How Oracle's Continuous Close Is Eliminating Month-End Madness
Oracle Cloud EPM leaders Rich Wilkie and Al Marciante (former) sit down with us at AI World to talk about the next era of Financial Consolidation & Close, customer-driven innovation, and how AI is reshaping reporting, compliance, and the role of finance.
In this conversation, Rich and Al break down:
How customers are driving Oracle’s AI roadmap and requesting deeper predictive and narrative capabilities
Why financial-close bottlenecks persist—even with modern tech—and how organizations can shorten their cycle
The shift from finance as “information providers” to “decision makers”
How narrative reporting, contextual analytics, and Smart View are evolving
Real-world SOC considerations for AI adoption
What a continuous close looks like for modern enterprises
A preview of breakthrough agentic AI features coming soon to Oracle Cloud EPM
Whether you're a CFO, controller, FP&A leader, or Oracle practitioner, this episode gives deep insight into the immediate and long-term future of the financial close.
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Intro
00:44 Why customers want AI in the close
03:06 Narrative reporting & generative AI
05:10 How AI elevates finance
06:00 Compliance, security & SOX
07:45 How customers influence AI roadmap
10:20 Why the close still takes so long
12:25 What a continuous close really requires
15:15 What’s next: Upcoming AI for the close
16:22 Agentic flows, ledger agents & consolidation agents
18:30 Practical AI features you can use today
21:00 Empowering finance with self-service
27:00 Why customer stories matter
28:40 Closing