ART

"The software is really helpful and straightforward once you get used to it."

Pros: This is a great software that not only provides a much needed visibility in accounting, but it also makes the process of accounting easier by matching balance settlements. That's my favorite part.

Cons: Sometimes you might stuck while navigating through activities at the beginning but once you get used to it, it becomes really straightforward and so helpful!

"Great tool"

Comments: This drastically improves our reconciliation process. Our month end close was already fairly quick, but all recons hadn't been reviewed. ART allows more recons to be reviewed quicker and the tasks tool allows us to see where we're at as well as know what needs to be completed when someone is out. We've also started adding tasks for all the miscellaneous items audit asks for. They have access to ART so they can pull these as well as all the recons, limiting the time my team needs to gather all these items for them.

Pros: Implementation was fairly easy, just fill out some templates and SkyStem takes care of setting up your site. The GL reconciliation tool allows for flexibility in how each account is reconciled, but all with a few different templated forms so recons are still fairly consistent (and more consistent than the various excel ones we had been using). The tasks tool is fantastic. Between tasks and reporting, it's easy to see where the close is at and what still needs to be done.

Cons: There are just a few tweaks in the interface that I think would make it more user friendly and more beneficial. The SkyStem team seems to openly accept feedback though and is willing to take suggestions back to their team for future enhancements.

"Review"

Pros: Have not had a feature that stood out as something that is likeable other than it is a tool that appears to work.

Cons: 1) It can't or doesn't remember your log-in ID so you have to type it in each time. Other programs will at least remember it and only the password is needs to be entered.
2) User's can load another month's recon until the prior month is reviewed/approved. Becomes a roadblock to processing and workflow as recon may be okay but reviewer just has not gotten to it.
3) Multiple step process to save and then submit a recon. If not aware of proper steps, then recon is identified as not being done when it is. If "submit" is clicked it should be the 1 and only step.
4) Should be able to see past comments without having to go to the particular month for the reviewer to see history of review notes on particular account
5) Not intuitive on the some of the functionality to get reports out
6) Going back to undo a step, e.g. take back an approval, sends it back to preparer rather than putting it in the "to be reviewed' stage. It was approved once and maybe it is just the reviewer that wants to make a change to the review note but it goes back to preparer it seemed from the occasional times this was done.

"Love SkyStem!"

Comments: No problems at all! Happy user

Pros: I really love the reconciliation software. It is intuitive and easy to reference past data.

Cons: None! I am really happy overall. The only issues I've found is sometimes the currency rates do not match what is in our system which can cause some reconciliation differences. I would also be helpful if we could use other currencies such as EUR, CNY, CHF, and JPY.

"Accounts Receivable ART comments"

Comments: Overall, I think ART is a good product and would be beneficial to any company. The accounts are well defined and assigned. Any outstanding items are easily identified and you always know if you are in balance or not. It helps finding miss-postings, mistakes which is obviously essential to any accounting department.

Pros: Coming from a company that did account reconciliations manually, ART definitely is a huge step up in the process. It helps to identify outstanding items at a glance and is a reminder of those items that need to be addressed. Because accounts are assigned to a specific person, it also forces you to take ownership of those accounts assigned to you and held accountable. Another plus is there are several different formats and the best format is chosen for each specific account. Most of my accounts, listing the outstanding balances, and supporting documentation is all that is required so the simplicity of the set up is useful. Another advantage is that the information in ART rolls over from Month to month so you are not starting over.

Cons: I think ART could be more user friendly in general. I think subscribers of ART could also benefit from tutorials. For example, for those accounts that need to balance to a spreadsheet, a tutorial on how to upload a spreadsheet in Art that would upload automatically each month would be useful. I believe there is a way to do this but I do not know how to. For more complicated accounts, ART is a bit too simplistic. Another point is that you can not put a note to the approver prior to submitting the account. Also, if you want to change the description only for an entry made in the previous month, you cannot do so. You need to close the entry and add a new entry. Now that we have been on ART for a while, I new training session would be beneficial.