The eight areas
GAAPx covers eight areas of finance work, all weighted equally. Each area holds a few workflows. You answer four scored questions for each area, 32 in all, and the area is scored on how lean it is. Your answers and the resulting GAAPx Score are self-assessed. "Not sure" is always allowed and counts as the lowest level, so answer what you can. See how the score works.
| # | Area | In plain English | What it covers | Workflows inside |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spend · Accounts payable | Supplier invoices in, checked, approved and paid on time. | Procure-to-pay (P2P), also called accounts payable (AP): adding a supplier, receiving the invoice, matching it to what was ordered and received, approving it and paying it. Spend excludes payroll, which has its own area. | Vendor setup, Invoice intake, Match and approve, Pay on time |
| 2 | Get Paid · Order to cash | Billing customers, collecting what they owe and matching each payment to the right invoice. | Order-to-cash (O2C), also called accounts receivable (AR): setting up a customer, taking the order, sending the bill, chasing payment and applying the cash. | Customer setup and order entry, Billing, Collect and apply cash |
| 3 | Payroll · Payroll and benefits | Paying people correctly and on time, with benefits and deductions right and the journal ready for the close. | Payroll and benefits, in-house or through a payroll provider: preparing and checking each pay run, handling benefits and deductions, approving changes such as new starters, pay changes and bank details, and getting the payroll journal, accruals and reconciliation into the close. The close itself is in The Close. | Pay run, Starters and changes, Benefits and deductions, Journal and reconciliation |
| 4 | The Close · Month-end close | Closing the books: accruals in, accounts reconciled, period signed off. | Record-to-report (R2R), the period-end close: posting entries and accruals, reconciling accounts and signing off the period. Producing reports from the closed books sits in Reporting. | Subledger close and accruals, Reconcile accounts, Review and sign-off |
| 5 | Budget vs Actual · Budgeting and FP&A | Budgets and forecasts built, kept current and checked against what actually happened. | Plan-to-perform, also called financial planning and analysis (FP&A): the yearly budget, the rolling forecast and the budget-versus-actual review, including working out why actuals differ from plan (variance analysis). Putting those numbers into a management or board pack sits in Reporting. | Budget build, Forecast update, Variance reporting |
| 6 | Cash Ops · Treasury and cash | Knowing where your cash is today, where it is heading and what you owe lenders. | Treasury and capital: daily cash balances, the cash flow forecast, and tracking loans and the terms lenders set (covenants). The report sent to a lender sits in Reporting. | Daily cash position, Cash forecast, Debt and covenant tracking |
| 7 | Controls · Internal controls | Proving your controls work, and deciding who approves what AI may do with finance data. | Controls, risk and assurance, also called governance, risk and compliance (GRC): control testing and audit evidence, who signs off on AI use in finance, who can access finance systems and where finance data goes. | Control testing and evidence, AI approvals and records, Systems access and data handling |
| 8 | Reporting · Financial reporting | The numbers your managers, board, investors, lenders, auditors and regulators rely on, put together, checked and sent on time. | Financial reporting. Internal: management packs, board slides and packs, dashboards. External: financial statements, footnote disclosures, statutory and regulatory filings, and lender and audit-facing reports. | Management reporting, Statutory, regulatory and external filings, Board and investor reporting |
Reporting is the presentation and disclosure layer. It publishes what the other areas produce, so each piece of work has one home and is scored once.
- The cash flow forecast stays in Cash Ops. Reporting publishes it.
- Variance analysis stays in Budget vs Actual. Reporting publishes it.
- Tracking covenant terms stays in Cash Ops. The covenant report a lender receives is in Reporting.
- Evidence that a control worked stays in Controls. The financial statements and disclosures an auditor reviews are in Reporting.
- The Close ends at sign-off. Reporting starts from the closed books.
The workflow names inside the areas are under review and may change. Payroll use cases show as coming soon. The Variance reporting workflow in Budget vs Actual may be reworded so it does not overlap with Reporting.
The deeper view
After the eight areas you pick up to three workflows. For those, the real steps are documented and a before and after workflow diagram is drawn. The workflow diagrams are drawn from the steps the reader documents. The standard ideal is 6 steps per workflow.
What stays out for now
Tax and employee expenses are left out for now. They may be added later. Payroll and benefits is now its own area.
Spend is the first worked area
The four Spend workflows are the first ones written out in full. The workflows for the other seven areas are proposed and may change.
The old pages for ten areas and for six areas are retired. This page replaces them. Results saved under the six-area or seven-area lists are not comparable with eight-area results. See the changelog.