Journal Entry Automation

Replace spreadsheets and manual posting with a fully automated, centralized journal automation process – one that’s faster, more accurate, and audit-ready. No need to abandon Excel. Your team continues to work in the tool they know, while robots prepare, validate, and post entries directly into your ERP.

The result: journal entries that are consistent, traceable, and seamlessly integrated into your month-end, quarter-end, or year-end close.

Centralized, Standardized, and Audit-Ready

Journal Entry Automation Solutions

We centralize all journal entries in one place so they are prepared, validated, and approved consistently every period. Whether you’re dealing with accruals, adjustments, allocations, or corrections, automation ensures every entry follows the same rules. No shortcuts, no errors.

The proof is in the numbers

New systems to learn – stay in Excel

50%+

Time saved in entry preparation and posting

100%

Audit-ready traceability of every entry

Average ROI
(months)

What sets us apart?

Excel-first approach: Finance teams can still start in Excel, but processing and posting is done by automation based on predefined rules.
Seamless ERP integration: Entries are validated, approved, and posted directly into your ERP (SAP, Oracle, NetSuite, Dynamics, QuickBooks) – without manual uploads.
Standardization: Every entry is created the same way, ensuring compliance and consistency across entities and reporting periods.
Audit trail transparency: Each step (preparation, validation, approval, posting) is logged so auditors can see exactly why an entry was made.

And we back it with a promise: achieve at least 50% time savings in journal entry preparation and posting – or get your investment back.

Key Benefits of Journal Entry Automation

Eliminate manual data entry

Upload, map, and process journal data automatically – no more copying from spreadsheets into ERP screens.

Standardize processes

Ensure every journal follows the same rules and validations, so there’s no variance across periods or teams.

Accelerate month-end close

Automated entries (accruals, allocations, corrections) reduce bottlenecks and shorten cycle times.

Improve accuracy and compliance

Validation rules, approval workflows, and full audit logs prevent errors and strengthen controls.

Maintain Excel flexibility

Continue working in Excel, but let automation handle the posting and validation – combining familiarity with efficiency.

Scale with ease

Support growing transaction volumes without adding staff to the finance team.

Automated Journal Entries in Practice

We help you

Prepare recurring and ad-hoc journal entries automatically using data pulled from your ERP or external systems.
Validate entries against business rules (e.g., account mappings, cost center allocations, thresholds).
Route entries through approval workflows for sign-off before posting.
Post approved entries directly into your ERP - with no manual data entry.
Automate accruals, allocations, and recurring entries.
Provide dashboards to monitor pending, approved, and rejected entries.
Maintain a full audit trail for every action (who prepared, who approved, when it was posted).

No new ERP. No retraining. No disruption.

Our approach lets you keep working the way you do today, but faster, standardized, and compliant.

Our Expertise

We specialize in automating and centralizing journal entry workflows. From payroll and bonus accruals to FX adjustments, allocations, and corrections, our solutions embed automation into your finance systems to deliver:

Excel-friendly automation: continue preparing data in Excel, while automation validates and posts entries directly into ERP.
Standardized journal entries: every entry follows the same rules and validations across periods, entities, and teams.
Centralized entry management: all journals are tracked in one place, making them easy to review, approve, and audit.
Audit-ready transparency: full logs of preparation, validation, approval, and posting for every journal entry.

Schedule a FREE audit of your journal entry process.

Let our experts evaluate your current process and provide you with a personalized, no-cost assessment. Discover how automation can help reduce manual tasks, improve accuracy, and lower processing costs.

Frequently Asked Questions About Journal Entry Automation

1What is journal entry automation?

Journal entry automation uses technology to prepare, validate, approve, and post journal entries automatically. Instead of creating and uploading entries manually, automation ensures that accruals, adjustments, and allocations are handled consistently and posted directly to your ERP. The outcome: faster closes, fewer errors, and audit-ready journals.

2 How We Automate Journal Entry Work

We embed automation directly into the journal entry process – from preparation to posting – so entries are consistent, faster, and fully traceable. Finance teams can still prepare data in Excel or pull it from other systems, but instead of manually uploading or re-keying into the ERP, automation takes over: Data preparation – Robots extract data from ERP, subledgers, or Excel templates and structure it according to accounting rules. Validation – Each entry is automatically checked against predefined rules (account mappings, cost center allocations, thresholds, debit/credit balances). Approval workflow – Entries are routed through digital approval chains for review and sign-off before posting. Automated posting – Approved entries are posted directly into the ERP without manual input. Audit trail – Every step (who prepared, who approved, when it was posted) is logged for transparency and compliance. This ensures journal entries are standardized, centralized, and audit-ready – while cutting out repetitive manual work and errors.

3 What problems does journal entry automation solve?

Manual data entry into ERPs.
Inconsistent preparation of journals across teams.
Errors from spreadsheet-driven processes.
Lack of audit trails for adjustments and accruals.
Time delays at period-end.

4What are the benefits of automating journal entries?

Faster month-end close through automated recurring entries.
Error reduction via rules and validations.
Audit compliance with logged approvals and traceability.
Efficiency by eliminating manual uploads and posting.
Standardization of processes across global entities.

5What companies benefit most from automated journal entries?

Multi-entity organizations with high volumes of recurring entries.
Companies with complex allocations and accruals (manufacturing, healthcare, retail).
Enterprises struggling with fragmented ERP workflows.
Mid-sized companies seeking control and audit readiness without expanding finance headcount.

6Does journal entry automation support audit requirements?

Yes. Every entry is logged with preparation, validation, approval, and posting steps. This provides auditors with a clear trail of what was done, by whom, and why — improving compliance and reducing audit costs.

7What industries use journal entry automation?

Manufacturing: Automating inventory and cost allocations.
Healthcare: Automating payroll accruals and patient billing adjustments.
Retail & Hospitality: Automating daily revenue allocations and vacation accruals across locations.
Financial Services: Automating FX adjustments, allocations, and intercompany postings.
Technology & SaaS: Automating deferred revenue entries and recurring expense allocations.

Automated Bank Reconciliation

Context

Our Swiss client utilizes a cloud-based accounting platform for their bookkeeping and maintains multiple bank accounts with PostFinance. Accurate and timely recording of bank statements in the accounting system is a critical component of effective cash management. Currently, this process is performed manually: an accounting clerk downloads the bank statement from the e-banking system in CSV or Swiss-standard formats (camt.053/camt.054), uploads it into the cloud accounting tool, and manually assigns the transactions to the appropriate accounts in the general ledger, customer ledger, or AP ledger.

Proposed Solution

To optimize this workflow, we propose the implementation of a intelligent automation solution to fully automate the bank statement integration and reconciliation process. The robot will:

Automatically download bank statements from the e-banking platform and upload them to the cloud accounting system.
Match incoming payments to customer invoices using structured reference numbers. In cases where a reference number is missing, the robot cross-verifies the payer’s name against the customer ledger to determine the correct posting.
Process outgoing payments based on the accounts payable (AP) payment run, assigning them to the corresponding entries in the AP ledger.

Post all remaining transactions appropriately to the general ledger in accordance with the organization’s accounting structure.
Reconcile the closing balance recorded in the accounting system with the bank statement balance.
Upon completion of the reconciliation, the robot generates a verification report highlighting any discrepancies, which are then routed to the accounting team for manual validation.

At month-end, a comprehensive reconciliation report is delivered to the accounting department. This includes monthly bank statements, detailed reconciliation to the general ledger, customer ledger, and AP ledger. All supporting documents are archived in a secure repository for audit and compliance purposes.

Key Benefits

Up to 80% reduction in processing time and a significant decrease in error rates.
Human oversight limited to exceptions – typically fewer than 10% of transactions.
Reconciliation backup and bank statement copies are automatically archived as PDF files for audit readiness and future reference.

Systems Automated

Optimizing Order-to-Cash

Context

Our client distributes a wide range of wood products—including pallets, crates, and building and truss materials—across nearly all states in the U.S. Currently, the invoicing process is manual: invoices are created based on “completed load” reports from the dispatching system (Aljex) and sent to customers via email along with supporting documentation.

This manual workflow is time-intensive and prone to delays and errors. Moreover, data from the dispatching software (Aljex) must be manually reconciled with the accounting system, significantly increasing administrative workload.

Proposed Solution

To streamline operations and reduce manual effort, we implemented an automation solution using n8n, a flexible, cost-effective, and easily deployable automation platform. Key components of the solution include:

Automated Invoice Creation: Invoices are automatically generated in QuickBooks based on data received from Aljex via API integration.
Daily Confirmation Report: A bot generates a daily summary confirming that invoices have been successfully created for all completed loads.
Automated Email Dispatch: Invoices are automatically sent to customers. The system monitors for bounced emails and verifies that all messages have been successfully delivered.
Automated Reconciliation: Dispatch data from Aljex is automatically exported and reconciled with the accounting system to ensure completeness and accuracy.
Exception Reporting: A discrepancy report is produced, identifying any mismatches for further investigation.

Key Benefits

Up to 90% reduction in processing time with a significant drop in errors
Scalable and always-on solution – automation operates 24/7 without the need for manual intervention
Human oversight only where needed – employees focus solely on exceptions, typically less than 10% of the total volume

Systems Automated

Invoicing automation

Initial context

Our client processes between 80 and 100 invoices each month as part of their standard billing operations. The current process involves manually retrieving data from Abacus system (including billable hours, payroll counts, and fixed fees), preparing individual invoices in Excel, posting them into the Sage accounting system, and emailing them to clients. This repetitive and manual process consumes two full working days each month, carries a high risk of human error.

Proposed Solution

To streamline and optimize this process, VirtuDesk proposed the implementation of an attended solution that automates the end-to-end invoice workflow while maintaining human oversight at key control points. The robot will:

Retrieve relevant input data from Abacus and contract files to generate monthly Excel invoices and store them in a shared folder.
Post invoice entries directly into Sage, updating the customer ledger accounts and generating an activity log.
Create a reconciliation report comparing recorded invoices to posted entries, allowing for immediate review and validation.
Generate PDF versions of all invoices and send them to customers via a monitored functional mailbox.
Produce a report showing all sent emails, flagging any delivery issues such as bounced messages.
Provide intelligent insights, including revenue trends and variance analysis across periods, to support financial decision-making.

Key Benefits

The automation reduced manual effort by up to 80%, cutting the invoicing process from two full working days to just a few hours per month. It ensures improved accuracy and consistency, as all key actions are logged and reconciled. Human oversight is focused on reviewing discrepancies and validating outputs, allowing staff to shift attention to more strategic tasks. Additionally, the solution is fully scalable and audit-ready, with all documents and reports archived for compliance and future reference.

Systems Automated