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Frighteningly familiar? Our top finance horror stories for Halloween | iplicit

Written by Darren Slade | Oct 31, 2024 12:30:00 AM

The iplicit team has heard a few accounting horror stories in its time. 

For Halloween, we’ve collected some recurring nightmares from the world of finance software.  

See how many of them seem eerily familiar. 


  • Reporting is a grave concern: You’re expected to produce management information to senior leadership – but producing those reports is horrifically complicated.  
  • Data vanishes into thin air: Nothing makes you shudder quite like the knowledge that vital data has disappeared. Whether it’s in a spreadsheet, a forgotten purchase order or an unsubmitted expenses form, it could be waiting to jump out at you. 
  • Phantom figures materialise: Just as vital data can vanish out of existence, some seemingly tangible information can turn out to be an apparition, generated by shockingly unreliable finance processes. 
  • A productivity vampire is draining your efficiency: Ever feel the life is being sucked from your finance department? Ancient working practices that refuse to die can have that effect – and the success of your organisation is at stake.  
  • You’ve created a monster: Whenever the finance software was unable to do something, you bolted on another third-party app. Now, you have a lumbering brute of a system that strikes terror into the hearts of all who use it.  
  • Group accounting is hellishly difficult: Accounting for multiple legal entities raises the frighteningly complicated issues of intercompany eliminations and group consolidation. The work can be deadly dull yet devilishly difficult. 
  • You’re shackled to spreadsheets: If you’re using ancient finance systems, your department could well echo to the moans of the tormented souls that dwell in the misery of endless Excel spreadsheets.  
  • You’re buried in paperwork: With accounting processes that belong in the dark ages, the weight of all those paper POs, invoices and expenses claims is in danger of burying you alive. 
  • You live in fear of disaster: If all your precious finance data still lives on a server on your premises, you’re right to dread the worst. The threats of damage or security breaches are enough to bring any finance leader out in a cold sweat.  

Treat yourself 

A lot of those horrific scenarios might seem horribly real. It may be that you can’t think what possessed someone to install your finance system. 

But modern, true-cloud accounting systems can put all these fears to rest. With the right software, it is possible to end those recurring nightmares and transform your finance function in a way that’s almost magical. 

Browse iplicit’s case studies to see how some familiar horror stories had a happy ending.