FlexSystem consolidation with notes
Ten Minute Overview – Management & Statutory Consolidations
Consolidations including the monthly close are labour intensive processes where today ultra-granular transformational capability x-subsystem is very limited, and not at all tightly integrated across applications. This is particularly apparent at the consolidated or sub-consol levels where corporates have to look very carefully at the many specific and detailed data attributes that originate across different vendor systems, including the handling of operational segments, currencies, year-end dates, % ownerships, acquisition & disposal dates, intercompany balances, eliminations, currency translations etc etc. With so much detail under consideration in such limited time the resulting confidence in submitted numbers is often not as high as one would like it to be in the Office of the CFO.
Technology is now able to address the two root causes that lead to these frictional issues, namely practical compute power to drive ultra-granular transformations, thereby enabling your existing systems to be automated iteratively in such a way that tags and descriptions allow you to fully understand both the nature of the computation and its original location source throughout the whole consolidation and note preparation process. Freeing up time for management reviews leads to increased confidence in reporting submissions and additionally, as processes are auditable and repetitive in every operational unit, it is a leading area where automation can be further extended to free up more time. A powerful differentiator made even stronger over time as these systems are optimised for management accounting.
Overview
A scalable single, multi cloud, on-premise or hybrid solution that can be used by domain end users for all consolidations and sub consolidations at trial balance, transaction or journal level, including journal adjustments
Depending on the size and structure of the company it can be used in isolation as a consolidation system or a broader modern system for actuals and budgeting, all with segregation of duty throughout its single year or multiyear lifecycle
FlexSystem provides comprehensive consol solution sets as needed to different sizes of entity, from 1 in 10 of the Global Forbes 2000, 25% of the HKEX and SME’s meaning that we have a broad understanding of the issues faced by corporates across various sectors
Facilitates reduced IT involvement for reporting across multi-vendor subsystems
Comprehensive reporting with formatting and output document type options
Rolling comparisons x-entity, x-dates and all optimised for management accounting with built in formulae and smaller detailed operational points that come from competitive reviews ie all GL codes in numerical order or free text search options
Provides a systematic, transparent and compliant approach ie you can produce standard operating procedures (SOP) with tightly controlled review and approval workflows for sign off
Solves versioning and data integrity issues with fully auditable and repeatable processes, as well as ensuring that latest forms are always being used for submissions. For clarity removes shortcomings associated with the use of spreadsheets whist retaining their familiar look n’ feel or removing them altogether over time. Flash numbers can be routed as needed
Tight controls and segregation of duties ensures full sign off pre-statutory filing of submissions
Drill down into underlying reported numbers gives additional confidence on submissions ie fixed assets to source data
Allows simultaneous postings to different control accounts and related subsidiary ledgers for assets, fixed rate bonds, properties, financial and operating leases etc
Options to use pre-set contra accounts for specific accounts eg to contra quantity and amount for FIFO and LIFO. Extendable to be able to reconcile internal and external data sources
Highly flexible for purposes of change management whether internally or externally driven
Optimised for domain end-users to define and automate consolidation processes x-systems from 1) data collection 2) through all required transformational flows to 3) reporting @anywhere with optionally integrated capabilities for Continual Monitoring and Business Simulations, noting that all of these discrete stages can be tackled by your teams sequentially, or in parallel. In fact specific process functionality can be reused as needed as a means to speed up the development for other areas that would separately reutilise the same or similar steps
Processes are fully auditable for trace back to original source data and are repeatable on-demand with full segregation of duties. This enables all aspects of consolidated processing to be tackled including reporting @constant currency, instant FX movement analysis, reconciliation between GAAP and IFRS submissions and calculation of weighted average FX rates. Supports opening rate, closing rate, average rate, historical rate and composite rates
Options for period end closing to be disabled for closed periods
Ease of use is simplified further through a simple UX to access the required latest submission forms for completion by users in the process that are simple with no clutter. Process owner(s) use Smart Spaces and can collaborate with other team members for iterative overall behind the scene operational improvements
Processes are not constrained meaning that more complex areas and segments are easier to handle through the system being optimised for management accounting; for example capex planning, full balance sheet movements for currencies & reserves, reconciliations between GAAP and IFRS, measurement and recognition of actual performance of contracts & committed terms, cash flows by direct and indirect methods. All can be rolling if required and relevant to task
Provides for highly flexible ultra-granular data handling for both complex tasks and complex processes
Examples of the former might be lease management; auto data mappings between local and consolidated chart of accounts by segment; scalable elimination mapping at group, sub-group and detailed level; allocations; closed loop intercompany transactions across a group of companies and elimination of them at group level; inventory valuations etc at local and consolidated level. Easier maintainability of % shareholding, non-controlling interest hierarchy. Handling some detailed aspects of the enterprise not normally catered for in enterprise systems including such areas as diverse portfolio and total lability management
The latter complex processes being the more pervasive budget flows and their related management across departments and entities
Enables detailed tags to be added @anytime to help with tracing the source and calculation method behind data
Work’s with today’s diverse data types allowing you to bring relevant data together for additional validations across the enterprise. An example might be finance having a view on the actual physical performance of large capital investments using data from internets of things (IOT)
On an ongoing basis supports both contextual actionable workflows that also are presented with supporting information and self-service analytics, that can be directed to relevant users based on ranked on the fly outcomes @anytime within an ongoing process
For larger deployments management can also be kept fully informed as to the progress against the consolidation timetable, or non-progress as the case might be. In fact collection of initial numbers etc can be done with optional auto-chase & auto pre-validation capabilities, the latter that might be used for example for checking adherence to any top down driven key KPI’s at the HQ level
Breakdown of balance sheet accounts to identify any unsettled or over settled item
Process management for budgets and consolidated actuals can use the same methodology to pinpoint areas of interest and to subsequently fine tune models
What If scenarios capabilities can be deployed that leverage the current state of latest technologies for simultaneous rankings of goals based on the variables in play
Design Principle
Domain end user driven for agile design with Smart WorkSpaces
Secure with standard or advanced encryption options depending on business sector
For execution at a technical level the small resultant operating program data size, when combined with latest compression technologies and additionally leveraged through the multi cores and threads within today’s processors, give a practical “High Speed Compute” capability to drive any deep ultra-granular transformational processes in a timely manner
Process Flow Engine allows ultra-complex dependent, parallel and sequential steps to be executed in one go or in as many steps required by the process owner. This enables further iterative simplification of any complex task or process which will continue to be repeatable and auditable
Handles multiple data view combinations for detailed review assessments and comparisons. Multi-Dimensional Reporting is timely therefore avoiding many cut off and timing issues often seen with legacy systems
Enables zero footprint web deployment of 1,2,3 processes where subsidiaries build resultant reporting packs for submission to a regional office or 3,2,1 processes where HQ deploys and controls the process, the latter being particularly useful for specialist areas of finance where expertise can be more limited to a specific location. It can be used to provide an additional layer of oversight into overseas operations
For collaborative development any process can be replayed step by step showing each calculation micro step to facilitate audit and collaborative improvement, or in the event of any staff changes to reduce time to reach a full understanding of it
Design characteristics means that compute resources for ongoing management are also freed for “Continual Monitoring” and “Business Simulations”
Virtual Assistants improve end user productivity and processes @anywhere @anystage within the enterprise, whilst Virtual Eyeballs allow for entity and consolidated variances to be ranked on the fly to drive directional actionable contextual workflows with supporting content. Additionally Virtual Fingers give process owners an on screen only messages that are not printed on reports as a pointer to potential areas of trouble. For management reporting you might use this option to rank variances at each entity, segment, sub consolidated or consolidated level to facilitate the review process
Can leverage most corporates existing vendor or in house developed systems including spreadsheets as the often required data sits between systems say, for example for Total Liability Management. Enhances spreadsheet use by removing associated shortcomings or removing them altogether
Reducing any friction in processes ultimately drives an organisation towards real time, so any forward projections are based on more current information meaning that issues can be handled and rectified in a timely manner
Online / Offline, Centralised and Decentralised with Multi-user capability. Facilitates the fast sharing of entity data with strong controls
Ultra-complex processes can have progress stages displayed on the screen to provide feedback as to the ongoing status of the task to stakeholders or interested parties ie Transforming Company 1of 400, or Producing FX Reserves Reconciliation, or Completing GAAP cf IFRS Reconciliation
End User Domain Skills + End User Empowered Process = Agile Organisation
The above serves as an introduction to some of the options available within our Consolidation platform that enables you not only to drive value creation across the enterprise to release time for further innovation, but also allows you tighten overall control within the enterprise with accountability. It can be used in isolation or as part of a broader operational platform for both actuals and budgeting.