Report:

Magic Quadrant for Financial Close and Consolidation Solutions

Top Vendor Products for Financial Close and Consolidation Solutions in 2023

• OneStream
• Oracle
• Wolters Kluwer

Financial Close and Consolidation Solutions Vendor Product Comparisons 2023

• BlackLine - Challenger
  

  Pros:

  • Close management: BlackLine's in-depth close functionality at entity and group levels provides configurable close management workflows that integrate across the wider solution, supporting multilayer approvals and certification. It also provides configurable dashboards and drill-through functionality, which extend collaboration between group and entity accounting teams.
  • Market responsiveness: BlackLine works closely with its customers throughout the product development journey, from idea generation to feature review during development and in beta testing. This approach supported the release of the newly launched Financial Reporting Analytics solution for consolidation and group reporting needs.
  • Implementation support: BlackLine provides multiple implementation accelerators, including Modern Accounting Playbook and Journal Entry templates. It also provides accelerators usable in several industries to reduce time to value for new customers.

  Cons:

  • Nonfinancial disclosures: While BlackLine does not support a presentation-ready version of Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A), it does facilitate financial, nonfinancial and nontabular disclosure creation via workflow management capabilities and comment summarization.
  • Innovation: BlackLine currently offers limited AI capabilities through its rule-based Variance Analysis and Transaction Matching solutions. Its 2024 roadmap includes AI-powered automated risk assessments by account and chatbots to offer in-app help to users.
  • Sales pricing: BlackLine's product consists of multiple solutions, and it prices the product based on bundled pricing or based on each solution, with some at the user level and others at the transaction level. Depending on the client's needs, this pricing method may lead to proposals that are hard to compare across vendors.


• Board - Visionary
  

  Pros:

  • Financial reporting: Board's report building is fully configurable, allowing users to build reports that suit their needs, and it supports IFRS and GAAP requirements. It provides dynamic dashboards and multidimensional analysis, including integration with Microsoft Office and Teams to enable ease of access and report sharing across different users.
  • Innovation: Board's product includes generative AI, NLP and chatbot as standard offerings. Additionally, its Microsoft Azure ML integration will be customized based on user requirements during implementation to support AI-powered solutions such as use of NLP and generative AI within close and consolidation.
  • Data integration: Board has prebuilt integrators with ERPs and over 270 APIs to multiple source systems that import GL and transactional information to support drill-through capabilities in reporting. This integration supports efficiency in the consolidation process and a quicker implementation time for new customers.

  Cons:

  • Financial statement reconciliation: Board provides simple templates for clients to configure and track their reconciliations process, specifically for intercompany reconciliation. It currently lacks advanced capabilities like account categorization, transaction matching rules and autocertification, though some of these features are part of its 2024 roadmap.
  • Geography strategy: Board has an established presence in Europe; however, its geographic growth strategy is still evolving when compared to other vendors in this Magic Quadrant. As a result, it continues to focus on growing its strategic investments in North America and Asia/Pacific.
  • Sales execution: Compared to other vendors in this Magic Quadrant, Board has one of the lowest net new customer additions and also has had fewer sales initiatives for its product over the last couple of years. However, it has campaigns planned in 2024 for new and existing customers interested in expanding their solution with GCR.


• Fluence Technologies - Challenger
  

  Pros:

  • Close management: Fluence has an embedded workflow that supports collaboration between entity and group controllers. Its close capabilities also encompass features such as entity bursting, hierarchical status reporting and comprehensive workflow actions, including the ability to automate key tasks during close.
  • Innovation: Fluence currently uses Microsoft Azure OpenAI services to deliver end-user chatbots. It is also conducting a number of AI pilots within transaction matching, anomaly detection and narrative reporting to support automation and decision insights inside the accounting process.
  • Implementation support: Through its standard, out-of-the-box input forms and reports, Fluence offers one of the fastest deployment time frames across all organizations. It also provides support to its implementation partners through certifications and regular review of ongoing projects to ensure timely and successful deployments.

  Cons:

  • Consolidation and close management features: Fewer Fluence customers leverage its consolidation and close management features than its reporting capabilities. Though its go-to-market is focused on close management and consolidation, potential customers should explore whether its included functionality will fully meet their needs around consolidation and close management prior to deployment.
  • Vertical strategy: Fluence does not offer any industry-specific accelerators, unlike other vendors in the market who provide preconfigured industry templates and leverage partners with deep industry expertise. Clients looking for industry-specific solutions should evaluate whether this solution will meet their needs.
  • Geography strategy: Fluence's customers are primarily based in Europe, due to its acquisition of XLCubed, a European-based company. Though its headquarters and operations are primarily in North America, customers seeking a vendor with a larger global operations and partner network may find this strategy limiting.


• IBM - Challenger
  

  Pros:

  • Financial consolidation: IBM provides a broad range of capabilities within consolidation, with no limit to the number of entities or dimensions it can consolidate. It provides automation in consolidation and intercompany rules, visibility to account movements and a predefined investment register to support eliminations.
  • User experience: IBM supports personalized landing pages, workbenches or dashboards that are unique to specific roles. This personalization enables users to access data and tasks based on their role. Its product also provides a spreadsheet-like experience that brings familiarity, ease of use and capabilities within a web browser for data entry.
  • Implementation support: IBM adopts a "no code just configuration" model that drives a quicker implementation time by leveraging its prebuilt standard rules and templates. After going live, every client is assigned an account executive who supports customers' service requests and issue resolution.

  Cons:

  • Product strategy: Though IBM continues to invest in improving its close and consolidation capabilities, this focus is narrow compared with other vendors that have begun exploring a broader range of adjacent areas, such as disclosure and regulatory reporting.
  • Market understanding: While IBM has a dedicated research team, it is more focused on collecting product feedback and current pain points. Other vendors in this Magic Quadrant conduct market and competitive research to stay ahead of technology evolution and market opportunities.
  • Sales strategy: IBM does not currently have a dedicated sales strategy team for Cognos Controller, and it offers limited tools to enable the buying process. Although it plans to direct additional resources and partnerships in the future, other vendors are already dedicating targeted investments in these areas.


• insightsoftware - Niche Player
  

  Pros:

  • Disclosure and regulatory reporting: insightsoftware is able to meet the compliance needs of a variety of regional and country regulatory bodies. It provides a user-friendly iXBRL tagging functionality, in addition to its comprehensive workflow options and notifications that can facilitate the stages of regulatory filing.
  • Data integration: insightsoftware has prebuilt integrations with a number of ERPs, planning vendors and regulatory bodies such as IFRS 2022 and USGAAP 2022 to enable automatic filing of financial statements. Additionally, it has direct integration with the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank to enable integration of currency rates.
  • Market responsiveness: insightsoftware dedicates a significant portion of its product roadmap to customer-driven enhancements. It leverages an innovation portal where customers can request and vote on ideas, which has supported recent customer-driven enhancements around tax reporting and closing automation.

  Cons:

  • User experience: insightsoftware's growth, driven through its multiple acquisitions, has led to stand-alone products in the close and consolidation space. Though it launched a common platform in 2023 and has additional UI/UX enhancements planned in 2024, clients looking for an enhanced user experience should evaluate if this solution will meet their needs.
  • Innovation: insightsoftware does not currently use AI within its product, but AI pilots are featured in its 2024 product roadmap. Other vendors have actively deployed AI and have a robust roadmap for AI within anomaly detection, predictive analytics and transaction matching.
  • Sales execution: insightsoftware has demonstrated year-over-year growth. However, its sales initiatives for certain offerings over the last two years have focused on cross-selling individual products across its existing customers base, thereby limiting its expansion to new customers.


• Jedox - Niche Player
  

  Pros:

  • Financial reporting: Jedox's reporting offers drill-through functionalities, allowing users to directly access data from the original ERP. This capability empowers controllers to gain insights into the underlying transactions driving the consolidated numbers.
  • User experience: Jedox has designed its solution as low-code for users and offers prebuilt templates for agile deployment. It also offers NLP capability that understands questions posed by the user and returns instructions on how to accomplish tasks such as "creating a dashboard."
  • Sales pricing: Jedox's pricing is flexible by modules and bundles, creating options for companies of all sizes, and customers can easily appraise the potential value of each option and the overall solution. This transparency allows customers to only pay for what they need, with the option to expand in the future.

  Cons:

  • Product strategy: Jedox does not support disclosure and regulatory reporting, account reconciliation and financial reporting risk management. Clients looking for a product that can support these capabilities, in addition to the core features around close, consolidation and reporting, may find this module of the product limiting.
  • Geography strategy: Jedox's customers are primarily based in Europe, with lesser concentrations in North America and Asia/Pacific. Customers with global operations and legal entities across multiple regions should evaluate whether the current offering meets their consolidation and reporting needs.
  • Sales strategy: Jedox's sales strategy employs a land-and-expand approach, where it cross-sells its close and consolidation product to clients of its existing financial planning software. This approach limits access to clients who are only looking for close and consolidation solutions and who are not current clients of its financial planning software.


• LucaNet - Niche Player
  

  Pros:

  • Product strategy: With the acquisition of AMANA in 2023, LucaNet expanded its product capability to include disclosure management, tax compliance and ESG reporting. Customers now have access to broader functionalities, a single integrated go-to-market experience and harmonized pricing between the two companies.
  • Data integration: LucaNet has over 300 standard integrations with ERP and accounting systems that import GL and transactional information to support drill-through capabilities in reporting. This enhanced data integration also supports a faster implementation time for clients operating within multiple accounting systems.
  • Sales pricing: LucaNet offers three licensing packages, each clearly defined and based on functionality. Packages are structured in a similar manner, enabling comparative analysis and transparency and allowing end users to select and only pay for the functionality required.

  Cons:

  • Innovation: LucaNet currently does not use AI within its product but is evaluating it in its 2024 product roadmap. Other vendors actively deploy AI and have a robust roadmap for AI within anomaly detection, predictive analytics and transaction matching.
  • User experience: LucaNet launched its LucaNet.Web Client workspace in 2022, allowing clients to access data from a web browser, and the company is working on improving its user experience. However, some workspace views are not user-friendly and lack advanced capabilities such as responsive UI designs and multimodal interactions.
  • Geography strategy: LucaNet's customer base and operations are primarily in Europe. Though it is working on expanding in North America, Latin America and Asia/Pacific, customers with global operations and legal entities across multiple regions should evaluate whether the current offering meets their consolidation and reporting needs.


• OneStream - Leader
  

  Pros:

  • Financial consolidation: OneStream provides a broad range of capabilities within the consolidation process. Capabilities include its Extensible Dimensionality feature, guided workflow and advanced financial intelligence with out-of-the-box capabilities like drill-back features and multiple prebuilt dashboards.
  • Data integration: Onestream provides a variety of data load options and data connectors to ERPs (on-premises or cloud) and other source systems that are part of its prebuilt library of connectors. Data imports are subject to error handling, validation and notifications, with options for the upload(s) to be scheduled or manually activated.
  • Sales pricing: OneStream provides flexible, user-based pricing, which enables customers to easily license the full platform and take advantage of the complete range of its functionality, based on individual user requirements. This pricing allows end users to tailor their subscription to their needs.

  Cons:

  • XBRL filing: Onestream provides standard templates and forms for organizations to support their disclosure and regulatory needs, but it does not support XBRL capability required for filing. Clients looking for XBRL tagging and filing requirements will have to partner with other vendors that offer this capability.
  • Innovation: While OneStream currently offers ML capabilities to flag anomalies and has AI on its 2024 roadmap, other vendors offer a broader range of AI features. Such features include auto mapping of COA, narrative generation, interactive chatbots and automatching of transactions.
  • Sales enablement: Onestream provides limited interactive demos to prospective clients during the sales process. Other vendors offer free self-guided demos and trial options to support buyer decision making.


• Oracle - Leader
  

  Pros:

  • Close and consolidation: Oracle provides a wide range of advanced capabilities within its consolidation solution, such as large volume data ingestion and refinement, comprehensive rules and reporting capabilities. Its close capability is complimented by visual dashboards and workflows, which improve the user experience and enable collaboration during the closing cycle.
  • Innovation: Oracle has embedded AI/ML across its solutions in areas such as anomaly detection within consolidation, narrative generation in reporting, and interactive chatbots. It is also conducting a number of AI pilots within transaction matching and dynamic approval of journal entries to support automation and decision insights within the closing process.
  • Geography strategy: Oracle has a strong presence globally with no limitations, except sanctioned countries. It supports global consolidation requirements with specific templates for France, Italy and Spain, and out-of-the-box country-specific reporting. The company continues to invest in its global partner enablement to extend its reach.

  Cons:

  • Financial reporting risk management: Unlike other vendors, a subset of Oracle's functionality for risk management is not native within the solution but sits within another product, Oracle Cloud Risk Management. Clients should factor in additional pricing and licensing to access these capabilities.
  • Product strategy: Though Oracle's product strategy shows continued investments in automation, user experience, expanding AI within close, consolidation and reporting, and ESG analytics, it lacks iXBRL capability or the ability to automatically transfer information to regulators. Clients looking for broader capabilities in regulatory filing will need to evaluate if this product meets their needs.
  • Sales pricing: Oracle currently offers pricing based on its two product editions. While this model is simple, it can appear relatively more expensive than other vendors' products that offer granular pricing options. Clients who do not need the full range of capabilities should negotiate accordingly.


• Planful - Challenger
  

  Pros:

  • Data integration: Planful offers system-agnostic connectivities, including a large number of prebuilt certified connectors with ERPs, supporting bidirectional interface. Recent investments in integration capability have demonstrated reduced time-to-run consolidation, currency conversion and report collection for existing clients.
  • Innovation: Planful embeds AI across its solution in areas such as anomaly detection and transaction matching that enables automation and decision support in the close and consolidation process. In 2024, it plans to introduce generative AI in its product to support narrative generation and analytics.
  • Implementation support: Planful offers one of the fastest deployment timelines across all upper-midsize, large and extra-large organizations. It also provides support to its implementation partners through certifications, implementation bootcamps and regular health reviews of ongoing projects to ensure timely and successful deployments for its clients.

  Cons:

  • Product strategy: Planful's product strategy is to invest in its core capabilities of close, consolidation and reporting while partnering with vendors such as Workiva to provide capabilities, including disclosure management and financial reporting risk management. Clients should factor in additional purchase agreements and licensing to access these capabilities.
  • Geographic strategy: Planful's customer base is predominantly in North America. Though it is working to expand in Europe and Asia/Pacific, customers with global operations and legal entities across multiple regions should evaluate whether the current offering meets complex consolidation and reporting needs.
  • Vertical strategy: Planful does not offer any industry-specific accelerators, unlike other vendors in the market that provide preconfigured industry templates. It leverages partners with deep industry expertise to provide accelerated implementations. Clients looking for industry-specific solutions or accelerators should evaluate whether this arrangement will meet their needs.


• Prophix - Niche Player
  

  Pros:

  • Financial reporting: Prophix's report building is fully configurable, allowing users to build reports that suit their needs, and it supports IFRS and GAAP requirements. Microsoft Office add-ons support building reports directly in Excel and retrieving data from the application.
  • Market responsiveness: Prophix prioritizes its product roadmap by aggregating customer input from many sources, as well as input from analysts and market research. Its recent enhancements to the Prophix Portal, its front-end user interface and automation of data import are examples of its use of customer feedback in the product development process.
  • Sales enablement: Prophix's presales, sales and implementation teams possess a high degree of knowledge and experience in accounting. This expertise enables them to provide deep insights and educate prospective customers on how its product offerings can meet their business needs during the buying process.

  Cons:

  • Financial statement reconciliation: Prophix provides simple templates for clients to configure and track their reconciliations process. It lacks advanced capabilities like account categorization, transaction matching rules and auto certification that other vendors in this market offer.
  • Sales execution: Prophix's current close and consolidation customer base is small to upper-midsize companies concentrated in Europe. Large and extra-large clients with global operations should evaluate whether the current offering can handle their complex business models.
  • Business model: One of Prophix's primary growth strategies is to sell its consolidation solution to its existing financial planning clients. Though it plans to expand its addressable market through new product capabilities in 2024, its present focus may limit access to clients who are not current customers of its financial planning software.


• Solver - Niche Player
  

  Pros:

  • Financial reporting: Solver's report designer is flexible with full use of Microsoft Excel formulas and can be published to the web when complete. It supports drill-through and dynamic expansion across rows and columns, which is more advanced than standard ERP reporting.
  • ERP partnership: Solver targets clients of the six top midmarket ERPs: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance, Sage Intacct, Acumatica, NetSuite and SAP Business One. It offers prebuilt integrations and starter kits for these ERPs. Customers that currently utilize one of these six ERPs will see real-time data connectivity and improvements in the speed of consolidation.
  • Implementation support: Solver provides fast implementation time due to its quick-start ERP templates. Additionally, it provides its customers with a dedicated client success manager and global support team across all regions.

  Cons:

  • Innovation: Solver does not currently use AI in its product and is piloting AI to support ad hoc reporting. Other vendors actively deploy AI and have a robust roadmap for AI within anomaly detection, predictive analytics and transaction matching.
  • Product strategy: Solver's product roadmap includes smaller enhancements and functionalities that other vendors in this Magic Quadrant already have, such as building data connectors and improvements in reporting. Its roadmap does not include branching into adjacencies, such as financial risk management or disclosure and regulatory reporting.
  • Sales execution: Solver's go-to-market strategy targets organizations with less than $1 billion in revenue and focuses narrowly on customers within its six partner ERPs. Large organizations or clients that do not use the six partner ERPs may not find this product available as an option.


• Vena - Visionary
  

  Pros:

  • Close management: Vena's close management solutions provide configurable workflows, multilayer approvals and certifications at the entity and group level. Its close capability is complimented by visual dashboards, which improve the user experience and enable collaboration during the closing cycle.
  • Innovation: Vena's product has incorporated a number of innovations within its platform, such as AI-based transaction matching, natural language querying and Vena Insights, where it leverages Microsoft's AI to enable reporting analytics. Its 2024 roadmap continues to build on its innovative platform to increase insights and support user experience.
  • Market responsiveness: Vena uses a combination of feedback from its customers, employees and external market research to prioritize new feature development. Recent product enhancements in Vena Insights, quick-start templates for FX setups and native integrations with ERPs support clients' needs for efficiencies within the close process.

  Cons:

  • Implementation support: Vena provides preconfigured solutions for financial consolidation and account reconciliation that act as implementation accelerators. However, other vendors heavily invest in implementation programs and training materials and offer more predefined templates to accelerate the deployment.
  • Geography strategy: Over 90% of Vena's customer base and operations are in North America. Although its growth strategy includes plans to expand to other regions, clients with global operations and legal entities across multiple regions should evaluate whether the current offering meets their consolidation and reporting needs.
  • Sales pricing: Vena currently offers pricing based on its two product tiers and user types. Other vendors offer a range of pricing options based on user types and solution offerings, which provide flexibility to the end client.


• Wolters Kluwer - Leader
  

  Pros:

  • Product strategy: Wolters Kluwer provides an extensive product offering, extending beyond core capabilities of close, consolidation and reporting, into adjacencies such as ESG and sustainability, tax and insurance. It also offers country-specific consolidation features for France and Japan.
  • Innovation: Wolters Kluwer has embedded AI and ML across the solution, such as in anomaly detection, COA mapping and predictive insights. It has strong sources for innovation, including strategic co-innovation programs with its partners, allowing for intensive prototyping to identify new areas where AI/ML can be deployed.
  • Implementation support: Wolters Kluwer delivers one of the shortest implementation timelines for large and extra-large clients through its embedded batch loading capability that automates the configuration of legal entities and accounts. It also offers prebuilt financial statement templates that accelerate customer adoption of the solution.

  Cons:

  • Data connectors: Wolters Kluwer offers a general-purpose REST API for bidirectional integration with various systems and a certified real-time connector with SAP/HANA. However, it has a below-average number of supported APIs and certified connectors compared to the market average.
  • Industry strategy: Wolters Kluwer offers limited industry-specific acceleration programs, whereas other vendors provide preconfigured solutions, accelerators and best practice templates for specific industries. Clients looking for industry-specific solutions should evaluate whether this product meets their needs.
  • Technical support: Wolters Kluwer had one of the longest SLA or response times for critical incidents compared to other vendors in this market. Although clients can upgrade to a shorter SLA by purchasing a higher support package, clients should factor response time into their purchasing decision.

Reference

• Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Financial Close and Consolidation Solutions, 27 November 2023, ID G00791859

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