Is your R2R maturity truly moving from manual to autonomous?

Record-to-report (R2R) remains one of the most critical, yet under-automated, areas of finance. And while workloads in finance and accounting are projected to increase by 4.1% this year, staffing levels and operating budgets are shrinking. That creates a dangerous gap — one that many finance leaders assume automation has already closed.

But assumptions can be costly.

If you’ve implemented automation tools, shifted away from paper or added templates and trackers, it’s easy to believe your R2R process is modernized. In reality, many organizations are still relying on fragmented workflows, disconnected systems and outdated practices masked as progress. The result? Unnecessary manual effort, slower closes, limited visibility and rising risk exposure.

Use this article and Redwood Software’s R2R automation maturity assessment to gauge whether your R2R automation strategy is keeping pace. You’ll see what to measure, how to interpret your automation maturity and how to shift from tactical improvements to scalable, strategic transformation. Benchmark both your operational and strategic maturity in a way that reflects the real complexity of the financial close.

R2R automation maturity: Perception vs. reality

91% of finance leaders say R2R automation is essential, but only 58% have automated even one key process. That gap isn’t just operational — it’s perceptual. Too often, spreadsheets, offline uploads and ad hoc workflows are labeled “automated” when they’re really just digitized versions of manual processes.

Many accounting teams rely on email approvals, ungoverned trackers and data pulled from various sources to patch together close checklists. These stopgaps introduce risk and prevent true visibility across general ledger activity, journal entries, intercompany transactions and consolidation efforts.

What emerges is a tangle of disconnected fixes that ultimately stall transformation. You may have automation tools in place, but if you’re still chasing down exceptions, tracking tasks in Excel or manually validating financial data, you’re not yet operating at a mature level.

The teams that get it right report 69.3% fewer hours spent on manual tasks, and not just because of automation but also because of orchestration. Just as importantly, they gain 69.2% better visibility and collaboration and enable faster, more confident financial management decision-making.

The maturity assessment was built to make these blind spots visible and measurable, so finance leaders can identify and address them before they create larger issues across accounting periods.

How to truly measure your R2R automation

Redwood’s R2R automation maturity assessment uses two critical axes:

• Operational maturity: This evaluates how deeply you’ve automated core accounting processes, from accounts payable and journal entries to reconciliation and month-end closing. It looks at whether your processes are automated end-to-end or only at the surface level.
• Strategic maturity: This area assesses whether you have the culture, governance and controls needed to scale and sustain R2R automation. It includes exception handling, adoption, an orchestration mindset and continuous improvement.

These axes are scored independently, then combined to place your organization into one of five maturity bands: Manual, Siloed, Managed, Controlled or Autonomous.

Reaching the Autonomous stage doesn’t just mean having tools. It means using process automation to run a fully orchestrated close process, with real-time dashboards, SLA tracking, predictive insights and embedded controls. It’s the difference between automating a few journal entries and transforming how you manage financial transactions across every entity and subsidiary.

Where finance teams stall — and what it costs

Many finance functions plateau in the Managed or Controlled stages. They’ve invested in tools but remain overwhelmed by competing priorities, change resistance, limited IT support or skills gaps. Transformation becomes a task to juggle instead of a discipline to own.

You’ll recognize the signs, including:

• Manual data collection across sub-ledgers, receivables and intercompany entries
• Offline task trackers and fragmented accounting systems
• Reactive responses to discrepancies and late-breaking issues
• Rework caused by missed validations and inconsistent approvals

These issues create ripple effects, like reporting delays, control breakdowns, missed regulatory requirements and burnout and turnover. And perhaps most damaging: a gradual erosion of confidence in the integrity of your financial information internally and with external stakeholders.

The R2R automation maturity assessment helps finance leaders like yourself map these symptoms to maturity levels, so you can prioritize root causes over surface fixes.

The value of an R2R automation maturity assessment

This isn’t a generic checklist or opinion poll. It’s a structured scoring model that reflects the real-world complexity of the R2R process. Specifically, it helps you:

• Benchmark six operational R2R processes
• Score five strategic enablers of scalable automation
• Evaluate your automation posture using a combined scoring model
• Identify maturity-specific key steps to advance transformation

You’ll also evaluate your automation fabric readiness, which is your organization’s ability to support seamless, end-to-end process automation across a diverse and evolving tech stack. It includes ERP and other core systems, orchestration capability, exception resolution, visibility and roadmap alignment. This matters whether you’re navigating a procure-to-pay cycle, an order-to-cash flow or full general ledger consolidation across multiple entities.

The full assessment download includes scoring tables and detailed improvement playbooks, and the result is actionable. It’s not just “Where are we?” but it’s also “What do we do next?”

How R2R automation pays off

The outcomes of mature R2R automation are clear:

• Operational payoffs: 69.3% hours saved across account reconciliation, journal entry and accrual workflows
• Strategic payoffs: 69.2% gains in cross-functional collaboration, faster management reports, improved financial performance and agility
• Predictable closes: Real-time dashboards, SLA tracking, exception queues and embedded audit controls
• Resilience by design: Native SAP integration, automated validation rules and exception handling that reduce human error
• Informed decisions: Accurate financial data entry delivered faster and with more transparency into consolidation timelines and data lineage

These capabilities empower CFOs to cut days off the close, reduce rework and reassign capacity toward forecasting, strategic planning and scenario modeling.

Finance teams that have reached the Autonomous stage can track key metrics, such as the percentage of manual journals, time spent on reconciliations and the number of post-close adjustments and drive them toward zero. They don’t just close faster; they optimize for consistency, control and insight.

Get your true R2R automation score

If you’re serious about strengthening your organization’s financial health and driving better outcomes, you need to know where your maturity stands, not where you assume it is.

Involve your finance operations leaders, IT and automation stakeholders in the following steps:

• Download the R2R automation maturity assessment
• Review each level of automation maturity
• Evaluate each area based on your current state
• Calculate your scores and determine your automation posture
• Prioritize your next actions

Every quarter your organization spends stalled in Managed or Controlled maturity leaves efficiency, visibility and credibility on the table. Automation isn’t the destination; it’s the lever that lets you transform your business processes, sharpen your financial reporting and elevate your accounting team’s impact across the enterprise. 

To see where your organization’s R2R automation really stands and what it will take to move forward, download the full assessment and schedule a demo to achieve an orchestrated close.