Gartner defines financial close and consolidation solutions (FCCS) as applications that enable corporate controllers and their teams to manage the organization’s group close, consolidation and reporting processes. The FCCS market equips organizations to (1) manage and drive financial control across their close cycles through configurable workflows and dashboards that support collaboration and provide a centralized auditable view; (2) execute financial consolidation across multiple legal entities (LEs) and geographies; (3) meet accounting standards for currency translation, intercompany elimination and top-side adjustments; and (4) generate reporting that adheres to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and regional compliance.
Gartner defines financial reconciliation solutions as the key tool that enables the controllership team to manage and reconcile financial transactions across internal and external data sources. Financial reconciliation solutions replace manual transactional matching efforts with a standardized and automated workflow, configurable to predefined business rules. These solutions are cloud-deployed via software as a service (SaaS)
Gartner defines the invoice-to-cash (I2C) applications market as cloud-based applications that enable corporate controllers to automatically manage collections and apply customer payments to invoices. I2C applications typically gather, disseminate, track and analyze data from and to internal and external sources. They make I2C processes more efficient and effective, including managing and monitoring deductions, disputes and credit risk. They also typically can ensure invoices are delivered to customers and that customers have options to pay them. I2C applications enable I2C transaction processing across multiple ERP systems. Organizations use I2C applications to collect and apply customer payments to open invoices, perform credit and collections activities, manage deductions and disputes, and deliver and present invoices to customers for payment. I2C applications are cloud-based tools that provide organizations with a standard way of processing across ERPs, while creating flexibility for buyers in how they receive or access invoices as well as pay and dispute them. I2C applications allow an organization to connect and exchange data with multiple ERP systems and other operational tools, such as customer relationship management tools, as well as with partners such as credit and collections agencies, logistics providers, banks and payment service providers. They use data to determine credit risk, automate collections and cash applications activities as well as help manage the resolution of deductions and disputes. Such activities result in faster collection of cash, improved visibility to cash flow, an improved customer experience and reduced process cost.