Controllers: How to Cut Your Close Time & Avoid Compliance Nightmares

Controllers at mid-market companies are under constant pressure to close the books accurately and on time while ensuring compliance with regulatory standards. However, common challenges like reconciliation delays, manual errors, and fragmented financial data can turn the month-end process into a drawn-out, error-prone ordeal.

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Centime addresses these pain points by automating key processes, ensuring real-time data synchronization with ERP systems, and maintaining audit-ready financial records. Below, we break down how Centime helps controllers achieve a faster, more accurate close while strengthening internal controls.

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1. The Most Common Close Bottlenecks

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Reconciliation Delays Due to Siloed Data

Many controllers struggle with reconciling AP and AR transactions across multiple systems. When invoices, payments, and cash flow data are spread across different platforms, finance teams waste time manually gathering, cross-checking, and correcting discrepancies before closing the books.

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✅ How Centime Helps:
Centime integrates directly with NetSuite, Sage Intacct, and QuickBooks, ensuring that all transactions sync automatically with the general ledger in real time. This eliminates the need for manual data aggregation and allows controllers to reconcile payables and receivables faster.

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Errors from Manual Data Entry and Invoice Processing

Manual invoice processing increases the risk of misposted transactions, duplicate payments, and coding errors—all of which require rework during close. Even a single incorrect invoice can delay financial reporting and introduce compliance risks.

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✅ How Centime Helps:
Centime’s AI-powered OCR technology extracts invoice data, automatically categorizes expenses, and flags discrepancies for review before they reach the ledger. This reduces errors, ensures accurate financial reporting, and prevents controllers from having to backtrack at month-end.

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Audit & Compliance Risks from Lack of Controls

Without structured approval workflows and a detailed audit trail, finance teams risk non-compliance with GAAP, IFRS, and internal policies. Controllers are responsible for ensuring that every transaction is properly recorded, authorized, and documented for potential audits.

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✅ How Centime Helps:
Centime enforces multi-level approval workflows and maintains a full audit trail of all transactions, approvals, and payment activities. Every invoice and payment action is logged with timestamps and user details, ensuring compliance with internal controls and external audit requirements.

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2. How Centime Cuts the Close Process by Days

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Automated AP & AR Posting for Faster Month-End Close

Centime ensures that every invoice, payment, and collection is automatically reflected in the general ledger, eliminating manual reconciliations and missing transactions.

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AP Automation: Approved invoices sync directly with NetSuite or Sage Intacct, reducing the risk of unposted expenses.
AR Automation: Customer payments are matched to invoices in real time, ensuring accurate revenue recognition without manual reconciliation.

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💡 Real-World Impact:
Companies switching to Centime have reported a reduction in month-end close time by several days due to real-time financial data syncing and automation of manual processes. Read more here.

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Cash Flow Forecasting That Eliminates Last-Minute Surprises

Controllers often face last-minute adjustments due to unexpected cash flow gaps or misaligned AP/AR schedules. Centime provides real-time cash flow forecasting, factoring in outstanding payables, receivables, and banking data to help finance teams make informed decisions.

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Controllers gain visibility into upcoming cash outflows and collections, reducing the need for last-minute accrual adjustments.

Automated scenario planning helps finance teams assess the impact of delayed receivables or early supplier payments.

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Embedded Internal Controls for Error-Free Financial Reporting

Centime’s built-in controls prevent common compliance risks that cause delays during close:

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✅ Three-Way Matching: AP invoices are automatically matched to purchase orders and receipts, flagging discrepancies before payment.
✅ Role-Based Approvals: Payment approvals follow predefined workflows, ensuring compliance with delegation of authority policies.
✅ Fraud Protection: AI-powered anomaly detection identifies suspicious transactions, reducing exposure to payment fraud.

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3. Faster, More Accurate Close = More Time for Strategic Work

Controllers shouldn’t have to spend their time chasing down missing invoices, reconciling cash flow discrepancies, or worrying about compliance issues. Centime enables finance teams to:

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Cut manual AP/AR reconciliation time through seamless ERP integration.
Reduce close cycle delays with automated invoice processing and cash flow insights.
Ensure compliance and audit readiness with detailed approval logs and audit trails.

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By removing manual work and increasing financial accuracy, Centime allows controllers to focus on strategic financial planning rather than scrambling to close the books every month.

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Conclusion: Controllers Need More Than Spreadsheets—They Need Automation

A fast, compliant, and accurate close isn’t just about working harder—it’s about working smarter with the right tools. Centime eliminates inefficiencies, strengthens internal controls, and ensures finance teams always have real-time, audit-ready data at their fingertips.

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If you’re looking to cut your close time, eliminate compliance risks, and improve financial accuracy, Centime is built to solve these exact challenges.

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👉 Book a demo to see how Centime can streamline your financial close process.

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**Deposit placement through ICS is subject to the terms, conditions, and disclosures in the applicable agreements. Although deposits are placed in increments that do not exceed the FDIC standard maximum deposit insurance amount (“SMDIA”) at any one destination bank, a depositor’s balances at the institution that places deposits may exceed the SMDIA (e.g., before settlement for deposits or after settlement for withdrawals) or be uninsured (if the placing institution is not an insured bank). The depositor must make any necessary arrangements to protect such balances consistent with applicable law and must determine whether placement through ICS satisfies any restrictions on its deposits. A list identifying IntraFi network banks appears at https://www.intrafi.com/network-banks. The depositor may exclude banks from eligibility to receive its funds. IntraFi and ICS are registered service marks, and IntraFi Cash Service is a service mark, of IntraFi Network LLC.

^††3.0% Annual Percentage Yield (APY) as of 01/07/25. Deposit rate may adjust to current market rate and may change daily. Fees may reduce earnings.

*Centime is not a bank and is not authorized by any federal or state agency to engage directly in core banking activities.
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*All banking products and services available through Centime are provided by FNBO and are governed by the applicable agreements and related disclosures provided to you by FNBO. Member FDIC.
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‍*While Centime facilitates traditional banking activities (such as the acceptance of deposits or extensions of credit), these services are actually provided by our banking partner, FNBO.
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*Centime may provide support services to FNBO, as permitted by applicable law, to facilitate the delivery of its bank products and services.

**Deposit placement through ICS is subject to the terms, conditions, and disclosures in the applicable agreements. Although deposits are placed in increments that do not exceed the FDIC standard maximum deposit insurance amount (“SMDIA”) at any one destination bank, a depositor’s balances at the institution that places deposits may exceed the SMDIA (e.g., before settlement for deposits or after settlement for withdrawals) or be uninsured (if the placing institution is not an insured bank). The depositor must make any necessary arrangements to protect such balances consistent with applicable law and must determine whether placement through ICS satisfies any restrictions on its deposits. A list identifying IntraFi network bank

Controllers: How to Cut Your Close Time and Avoid Compliance Nightmares

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