Compliance teams are under growing pressure to file accurately and on time, even as data volumes climb and regulatory obligations spread across multiple jurisdictions. For many firms, the spreadsheets and disconnected workflows that once got the job done are becoming a liability rather than a solution.
According to ACA Group, preparing a modern regulatory filing now demands far more than filling in a form. Firms must pull data from portfolio management, accounting and reporting systems, apply increasingly complex rules, validate technical formats, and hit unforgiving deadlines.
Manual reconciliation, limited visibility into filing progress and reliance on a handful of key staff all add friction, and every manual touchpoint is another chance for error to creep in.
RegTech has made real gains here, automating repetitive tasks, flagging formatting and calculation errors, and smoothing submission workflows. But software has its limits. It cannot judge whether a result is reasonable given a firm’s specific business context, nor can it investigate exceptions that call for regulatory expertise.
That is where experienced professionals still earn their keep, reviewing unusual results, confirming completeness, and supporting governance and escalation when something doesn’t add up.
Industry practice increasingly points to three layers of validation working in tandem. Technical validation checks whether a filing meets required formats and submission standards.
Regulatory validation confirms the calculations, formulas and business rules are correctly applied. Business validation, the layer automation struggles with, assesses whether the filing is complete and reasonable once set against the firm’s actual data and activities.
Providers such as ACA are building service models around this split. Technology handles data transformation, automated checks and filing generation, while managed services teams provide implementation support, exception handling and ongoing oversight.
The pitch is a more resilient process than either automation or manual review could deliver alone, one that firms can lean on as filing complexity and jurisdictional reach both expand.
The upside for firms adopting this hybrid model includes reduced manual effort, fewer rejected or remediated filings, faster preparation and submission, and greater visibility into reporting activity as obligations evolve.
ACA’s full post can be read here.
Copyright © 2026 RegTech Analyst
Copyright © 2026 RegTech Analyst
