The Challenge:
Our client had acquired over 80 separate entities, each of which had their own accounting close that needed to be migrated to the core financial structure of the parent company. Previously, the accountants would have to log into each branch individually, download the reports, and create entries at a pace of 4-8 hours of work per branch.
The Solution:
Eliassen Group consultants used the client’s SaaS reporting tool to build and schedule the financial reports needed to generate month end close entries. Our team utilized Claude.ai to assist in software development to be used in Google Apps Script with the purpose to automate parts of the close processes for the accountants.
Outline of the new, full process:
- Reports from the client’s system were sent to a shared client email address
- Automation script created by Eliassen consultants then pulled the report attachments and saved them in a Google Drive to their according branch folders, creating new folders where needed
- The script then analyzed the data and created revenue, sales tax, and adjustments month end close journal entries and saved them in respective branch folders
- A last journal was made for any unmapped codes not found in the mapping file, in which the accounting team would receive and analyze
The Result:
The automation script, consisting of over 2,000 lines of code collaboratively written by Claude.ai and an Eliassen consultant was developed and deployed in a significantly shorter timeframe compared to hiring an external coding team to complete the same work. This led to substantial time savings for the client’s accounting team, who now save approximately 3–7 hours per branch per month, or 6,000 hours (3 FTEs) per year. As a result, accountants shifted their role from manual preparers to reviewers, allowing them to focus on oversight and analysis rather than repetitive data entry and report generation.
