The Challenge

The company experienced rapid growth in recent years due to a global strategy of acquisitions. Naturally, they needed to evolve its controlling model accordingly to new opportunities offered by the market. Our client wanted to increase efficiency with their internal reporting tool as there were delays with accessing accurate planned data to share with financial controllers. Even more so, their finance department managed their entire budgeting process in Excel and would then upload the collected data into SAP ECC for full calculation. Lastly, they wanted to integrate their financial consolidation process with their planning process to reduce resources spent on the controlling process. 

To leverage their ideal financial landscape, our client needed a solution that enables a smarter and leaner budget creation process, by reducing time on the closure and by gaining a detailed margin analysis.

The Impact

The implementation of a structured Planning & Control model resulted in various benefits for the organization. Firstly, it has significantly reduced the time spent on end-of-month closing times and planning, as there is now a strong integration between finance and other departmental planning models. This integration has also resulted in reliable compliance with the IFRS Model, ensuring that data is consistent and can be traced between external and internal reporting.

Additionally, relevant KPIs by area of responsibility are now available, along with margin calculations both at the global and local level. The implementation of the Planning & Control model has also facilitated integration between controlling and transactional processes, leading to more guided data entry, validation rules, and tasks control for users.

Finally, the availability of easily accessible data and enhanced automation has reduced time required to address planning, budgeting, and consolidation activities.