What Finance Teams Can Learn From The Winter Olympics: Speed, Precision, and Perfect Form

Every four years, the world tunes in to watch the awe-inspiring performances at the Winter Olympics. From lightning-fast downhill runs to elegantly choreographed figure skating programs, the competitors all rely on three qualities: speed, precision, and perfect form. 

Accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable (AR) processes demand the same discipline and excellence. It’s not just up-to-chance. Just like Olympic athletes rely on the proper training tools to perfect their art, finance departments should embrace automation to achieve gold medal performances.  

Speed: Winning the Race Against Time 

In Olympic speed skating, fractions of a second determine who reaches the podium. The same is true in finance. Delays in invoice processing or payment collection have major consequences. They strain vendor relationships, make you miss early-payment discounts, create cash flow bottlenecks, and even increase your borrowing costs. 

The AP Sprint 

Using manual processes in accounts payable is a bit like entering a speed skating competition with weights strapped to your legs. Here are just a few of the things that can weigh you down: 

Automation removes those burdens. Intelligent invoice capture uses Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to extract data automatically. Digital workflows route invoices instantly to the right approvers, and automated matching compares invoices with purchase orders and receipts, reducing your wait time to seconds instead of days.  

AP automation leads to 9x faster invoice processing 

All of that leads to shorter cycle times and fewer bottlenecks. Your team can consistently capture early-payment discounts and avoid late fees, racing across the finish line with time to spare. 

The AR Dash 

On the receivables side, speed is all about accelerating cash flow. Manual processes make it difficult to collect strategically, with invoices sent out late, inconsistent follow-up, and complicated dispute management all leading to an increase in Days Sales Outstanding (DSO). 

AR automation changes the pace by: 

Just as Olympic athletes train to shave milliseconds off their time, finance teams use automation to reduce DSO by days or even weeks.  

Automation reduces your DSO by an average of 34% 

By embracing your customers’ preferred communication method, sending out a regular cadence of communications, and using AI assistance to manage disputes, the software allows you to collect on invoices quickly.  

In both AP and AR, speed is no longer a luxury. It’s a competitive necessity. 

Precision: Getting Every Detail Right 

Think about the technical perfection required in Olympic figure skating. One mistake can mean the difference between earning gold and missing the podium entirely. In finance, small errors can also have massive consequences. Your team can end up with overpayments, duplicate invoices, lost revenue, or compliance risks. 

The Cost of Manual Errors 

Manual data entry is prone to mistakes. A single misplaced decimal point can throw off your financial statements. A mistake in cash application can create customer friction, and compliance errors can trigger an avalanche of audits and penalties. 

Precision isn’t optional. 

Automation as the Judge’s Scorecard 

Automation introduces consistency and control. Tools like three-way matching ensure invoices align with purchase orders and receipts, while audit trails document every action, providing you with crystal clear transparency over your processes. AI-powered analytics detect duplicate invoices or suspicious patterns, so you manage to avoid issues like fraud, expense abuse, or overpayments.  

On the AR side, automated cash application matches payments to invoices, even when remittance details are missing. Machine learning models improve over time, continuously increasing match rates. 

This level of precision reduces risk and frees finance professionals from tedious busy work. Instead of correcting errors, they can focus on analysis and strategic decision-making. 

Perfect Form: Building a Strong Foundation 

In sports like ski jumping or gymnastics, perfect form isn’t just about looking good. It gives performance consistency, safety, and peak performance. In finance, “form” is all about standardised processes, internal controls, and scalable systems. 

Without proper form, even the fastest or most precise processes can collapse under pressure. 

Standardising the Routine 

With manual processes, teams frequently end up with fragmented workflows, inconsistent policies, and siloed data. By contrast, AP and AR automation helps your team standardise invoice formats and approval workflows, and centralise vendor and customer data. It also provides you with clear steps to handle invoice exceptions and customer disputes, and provides you with the ability to enforce consistent credit and payment policies.