Accuracy and efficiency are paramount for financial reporting. The Reporting Solution (TRS) is an advanced, web-based tool meticulously designed to transform the creation of Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports (ACFRs). Leveraging real-time capabilities and sophisticated features, TRS helps address long-standing challenges and enhance the overall reporting process.
Key Features of TRS
Some aspects of TRS that can benefit users include:
- Web-Based & Real-Time: TRS operates entirely online, allowing users to access and edit reports from anywhere at any time. Real-time updates result in changes reflected instantly across the document.
- Datalinks During Implementation: The tool facilitates seamless integration by linking financial statements, schedules, and narratives within the document. This interconnected structure allows any updates in one section to be automatically reflected throughout the entire document.
- Project Management Integration: TRS includes built-in project management tools to help streamline the reporting process. Assign tasks, track progress, and manage deadlines all within the platform.
- Staff Training: In-depth training is provided during implementation to help team members become proficient in using TRS. The training program can be customized to fit your organization’s schedule and needs, with the end goal of equipping users with the necessary skills to best use the tool’s capabilities.
- Unlimited Support Access: Users have continuous access to support staff to help address any issues or questions.
- Multiple Simultaneous Logins: Different documents within the same client login can be edited simultaneously by users, enabling real-time collaboration and updates across the team.
Challenges Before TRS
In a recent public sector webinar featuring leaders from various governmental entities, we heard about several challenges they faced with their financial reporting processes before implementing TRS. Those difficulties include:
- Manual Corrections: Updates to financial statements, including the management’s discussion and analysis, footnotes, statistical section, etc., required multiple manual corrections across various documents and formats, including page numbers in PDFs.
- Fragmented Integration: Data was managed across multiple Word and Excel documents, complicating integration and increasing the risk of inconsistencies.
- Version Control: Keeping track of multiple document versions was cumbersome, leading to potential errors and confusion.
- Checks & Balances: Providing accuracy and consistency involved laborious checks and tie-outs.
Success With TRS
The transition to TRS has brought significant improvements. Some reported by current users include:
- Significant Time Savings: TRS helps reduce the time needed for report preparation, offering a streamlined process from start to finish, and allows your organization to focus on managing day-to-day operations.
- Efficient Data Links: Integrated links between narratives, financial statements, and schedules help streamline the reporting process and reduce the need for manual updates.
- Increased Accuracy: Users have greater confidence that financial statements are accurate, detailed, and less error-prone.
- Governmentwide Conversion Entry Upload: Helps facilitate the upload of conversion entries, providing auditors with access to calculations for verification.
- Enhanced Auditor Access: Read-only access for auditors reduces inquiries and allows them to view mappings and calculations directly within the tool.
- Effective Project Workflow Management: Helps users assign sections, track progress, and manage workflow more effectively within the platform to check that milestones and targets are being achieved in a timely manner.
Implementation, Training, & Annual Fees
Our assistance in the initial year setup of TRS is both efficient and straightforward. The TRS team manages the setup of the prior year’s ACFR within a 6-to-12-week time frame and provides approximately 20 hours of training to help provide a smooth transition. The cost for providing TRS can vary based on the organization’s size; however, average one-time costs, including training, can range from $20,000 to $25,000, with an average annual fee of $5,000 for ongoing access and support.
For users, TRS can help provide a significant advancement in financial reporting technology. By addressing common challenges and offering a robust suite of features, TRS helps enhance accuracy, efficiency, and collaboration in the reporting process, making it an invaluable tool for organizations striving for excellence in their financial reporting efforts.
Ready to Learn More?
To see how The Reporting Solution can help improve your ACFR preparation or to request a demo, please visit our webpage.