BlackLine Financial Close Management Reviews & Product Details

What I like best about BlackLine Financial Close Management is its powerful automation for account reconciliations and task workflows, which drastically cuts down month-end close times in RTR processes. The real-time dashboards and AI-driven matching rules provide clear visibility into bottlenecks, allowing teams to focus on analysis rather than manual data entry. As an RTR professional, this has been a game-changer for ensuring accuracy and compliance without endless spreadsheets. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The main drawbacks of BlackLine Financial Close Management include its steep learning curve and complex implementation process, which can delay rollout for RTR teams. Users often note limited customization options and reporting capabilities, sometimes requiring external tools for advanced analytics. Additionally, task assignment can feel clunky, and it demands a dedicated admin for optimal use. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The Blackline Financial Close Management tool is effective in streamlining the often complex financial close process. It assists with tasks such as managing month-end checklists, posting recurring and accrual entries, and handling prepaid amortizations. Additionally, it simplifies these processes by automating intercompany reconciliations, making the overall financial close more efficient. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Some common criticisms of BlackLine Financial Close Management are its initial complexity and the steep learning curve that users often face. Many users report challenges during implementation and integration, as well as a perceived lack of adequate customization and automation features, particularly in terms of AI capabilities. Additionally, the built-in reporting dashboards are seen as limited, frequently necessitating the use of external tools for more advanced analytics. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like BlackLine’s ability to centralize close activities, automate reconciliations, improve visibility, and strengthen controls. It reduces manual work, enhances accuracy, and helps teams collaborate efficiently throughout the financial close. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I dislike that BlackLine can feel complex at first, requiring significant setup and user training. Some configurations take time, and performance may slow with very large datasets. Licensing and add-ons can also increase costs for smaller teams or simpler close processes. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I used Blackline in my previous role at another company and loved it so much, I brought it to my current company. The close process is sped up, more accurate and removes the high time low brain activity that was holding back the company from taking the next steps. As the company grows, the need for speed and accuracy grows. Blackline has been instrumental to making the close seamless and lowering time. so we can get home to our families earlier than ever before. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The only negative review I have is the time investment upfront to getting started. This is a necessary evil and one that I don't believe there is necessarily a cure for, but that's the only "hiccup" I would say we've had so far. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Blackline can integrate with SAP effectively and fetch the accounting data for reconciliations and reporting purposes. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I have noticed nothing significant that can be considered a dislike for this software. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I love the ease of administration of BlackLine Financial Close Management - almost everything is open to me as a system administrator, and if it is not - the BlackLine technical team is right behind me to support. I also appreciate all of the customer support we receive. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Some configurations do take a long time - and that can get in the way of agile building. For example, for me to use Tasks, I have to set up a hierarchy for those tasks and this is set for all time. I can adjust, but this will take considerable work after it's configured. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The best part of the BlackLine management system is the ability to mitigate manual and repetitive tasks that are mundane. Blackline's whole purpose is to make more time to do more valuable analysis rather than spending hours on manual reconciliations, which I greatly resonate with. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

My biggest hinderance is nothing to do with the Blackline side but on the company side. We do not currently have journals or any AI integrated into our production environment. I think we have had to create many time consuming workarounds that could easily be solved with AI. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I believe the streamline and close optimization and automation will be our greatest benefit and achieve once we are through the initial implementation phase. Its been a long hard journey however I and my team are starting to see the light at the end of that tunnel Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

At this time have very limited use as we are still in the process of building out our close structure within the tool, however my team is super excited about the offerings and what it proposes to bring to the ability to shorten our financial close timeline Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Stores all financial documents for future reference and contains approvals. No paper required and can be accessed from anywhere in the world. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Admin is a bit clunky and the "Ideas" in the BlackLine community has been removed, so you can't see what other customers see deficiencies in the product and what changes they would like to see which included a voting system. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I think the tasks are set up in a great way - customizable, intuitive. We have explored other task module software and BlackLine has been the best. Our BlackLine CSM is helpful and responsive, as well as our Account Manager. Tasks are an easy win to keep track of close and make sure the team is aligned - it has also helped with transition of duties. We use tasks every day. Reconciliations are a bit more difficult to implement and you need better change management. I would also recommend an implementation partner to get the most out of the module. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Templates require more training, but it makes sense as it is a more complex feature. It's not easy to pick up if you're not an accountant. I wish the alerts for tasks and recs were more customizable as well. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.