Reimagining financial services reporting and risk management with Workiva

As financial institutions face mounting pressure to modernize operations and meet evolving regulatory demands, many are turning to integrated platforms like Workiva^® to transform how they manage reporting, risk and compliance needs. Across the middle market, a clear shift is occurring as institutions are no longer asking whether to automate—they’re asking how fast they can scale that automation.

This shift reflects several macro trends shaping the financial services landscape:

• Regulatory complexity and scrutiny: Institutions must navigate evolving compliance frameworks, including environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosures, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act (FDICIA) rules and cybersecurity mandates.
• Operational resilience and risk transparency: Boards and regulators expect clearer visibility into risk exposure and control effectiveness.
• Data-driven decision making: Financial leaders are prioritizing platforms that unify data across finance, accounting, and risk and compliance teams.
• Talent and efficiency pressures: With leaner teams and rising expectations, automation is essential to reduce manual effort and reallocate capacity.
• Artificial intelligence enablement: Institutions are exploring how AI can enhance reporting accuracy, accelerate risk detection and support continuous monitoring.

Why automation is no longer optional

Financial institutions are experiencing recurring pain points in financial reporting and governance, risk and compliance (GRC) processes, including:

• Manual data extraction and reconciliation across disparate systems
• Inconsistent formats and fragmented reporting templates
• Limited visibility into risk and control libraries and overall compliance posture
• Time-intensive control testing, audits and documentation

These challenges not only slow down reporting cycles but also increase the risk of errors and regulatory missteps. For financial institutions—especially those managing multiple entities or investment structures—these inefficiencies compound quickly.

Scaling reporting automation across financial services

Beyond GRC, financial institutions are also leveraging Workiva to automate and standardize reporting across funds, entities and business units. Recent RSM engagements highlight key outcomes:

• Real estate investment trust: Saved 10 days in year-end reporting and automated 50% of footnotes by linking directly to the general ledger
• Asset manager: Standardized reports across more than 30 funds and created a consistent format for investor relations reporting
• Large financial institution: Established common process, risk and control libraries and onboarded thousands of team members to more efficiently and effectively manage risk and compliance across multiple teams

These results were achieved through a combination of process mapping, template creation and direct system integrations—often in collaboration with client teams to ensure long-term sustainability.

The role of AI in financial services transformation

AI is increasingly shaping how financial institutions approach reporting, governance and risk management. While platforms like Workiva offer robust automation capabilities, AI adds a layer of intelligence that enables predictive insights, anomaly detection and continuous monitoring.

In today’s financial institutions, AI is being applied in several key functions, including:

• Risk signal detection: Identifying emerging risks across control environments using pattern recognition and historical data
• Narrative generation: Supporting the creation of financial disclosures and management commentary through natural language processing
• Control coverage and rationalization: Engaging in conversations with the risk and control matrix to help analyze opportunities to reduce control counts and improve risk coverage

As AI capabilities mature, financial institutions will need to balance innovation with governance—ensuring that models are explainable, auditable and aligned with regulatory expectations.

The takeaway

Business leaders should consider the following practical steps to accelerate transformation:

• Bring together leaders across the three lines of defense to identify opportunities for greater collaboration and integration across systems
• Inventory regulatory and internal reports to identify opportunities for automation where similar data is leveraged
• Engage cross-functional teams early, including accounting, risk, IT and investor relations
• Leverage Workiva’s integration features to connect data sources and automate workflows
• Explore AI use cases that align with reporting and governance priorities
• Design templates and processes that can be reused across entities and reporting cycles

As market dynamics evolve, institutions that invest in scalable automation, AI enablement and integrated governance will be better positioned to manage risk, meet compliance demands and drive operational efficiency.

Ready to get started? RSM helps financial institutions unlock the full value of Workiva by combining platform experience with deep industry knowledge. The firm supports clients across the full lifecycle—from strategy and design to implementation and optimization—aligning automation efforts with business goals and regulatory requirements.

Whether supporting GRC transformation, financial statement automation or ESG reporting, RSM can help you build resilient, efficient and future-ready reporting environments.