LAS VEGAS, Nov. 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- INTHEBLACK -- BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL), a leading provider of financial automation solutions that enable Continuous Accounting, today announced updates to its flagship cloud platform designed to further enable Finance & Accounting departments to transform their operations, ultimately building greater trust and confidence in 'the numbers,' while also mitigating risk.  The new features will be unveiled this week at BlackLine's global user conference InTheBlack 2018: The Accounting & Finance Innovation Summit (ITB 2018) in Las Vegas.

• With its newest platform release, BlackLine is delivering on a key initiative to better support customers' data integration and connectivity needs by introducing new ERP connectors, such as the recently announced BlackLine Connector for Oracle, and APIs (application programming interfaces) to automatically move accounting data between sources. Customer benefits include:
• Reduction in the amount of data extraction and manipulation that all-too-often occurs manually using spreadsheets – processes that are fraught with the potential for error.
• Mitigation of risk associated with manually moving data and information between systems.
• Deeper integration with other business processes and systems so that all stakeholders—from auditors to controllers to the CFO—have even greater access to timely and relevant information.

• BlackLine has unveiled machine learning capabilities in Transaction Matching based on expertise and intelligent automation achieved after years of helping customers match billions of transactions.
• By applying machine learning algorithms, customers are expected to be able to achieve unprecedented levels of automation, even for many complex reconciliation scenarios. Over time, as the system grows more intelligent, accountants can be freed from focusing on these time-consuming reconciliations and instead focus on being a trusted business partner.

• In a continuous effort to deliver modern analytics to Finance & Accounting, BlackLine has launched new dashboards providing greater visibility into the status of the close.
• Whether a CFO, controller or accountant, BlackLine's new dashboards provide at-a-glance information that allows users to visualize their data in unique ways to quickly identify and uncover business insights.
• New charting and visualization functionality enables customers to better analyze the quality, timeliness and accuracy of their accounting results, uncover potential risks and more effectively measure overall team effectiveness.

• BlackLine has also improved compliance and controls functionality across the entire platform with the introduction of BlackLine Compliance.
• Disparate systems and processes can cause inefficiencies and prevent proper evaluation of risk exposure for compliance, internal control and internal audit teams. With BlackLine's new compliance product, risks, policies and procedures, controls, issues and audit programs are integrated in a unified, cloud-based system with BlackLine's leading financial automation software solutions.

"With our newest platform release, we are bringing forward the latest innovations in financial close technology including machine learning and advancements in data integration and analytics," said Therese Tucker, CEO of BlackLine.  "Our customers can expect to benefit from greater data integrity, as well as improved data analysis, compliance and risk management capabilities." 

The above features and updates are currently available in the latest release of BlackLine's financial controls and automation platform.  ITB 2018 is taking place Monday to Thursday, Nov. 12^th to 15^th, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.  For more information, go here.

About BlackLine
BlackLine is a provider of cloud-based solutions that transform Finance and Accounting (F&A) by automating, centralizing and streamlining financial close operations, intercompany accounting processes and other key F&A processes for large and midsize organizations.  The company is recognized by Gartner as a Leader in its 2018 Magic Quadrant for Cloud Financial Close Solutions and as a pioneer in the cloud market for enhanced financial control and automation.

Designed to complement virtually all ERP and other financial systems including SAP, Oracle and NetSuite, BlackLine increases operational efficiency, real-time visibility, control and compliance to ensure end-to-end financial close management and accounting automation from within a single, unified cloud platform.  Enabling customers to move beyond outdated processes and point solutions to a Continuous Accounting model, in which real-time automation, controls and period-end tasks are embedded within day-to-day activities, BlackLine helps companies modernize accounting operations with intelligent automation, ensuring more accurate and insightful financial statements and a more efficient financial close. 

Approximately 2,500 companies with users around the world trust BlackLine to help ensure balance sheet integrity and confidence in their financial statements.  Based in Los Angeles, BlackLine also has regional headquarters in London, Singapore and Sydney. For more information, please visit www.blackline.com.

BlackLine Forward-looking Statements
This release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "could," "expect," "plan," anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "intend," "potential," "would," "continue," "ongoing" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology.  Forward-looking statements in this release include statements regarding our growth plans and opportunities.

Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based upon BlackLine's current plans, estimates and expectations and are not a representation that such plans, estimates, or expectations will be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time those statements are made and/or management's good faith beliefs and assumptions as of that time with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties.  If any of these risks or uncertainties materialize or if any assumptions prove incorrect, actual performance or results may differ materially from those expressed in or suggested by the forward-looking statements.  These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks related to the Company's ability to execute on its strategies, attract new customers, enter new geographies and develop, release and sell new features and solutions; and other risks and uncertainties described in the other filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time, including the risks described under the heading "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 8, 2018.  Additional information will also be set forth in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2018.