There Are Automation Opportunities in Your Everyday Operations

Most organizations are busy enough just keeping up with daily responsibilities. When operations rely on habit and deadlines, it is easy to overlook the quiet drag of manual tasks, i.e. the form re-entered in three systems, the spreadsheet passed around for approvals, the weekly report that takes hours to compile. These inefficiencies often remain hidden until they start to slow progress or frustrate employees. Yet these moments reveal the true cost of delay, affecting both time and resources. You do not need to be a systems specialist to spot them—just someone paying attention to where work stalls.

That awareness is growing. At AAFCPAs’ 2025 Nonprofit Educational Seminar, 58.5 percent of attendees said they plan to automate repetitive financial and operational tasks. This trend signals a broader shift: organizations are beginning to recognize the burden of manual work and are taking steps to address it with time-saving workflow solutions.

Once you start looking closely, patterns in daily work emerge. Tasks involving manual data entry, copying information between systems, or repeatedly chasing approvals are common automation candidates. These activities interrupt focus, increase errors, and prevent staff from concentrating on higher-value work like analysis or strategic planning.

Employees often know where bottlenecks lie. Listening to their experience reveals which reports take too long, which approvals stall, or which processes feel outdated. Multiple workarounds or shortcuts signal underlying problems worth addressing. Documenting these pain points helps build a clear picture of where automation could deliver the greatest benefit.

AAFCPAs advises that clients start by identifying tasks that are high volume, rule-based, and time-consuming. These usually offer the most substantial returns when automated early. Prioritization involves more than volume alone. It requires judgment based on two key criteria:

• Business value: How much time, cost, or frustration a task causes, and the potential improvement automation offers in speed or accuracy.
• Feasibility: The technical complexity involved, including whether current systems, data quality, and inputs support automation.

Focusing on these factors helps build a practical, manageable automation roadmap. Early wins often include invoice processing, report generation, or routine data transfers—tasks that show quick, measurable results and build momentum for larger projects.

Prioritizing automation opportunities does not require complex frameworks, but it demands thoughtful evaluation. After identifying candidates based on volume and rules, weigh how automation aligns with broader business goals. For example, automating tasks that reduce errors in financial reporting supports compliance and risk management, while streamlining donor management may improve fundraising efficiency. Automation also helps strengthen data security by reducing manual handling risks.

Collaboration between finance, operations, and IT clarifies feasibility and ensures smooth integration with existing systems. Some tasks may require straightforward tools; others may call for advanced technologies such as robotic process automation (RPA), emerging AI technologies, or application programming interfaces (APIs). Early technical assessments help avoid costly missteps.

Starting with smaller projects builds organizational confidence. Pilots focused on routine invoice approvals, recurring report generation, or system integrations create measurable improvements and reduce resistance to change. These successes provide a foundation for expanding automation across more complex workflows and departments.

AAFCPAs offers a practical rubric to help organizations assess and rank potential automation opportunities. This tool may be used to identify high-value, low-effort candidates such as invoice processing, report generation, or routine data transfers. These early wins provide measurable results, build confidence, and lay the groundwork for a broader automation strategy.

Explore This Topic in Greater Depth

AAFCPAs examined how robotic process automation can eliminate repetitive financial and operational tasks during our Nonprofit Educational Seminar. The discussion covers practical steps to identify automation opportunities, improve accuracy, reduce manual workload, and enhance overall efficiency.

How We Help

AAFCPAs helps clients evaluate, prioritize, and implement smart automation solutions—including both robotic process automation (RPA) and artificial intelligence (AI)—to enhance efficiency without adding complexity. Our team brings financial and operational insight to guide practical strategies that reduce manual effort, minimize errors, and allow staff to focus on work that requires human judgment and expertise. Clients often begin with targeted pilots such as streamlining invoice approvals, automating recurring reports, or connecting disconnected systems. These early wins deliver measurable results and build momentum. AAFCPAs supports each stage of the process, from initial assessment through implementation and optimization, ensuring automation efforts align with long-term business objectives.

These insights were contributed by Vassilis Kontoglis, Partner, AI Digital Transformation & Security and Ryan K. Wolff, MBA, AI & Strategic Innovation Consultant.

Questions? Reach out to our authors directly or your AAFCPAs partner.

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