They reversed it. So did these organizations.
621% three-year ROI (IDC) • 60-75% reduction in journal processing time • 58% fewer material errors
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32,000 journals
per month80% now automated
1,300 end users -
45,000 hours
saved annuallyRatio reversed
80% analysis, 20% data work -
100,000 hours
saved in 20244-day close
Global manufacturing scale
Built for orchestration. Not observation.
Journal entry automation isn’t just a posting problem. It’s an orchestration problem — connecting systems, executing logic, enforcing controls during execution and posting natively.
That’s exactly what service orchestration and automation platforms (SOAP) are built to do. And Redwood Software is a Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader in SOAP.
This isn’t a feature claim. It’s architecture. Observation-layer tools watch work happen. Orchestration platforms do the work.
What keeps you up at night?
These aren’t abstract concerns. They’re the questions finance leaders ask themselves every close. And they all point to the same root issue: the effort in manual journal processes are hiding in plain sight.
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Controllers
“What if Sarah is out during close?”
Key-person dependency isn’t expertise. It’s fragility. Automate the tribal knowledge so the close doesn’t depend on who’s in the building.
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R2R process owners
“We have tools. Why is it still manual?”
Because your tools automate posting, not creation. The spreadsheets, the data pulls and the email approvals — that’s still your team. Until now.
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Heads of controls
“Another audit finding on journals”
Manual journals mean manual controls. Preventive beats detective. Enforce policy during execution — then there’s nothing to reconstruct.
Related solutions
Explore more Redwood Software solutions that eliminate manual work across the entire close.
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Financial close automation
Financial Close ChecklistOrchestrate the entire close — manual and fully automated tasks, dependencies, reconciliations, journals and more — with full visibility and control.
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Balance sheet reconciliation
Balance Sheet AutomationAutomate up to 98% of reconciliations using intelligent matching, line-item level analysis, exception handling and continuous audit readiness.
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SAP finance automation
SAP Finance AutomationStreamline financial close activities across SAP ERP and S/4HANA with deep integration, full process orchestration and zero custom development.
FORVIA: 32,000 journals automated
80% automation across 1,300 users. Learn how FORVIA reimagined its finance operations at scale, across teams and without compromise.
Common use cases
Journal automation is built for everyday grind.
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Adjusting and recurring journals
Depreciation, rent, payroll allocations and accruals
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High-volume transaction
Real-time recording of intercompany postings or other routine entries
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Month-end close
Streamlining period-end processes by removing manual work
How it works
With Finance Automation, the journal entry is fully orchestrated. Use the platform to handle every step, from data to posting, without the manual drag of spreadsheets, emails or rework.
- Data integration: Import data from internal/external sources (spreadsheets and other systems) via APIs or uploads.
- Rule-based processing: Preset rules (e.g., transformation, calculations) to generate entries for journal preparation.
- Validation: Check entries against live data for accuracy (e.g., valid accounts, cost centers) before posting.
- Workflow management: Route entries through automated, rule-based approval workflows.
- Posting: Automatically post approved entries to the general ledger (GL).
- Reversals: Accruals are automatically reversed the next period if applicable.
Go deeper
Still relying on spreadsheets and approvals? Explore more resources that unpack the real journal challenges and how full automation solves them.
