Closing the Books on
Manual Accounting
PROCESSES
BY AUTOMATING THE FINANCIAL-CLOSE PROCESS, ATLAS AIR FREED UP
TIME, MONEY AND RESOURCES.
BY AUTOMATING THE FINANCIAL-CLOSE PROCESS, ATLAS AIR FREED UP
TIME, MONEY AND RESOURCES. By Wendy Shapiro
JOB SITE SUMMARY
The accounting department at Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, a global provider of outsourced aircraft capacity, embarked on a
multipronged process-improvement initiative designed to help close its books faster, streamline reporting and lower costs. Wendy
Shapiro, Atlas Air’s senior director of corporate accounting, discusses how the Purchase, N. Y.-based company achieved its goals.
TWO QUESTIONS THAT ARE EVER-PRESENT ON the minds of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings’ senior management are, “Can you close your books faster?”
and “Can you do your work with less expense?” But closing
quicker and with less expense is a challenge because we have
to achieve these goals while holding the same high standards
for accuracy and maintaining Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) 404
compliance through documentation and evidence of review.
In searching for a better process, we knew that we had
to eliminate the tried-and-tested method of completing
account roll-forwards in Excel spreadsheets, printing
those roll-forwards and collating the required backup
through a series of downloads. Once we had compiled
the required backup, we had to conduct a manual routing
of those documents for review and sign-off. This process
had to be tracked to ensure that all appropriate levels of
review were completed, and that took time and consumed
valuable resources.
We quickly identified the automation of this cumber-
some process as a key target area that would enable our global
organization to make the process more efficient. As with any
project, maintaining scope and clarity of purpose was essential
to achieving successful change and improvement.
PHOTOS COURTESY ATLAS AIR
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