Almost six out of every 10 accountants report making several errors every month, and one out of three says they make a few errors each week. These alarming statistics come from a July 2023 survey of 497 accountants conducted by Gartner research. The survey also found that the error rate among accountants is highly correlated with the extent to which their controllers report capacity constraints.

Obviously, financial errors can have tangible business consequences. If errors make their way into the monthly or quarterly close, business decisions may be based on incorrect data. Worse, the organization may issue inaccurate financial statements, opening itself up to an array of potential regulatory and investor relations challenges down the road.

Corporate controllers frequently seek to increase capacity by deploying new technologies in hopes of reducing errors. But so far, this approach has had mixed results. Many controllers have told us that their staff keeps doing manual work long after it is no longer needed.