Shagun started her career in the travel and hospitality industry, and ultimately fell in love with the world of audit, controls, and the accounting process.

At a point in her consulting career, she was asked by a troubled financial services giant to lead the year-long remediation effort, upon which she successfully delivered a clean audit the next year. Because of this, Shagun knew firsthand the multitude of problems and risks accountants face when employing manual methods to close the books and complete reconciliations. Whether it’s a large corporation or a small company, closing and reconciling is part of the routine function in the accounting department. Although not the most glamorous part of accounting, it is the last line of defense to identify errors and/or fraud and hence a critical process.
She also realized that existing accounting platforms that have automation in this area are priced quite high, and often beyond reach for mid-sized companies. Mid-sized companies are unique in that they are operational complex and can benefit from automation during the close, but lacked the excess capacity and resources to make a large technology investment and undergo a multi-month implementation. This realization became the spark that compelled Shagun  to found SkyStem, a SaaS provider that aimed to create an affordably priced solution to help automate month-end close and reconciliations.

SkyStem’s flagship solution, ART, was brought to the market shortly after. ART’s main purpose is to modernize the month-end close and reconciliation process through automation. It was designed to meet four criteria: robust in features, easy to use, fast to implement and reasonably priced. SkyStem’s core belief is that software should be robust, but never break the bank or cause unnecessary business disruption.