How automated revenue management software can help you avoid EOFY agony in 2026

Will your finance team be putting in the big hours settling outstanding invoices and chasing up aging debts over the next few weeks?

If you answered in the affirmative, join the club. The end of the financial year is typically a hectic time for businesses as they strive to get things squared away, ready for a fresh start in FY2026.

There are accounting entries to finalise, accounts to reconcile and reports to be drafted and reviewed, in readiness for the preparation and filing of the annual tax return.

Throw in forecasting and budgeting for the upcoming financial year and getting the records in apple pie order for the next external audit and you’re looking at long hours and lots of stress for your hard-pressed finance personnel.

Indeed, a 2023 survey by The Access Group found that 58 per cent of Australian SMEs cite cash flow and debtor management as key EOFY stressors, with nearly one in three saying they spend over 20 hours reconciling accounts in June alone.

Lagging behind with legacy revenue management systems

Operating in manual or semi-manual mode, as many Australian enterprises continue to do, makes the end-of-year clean-up and financial close far more time consuming and arduous than it needs to be.

Invoicing, payment processing and record keeping discrepancies tend to be more prevalent at these low-tech laggards. Investigating and correcting errors can be a painfully protracted process if the relevant data is contained in spreadsheets or dispersed across multiple legacy systems, rather than stored in a centralised repository to which the finance team has immediate access.

Exploring the automation advantage

For businesses that have adopted cloud-based revenue management software, it’s a very different story. Smartly implemented, it offers automated quote to cash support for whatever pricing model your enterprise chooses to pursue.

More accurate and efficient invoicing and revenue management makes for healthier cash flow and a markedly more straightforward end-of-year close.

Doing better with debt collection all year round

So does improving the way your business identifies and pursues bad debts throughout the year.

Tracking late payers with spreadsheets and other legacy tools is a costly exercise, in both time and money terms. As is having your finance personnel spend hours every week calling and emailing delinquent debtors to prompt them to pay up.

Deploy a revenue management platform that incorporates invoicing, collections and payment processing into a single automated solution and you’ll be able to supercharge the efficiency of your dunning process. Doing so is a surefire way to boost your cashflow and free your team up to focus on higher value activities.

Using data analytics to determine your future direction

Compelling though they are, the benefits of automating the revenue management function go beyond the operational.

The right software platform can also act as a single source of truth for your enterprise; an invaluable reservoir of business intelligence that can be used to inform your planning process for the financial year ahead.

Choose one with advanced analytics capabilities and you’ll be able to delve into data about the uptake of your products and services and make business critical decisions about how to optimise your offering and deliver an enhanced customer experience during the next 12 months.

If you’re operating in a competitive market – and in today’s times, few businesses are not! – upping your game in this way will be key to protecting your profitability and achieving healthy growth.

Setting your business up for a stronger future in FY2026 and beyond

The upcoming financial year is likely to see Australian businesses forced to contend with ongoing uncertainty and difficult economic conditions. Automating the revenue management process will enable your finance department to do more with less during these challenging and unpredictable times.

As well as completing the annual close process more efficiently next time June 30 rolls around, your team will be able to bill customers promptly and accurately, keep a closer watch on the company’s cash flow and pursue outstanding accounts effectively and at scale.

If these things are priorities for your enterprise in FY2026, it’s foundation technology that deserves to sit at the heart of your ICT stack.

By Carl Warwick, regional sales director, Asia Pacific and Japan, BillingPlatform