Robots and AI: Transforming corporate finance

27. 03. 2024.

The revolutionary impact of digital technologies characterizes the fourth industrial revolution. These technologies, such as digitization and automation, bring benefits and challenges to both society and the economy, reshaping existing systems. The development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is accelerating worldwide, and their use can bring positive changes to the operation of financial areas, while also presenting new challenges to the system, as well as raising legal and ethical questions.

Artificial Intelligence encompasses machine-based applications and algorithms aimed at mimicking human behavior, while Robotic Process Automation is a technology and approach that employs software robots for automating business processes.

Why is this beneficial in the financial sector?

The application of AI and RPA in the financial sector can significantly enhance efficiency and reduce the possibility of human error, as these technologies are capable of swiftly and accurately executing repetitive tasks, such as transaction processing or data analysis. Additionally, AI can identify and predict complex patterns, aiding in reducing financial risks and improving business decision-making. Through their automation capabilities, RPA and AI enable companies to focus their resources on value-creating activities, thereby enhancing operational efficiency and competitiveness.

Artificial Intelligence and Finance

AI-based invoice management systems can handle a large number of invoices rapidly and flawlessly, including both outgoing and incoming invoicing. Furthermore, AI-driven systems facilitate the precise and swift preparation of monthly and quarterly statements, as well as the analysis of large volumes of financial data, identifying patterns, trends, and irregularities.

AI can automate banking processes such as accounting tasks, track regulatory changes, and reduce search time through financial smart assistants. It detects and flags errors within financial datasets, suggests corrections, forecasts cash flow movements, and provides support in summarizing market analyses and research.

Artificial Intelligence aids in overcoming language barriers by translating reports into multiple languages and provides fast and reliable assistance in generating financial reports. Additionally, its capabilities extend to reviewing legal language and correcting legal formulation anomalies, ensuring the legal compliance of documents.

RPA and Finance

Through the automation of corporate governance processes, regulatory frameworks, and auditing procedures become more efficient, enhancing transparency and reducing the risk of errors. Comparing balances between different systems, previously an extremely time-consuming manual task, becomes easily achievable. Digitizing invoices, recording data, and automating various formats of procurement orders, including data entry and processing, also become faster and more efficient thanks to RPA.

Improving data disparities, automating bank statement processing, and automatically verifying supplier contract terms are additional benefits. The automated generation of P&L reports saves time, while automating invoicing processes improves cash flow and reduces administrative burdens.

What business impacts are expected?

The use of these two technologies can be extremely beneficial for almost every company, yielding the following expected results:

  • Automation and increased efficiency
  • Reduction of errors
  • Decrease in financial losses and costs
  • Enhanced compliance and monitoring
  • Transparency
  • Boost in competitiveness
  • Better utilization of resources allocation
  • Flexible scalability
  • Ensured continuous operation
  • Support for managerial decision-making
  • Enhanced risk management
  • Ensured regulatory compliance
  • Sustained innovation

The importance of integration

Integrating RPA and AI into daily operations poses a significant challenge, as these technologies can substantially alter workflows. Therefore, it is crucial to provide adequate training and ongoing professional support to employees to successfully integrate these technologies into their daily work.

The expert team of eNET and its wholly owned subsidiary, Optimaze, are readily available to assist in the corporate-level implementation of RPA and AI technologies, thereby ensuring process optimization and organizational efficiency for any given company.

Now or never …

It’s undeniable that RPA and AI technologies will continue to evolve in the future, and companies must adapt to new challenges and opportunities. Artificial Intelligence and RPA are already reshaping the functioning of the financial sector, and further growth is expected in this trend. Companies wishing to gain an advantage in this area must anticipate the opportunities offered by AI and RPA and adapt to them. In this context, the classic saying applies: those who fall behind will be left behind …

In the European Union, the regulation of RPA and AI falls under the EU AI Act, which is considered the world’s first comprehensive AI law. Under this framework, AI systems are classified based on their risk level, which determines the stringency of the regulations applied to them.