LOS ANGELES, March 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, many accounting teams find themselves operating in a distributed fashion, with many, if not all, team members suddenly working from home.  As a trusted advisor to finance and accounting professionals around the world, BlackLine, Inc. (Nasdaq: BL) announced today a number of complimentary offerings to help customers who could benefit from extra support closing their books during these uncertain and trying times:

1. Open access to the entire BlackLine U library of educational online resources and self-led training – including CPE-eligible (Continuing Professional Education) courses
   
   
2. A new curriculum focused on closing in a distributed work environment including 15- and 30-minute 'snackable' videos, live virtual instructor-led training sessions and virtual 'coffee breaks' featuring interactive Q&A
   
   
3. Pre-scheduled one-on-one time with a BlackLine subject matter expert to get real-time guidance
   
   
4. Task Management and Reporting free for six months to existing customers who haven't yet licensed these solutions, as well as complimentary expert coaching sessions for those who subscribe to the software already

Many organizations, including BlackLine, are requiring employees to work from home in an effort to protect themselves, their families and communities.  Even just having a few staff out of the office or unable to work can have an adverse impact on closing the books; the situation is compounded and exponentially more complex for multi-nationals that already have multiple global locations.

"In addition to doing all we can to ensure our mission-critical cloud-based accounting platform continues to operate flawlessly during this period, we wanted to do more to help our global community of accounting and finance professionals," said BlackLine CEO Therese Tucker.  "We're putting our best minds together to compile leading practices and other content based on the expertise we've gathered working with so many organizations around the world.  We want to share this knowledge to help alleviate some of the stress that may come with the impending month- and quarter-end closes.  In addition, we want to help our customers who are CPAs keep their accreditations current, even if they are confined to their homes – and at no cost in these difficult times."

The BlackLine U learning portal streamlines the process for onboarding new users and delivers ongoing education to ensure that users are maximizing the value of their BlackLine investment. The BlackLine U catalog includes 135 courses with 33 available CPE credits and spans a broad range of accounting and finance topics that cover not only industry best practices, but also continuous learning and professional development.  Users can access the entire library through the BlackLine platform for the duration of the pandemic. 

With a distributed/remote workforce, BlackLine Task Management provides real-time visibility into the status of all deliverables in a simple dashboard.  Preparers and approvers can get scheduled alerts when there is a delinquency or reminders of deadlines to ensure their period end close stays on track without having to send e-mails or make phone calls.  For deliverables that require multiple levels of review, Task Management allows a certification workflow to ensure all responsibilities are handled and all deadlines are met, without employees needing to engage with each other on a regular basis.

BlackLine Reporting provides visibility into the timeliness of preparation, approval and review of reconciliations allowing the executive team to automatically receive predefined reports, at a frequency of their choice, to track the progress of their financial close – which in many cases is now decentralized.

"For those customers who already have our Tasks and Reporting solutions, we hope they will take advantage of the free one-on-one expert sessions we're offering, as well as all of the other complimentary training and CPE courses available, to get the most out of their existing software, and also to advance in their own professional development," Ms. Tucker added.  "For those who don't have Tasks and Reporting yet, we're making it easy to get up and running quickly because we firmly believe it will help them close faster with greater visibility, particularly now with so many employees working remotely."

Customers who don't yet have Tasks and Reporting can visit https://www.blackline.com/free-support-resources/ to get started. 

About BlackLine
Companies come to BlackLine, Inc. (Nasdaq: BL) because their traditional manual accounting processes are not sustainable.  BlackLine's cloud-based solutions and market-leading customer service help companies move to modern accounting by unifying their data and processes, automating repetitive work, and driving accountability through visibility.  BlackLine provides solutions for financial close management, accounting automation, and intercompany governance, helping large enterprises and midsize companies across all industries do accounting work better, faster, and with more control.

More than 3,000 customers trust BlackLine to help them close faster with complete and accurate results.  The company is the pioneer and recognized Leader in Gartner's 2019 Magic Quadrant for Cloud Financial Close Solutions.  Based in Los Angeles, BlackLine also has regional headquarters in London, Singapore and Sydney.  For more information, please visit 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.  Additional information will also be set forth in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.

Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results, and you should not place undue reliance on such statements. Except as required by law, we do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

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SOURCE BlackLine