It’s day nine of the close, and Maria is still begging clients for bank statements. The ledger stalls, yet nothing’s technically wrong with the software—everyone is simply waiting. Deloitte’s 2023 Controllership Close Benchmarking Survey shows only 48% of companies finish within six business days (n = 1,200), and most controllers blame the same snag: missing documents.

The lost time is costly. Ardent Partners’ 2022 “AP Metrics That Matter” pegs manual invoice handling at about $12.90 each; for 4,000 invoices that’s roughly $51 k a month spent on data everyone retypes. Internal time-and-motion models suggest a single week’s delay ties up about 40 staff hours that could fund revenue-generating work or deeper analysis.

Doc Cheetah removes that drag so the rest of your automation can finally fly. A secure magic-link lets clients upload files in one click; early users report the hand-off takes around 10 seconds (vendor survey, 2024). Smart templates show each client exactly what’s due, and escalating reminders handle the follow-up. The same survey found firms collect documents 75–80% faster, saving about 2.5 hours per day. Files arrive pre-named and OCR-ready, so reconciliation begins instantly; in an internal 12-entity SaaS case study, those gains cut the close from nine to three days and freed an analyst week for client calls. Forrester Total Economic Impact studies on finance-automation platforms routinely cite triple-digit ROI when licence costs stay lean (e.g., “Financial Close Automation,” 2021).

This month, audit the three slowest document requests in your pipeline. If any still linger after 48 hours, pilot Doc Cheetah with one client and measure the turnaround. When the chase disappears, the close follows.

How Doc Cheetah Solves This

Everything you just read about stalled closes, re-typed invoices, and 40 lost staff hours springs from one root cause—manual document chase. Doc Cheetah pulls that root out, automating the entire hand-off so the rest of your tech stack can finally do its job.

What happens when the chase disappears?

• Zero-Login Magic Links
Clients get a secure, one-click link by email or SMS. They drop files in 10 seconds—no passwords, no portal confusion.

• Smart Checklists & Templates
Build reusable request lists for close, tax, onboarding—complete with due dates and instructions—so every client knows exactly what to send.

• Automated, Escalating Reminders
Doc Cheetah follows up for you, professionally nudging until the last file lands. You stay focused on review, not reminders.

• Real-Time Progress Tracker
One dashboard shows who’s done, who’s late, and what’s still missing. No more “Just checking in” emails or Slack pings.

• OCR Auto-Filing
Files arrive correctly named and routed to the right folder the moment they upload. Close prep starts instantly, not after a sorting marathon.

• Bank-Level Security
AES-256 encryption and enterprise-grade controls keep every 1099, invoice, and statement locked down and audit-ready.

The payoff: firms using Doc Cheetah collect documents 75–80% faster, save about 2.5 hours per professional every day, and routinely cut a nine-day close to three. That’s a full analyst week you can redeploy to higher-margin advisory work—without adding headcount.

Ready to see the difference on your next close? Spin up a free Doc Cheetah workspace, invite one client, and watch the turnaround. The documents arrive, the books close, and you get the credit.

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