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How to Allocate Your Close Time More Effectively
This document summarizes a presentation on how to more effectively allocate time during the financial close process. It discusses typical close timelines, tracking close progress, and opportunities to improve the process. The presentation covers how allocations can impact the close cycle and provides use cases from insurance, financial services, and manufacturing industries. It suggests starting the improvement process by considering reporting needs and complexity, then offers tips like leveraging automation and master data relationships.
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How to Allocate Your Close Time More Effectively
- 2. Join the Conversation: AlithyaKscope21 Mingle Sessions Complete the Kscope Kode Alithya Challenges for a chance to win a great prize! Visit our virtual booth to: - Chat with us live - Schedule time to meet with an Alithya expert - Check out what we have for you in our virtual conference bag
- 3. How to AllocateYour Close Time More Effectively Alecs Mlynarzek Geordan Drummond
- 4. Agenda • Typical Closetimeline • Tracking your Close • Process improvement opportunities • Impact of allocations on Close cycle • Use cases • Where to start? • Food for thought • Q&A
- 5. • Alithya ProductManager – Profitability and Cost Management • 14 years of Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) implementations • Architecture, Design, Integration, Optimization • Planning, Essbase, SQL Scripting and PCM certified • Oracle ACE Associate • Hobbies: foreign languages, skiing, skating, climbing Email: alecs.mlynarzek@alithya.com Twitter: @AlecsEPM Alecs Mlynarzek • Alithya Product Manager – Financial Close and Consolidation • 17 years of Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) implementations • Architecture, Design, Integration, Optimization • FCC and NR certified • Oracle ACE • Hobbies: 3 grade school boys, soccer, music Email: geordan.drummond@alithya.com Twitter: @always_closing Geordan Drummond Meet the speakers
- 6. Close subledgers • Finalize outstandingsub- ledger transactions and exceptions Reconcile accounts • Reconcile sub- ledgers to general ledger • Automatically match transactions and balances Close ledgers • Make any additional accruals or adjustments • Perform allocations • Close the accounting period Consolidate subsidiaries • Aggregate values from subsidiaries • Translate functional to reporting currency • Eliminate intercompany activities and book consolidating entries Review results • Issue preliminary reports • Review results • Enter final adjustments Publish reports • Distribute report packages to both internal and external stakeholders Update forecasts • Modify forecasts and financial plans based on period closed Typical close timeline
- 7. Common close cyclepain points Pre-Ledger • Poor data quality from sources • Grey area of ownership / responsibility for data validation prior to close cycle kick off • Lack of monitoring capabilities to keep track of issues over time and learn from past mistakes • Lack of enforced deadlines Ledger • Lengthy process and numerous dependencies • Constant business changes • Manual processing of recurring items • Complex calculations /allocations deferred until source data is received • Lack of enforced deadlines, multiple review and approval cycles • Tracking is manual and frequently disjointed between Excel, Email, and other means Post-Ledger • Manual adjustments and validations • Disjointed systems leading to numerous reconciliations on both sides of the fence • High volume and redundancy in Managerial Reporting at different stages of the close cycle
- 8. Speed Accuracy Reactivity Control Analysis Reporting Bottlenecks can occurwhen gaps exist between manual steps An automated process will keep lost time to a minimum Errors can result when process is not clearly defined or documented Remedied by a well defined and structured process Waiting until the end of the reporting period means having to catch up on variances and errors at the last minute Review results throughout the month to avoid surprises and data rectification at the end of the month or quarter Less structured processes have the potential for additional changes to impact results Keep manual intervention to a minimum when moving data and generating reporting outputs More manual steps leads to a staff focus more on the process, rather than understanding the underlying drivers of the numbers Less manual processing allows for analysis, such as variance analysis or identifying outliers Without well designed structures, reporting can be inconsistent and burdensome Having well defined master data to support reporting outputs simplifies the process SOLUTIONS CHALLENGES Typical attributes of a close cycle
- 9. Close cycle tracking– how it started:
- 10. Close cycle tracking– how it’s going:
- 11. Lack of transparency Cannoteasily support auditing Error prone Satisfactory for auditing purposes Lack of flexibility Lack of access (troubleshooting via IT only) Data is accessible, can support thorough auditing processes Specialized knowledge (custom rules), simple, static Data is accessible, can support thorough auditing processes Business Driven Flexible Process improvement opportunities GL PCM FCCS FCCS GL FCCS GL
- 12. Impact of Allocationson Close Processes •Multiple methods to get to the same standard reports, which may result in misleading information •Cannot easily tell whether there are data issues that stem from the allocation process or if they are related to other areas within the Close System/Cycle •Lack of transparency •Dependency on IT to provide data or answers to support the data •Missing critical analysis details just because source system cannot easily accommodate •Slows down the close cycle by either inserting bottlenecks in data responsibilities or delays due to data availability •Level of detail may be adjusted to reflect business needs at the cost of optimal run times Burden the GL Unsatisfactory Managerial Reporting Standard Reporting is rarely standardized Complicate the validation and troubleshooting process
- 13. Extend your CloseCycle capabilities! Situation: Allocations in the GL via multiple steps w no transparency Desired outcome: Reduce Close cycle delays, align Close and Budgeting allocation logic and enable faster and more accurate reporting Insurance Financial Services Manufacturing Financial Close Situation: Allocations partially done in GL, partially in offline solutions, error prone and lacking complete picture Desired outcome: Improved financial insight in- order to explain, trace and define the value delivered by business unit Situation: Lack of capability to calculate standard rates Desired outcome: Achieve greater transparency for costs (direct and indirect) by Product Line
- 14. Use case #1 Insurance FinancialServices Manufacturing Financial Close
- 15. Insurance allocations &Close cycle (1) Insurance Expense Allocations Internal/External Stat (Insurance Regulatory Body) Legal Entity Reporting Segment Level Reporting External/Internal US GAAP GL data set @Account, Department and BU Level Allocations moved from PSGL to PCM Data loaded at Account and Department level required LE to LE allocations based on SLAs custom drivers and LOB Direct Defining Allocation Points and Account groups Finding allocation patterns by looking at data , business org and reporting requirements. This enabled simplification of both process as well as maintenance and driver data submission. Reporting and troubleshooting was also greatly enhanced. Legal Entity allocations LE to LE allocations now had the detail of the originating account, originating Legal Entity , Target Legal Entity and any number of interactions in between. The LE to LE allocation was not a single step process – there were several instances where data bounced around various LE before reaching the final target. Product allocations ~ 200 products , being able to report now at Source and Target BU, detailed Account and Department level.. Limited transparency into original expenses and methodology of allocated amounts Multiple steps/dependencies in Peoplesoft (PS) allocations process which had to run in sequence over several days Results were aggregated and details lost along the way International regions would see Corporate Expense allocation entries when they were loaded into the consolidation model Needed a centralized tool that could share allocation rules, drivers, and structures
- 16. Insurance allocations &Close cycle (2) Allocated Expenses are completely transparent allowing the lines of business to trace received expenses back to originating source Created greater visibility and control around management of expenses Standardization of allocation rules leading to simplified reporting, troubleshooting and maintenance Eliminated all manual / offline systems that were built in support of equivalent Budget/Forecasting cycle (alignment of methodology as well as solution for both Financial Close and Planning and Budgeting Cycles) Reduced Financial Close processing cycle by hours and eliminated downtime Empowered business to focus on what matters – how to improve processes, business and create a positive impact
- 17. Use case #2 FinancialServices Financial Close Insurance Manufacturing
- 18. Historically half ofcorporate expenses not reflected in business line profit and loss (P&L) reports Greater business leader visibility to corporate spending System that could be audited Flexibility Capability to process What If scenarios Alignment between Close and Planning re: allocation methodologies Financial Services & Close cycle (1) Fin Services Shared Services Allocations Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Reflecting Corporate Spend in Business Line P&L Multiple rounds /iterations of Shared Costs` GL data set @Account, Cost Center, Project Allocations moved from GL and Offline solutions to PCM Data loaded at Account , Cost Center and Project needed to be allocated to target Account, target cost centers, target segments. Facilities, HR, Fund Allocations Defining relationships between hierarchy structures and allocation patterns enabled users to drive allocations by leveraging master data attributes. Inter –department and intra- account allocations. Fees Allocations State registration Fees and SEC allocations down to segments and subsegments. Segment allocations Regional and institutional subsegment allocations
- 19. Financial Services &Close cycle (2) Each BU can now understand their resource usage and overall impact on the P&L Greater context to facilitate decision making around capital allocations Improved financial insight to explain, trace and define the value delivered by business unit Eliminate skewed results on investment spending Create revenue adjustment analysis capability - to increase transparency of alternative results Generate allocation results within PCMCS in under 20 minutes for Actuals scenario
- 20.
- 21. Manufacturing & Closecycle (1) GL data set @Account, Cost Center, Entity Allocations moved from GL and Offline solutions to PCM Data loaded at Account , Cost Center and Entity needed to perform allocations across various departments (shared services distribution), all the way down to products (SKU family) Facilities, IT, HR allocations Allocating expenses between departments, having instances of reciprocal allocations that needed to be tracked back and forth for transparency purposes. Drivers such as Sq Ft, Headcount, PC Count, etc. were identified as meaningful. Finance and General Manufacturing Allocations Finance allocations to targeted departments that can then push the expense further to General Manufacturing Management as well as specific direct departments. Other Indirect Department allocations Allocations based on a workforce detailed driver (ref. time surveys) Allocation to Finished Goods (SKU Family) Allocation of final indirect departments data to Finished Goods based on Labor hours metrics from GL Calculation of final rates(Direct Labor, Indirect Overhead, Direct Overhead) Manufacturing Allocation to Product (SKU family) “Letting the numbers tell the story” Base company product strategy on real data vs anecdotal evidence Discover manuf. Inefficiencies buried into product costs Gain Labor hours Efficiencies
- 22. Manufacturing & Closecycle (2) Impactful discoveries of true profit winners or losers Identified human errors in reporting MH and LH Clarity of indirect costs across all departments down to Product level Flexibility in allocation approach when determining new /more accurate allocation drivers Transparent rates to form the basis of Standard Costing
- 23. Where to start? Needto consider level of complexity Are there specific reporting requirements? Is process transparency important? Is the process static or does it need to change frequently? Do historic results need to remain as is or do they need to be revised for management purposes? EPMORACLEALITHYA
- 24. Food for thought •Consider investing in automation • Use Intelligent Process Automation and other tools to minimize manual processing and increase reliability • Evaluate where and how allocations and calculations are occurring • There may be better tools and steps in the process to perform these tasks • Identify recurring issues • Structural issues and poor data quality can cause additional effort every reporting period if not addressed • Perform reconciliations early in process • Identify issues early so that they can be resolved on timely basis • Leverage your master data relationships • Identify relationships in master data that could drive calculation logic and reduce/remove maintenance • Evaluate tracking mechanisms in place • Leveraging tools can provide additional transparency and simplify process • Use workflow • Will allow for multiple review and approval cycles throughout the close
- 25. > Vendor Presentation:Leading Practices in Multi-Pillar Oracle Cloud Implementations > How Do I Love Cash Flow? Let Me Count the Ways…(11427) > What Did I Miss? Addressing Non-Traditional Reconciliations in AR and Data Integration Design (11513) > Workforce Plus: Tips and Tricks to Give Workforce an Extra Kick! (11415) > Why and How to Implement Operation Transfer Pricing (OTP) with Oracle EPM Cloud (111111) > Integrated Business Processes: A Better Way to Align FP&A Forecast and Management Reporting (11385) > Viasat Launches to the Cloud with Oracle Enterprise Data Management (11486) > ❤️ Matchmaker, Make Me a Match: Can AR Intercompany Matchmaking Tools Be a Perfect Match for You? (11174) > How WillScot-Mobile Mini Utilized Enterprise Data Management for Business Transformation (11489) > See Why This Government Contractor Loves PCM: Live Session with General Dynamics (11395) > How to Allocate Your Close Time More Effectively (11533) > How to Deploy & Integrate Oracle EPM Cloud Profitability and Cost Management (PCM) as an Allocations Sub-Ledger (11109) Don't Miss Our 12 Sessions at Kscope21! Alithya is a platinum sponsor of Kscope21 > Mike Killeen & Zubin Shah, Alithya 6/22/21 | 1:40 - 2:20 PM > Geordan Drummond, Alithya 6/22/21 | 12:40 - 1:40 PM > Seema Shah; Nick Boronski, Oracle, & Lee Divers, State Street 6/23/21 | 12:40 - 1:40 PM > Ryan Ward & Sara Beth Good, Alithya 6/23/21 | 2:20 - 3:20 PM > Andrew Laferla, Alithya & William Harned, MUFG Union Bank 6/24/21 | 11 AM - 12 PM > Alecs Mlynarzek & Vatsal Gaonkar, Alithya 6/24/21 | 2:20 - 3:20 PM > Kevin Black, Alithya & Robert Kursten, Viasat 6/25/21 | 12:40 - 1:40 PM > Geordan Drummond; Nick Boronski & Tim Gaumont, Oracle 6/28/21 | 4 - 5 PM > Kevin Black; Matthew Jacobsen, WillScot Mobile Mini 6/29/21 | 4 - 5 PM > Alecs Mlynarzek, Alithya & Caroline Dill, General Dynamics IT 6/30/21 | 11 AM – 12 PM > Alecs Mlynarzek & Geordan Drummond, Alithya 6/30/21 | 12:40 - 1:40 PM > Andrew Laferla, Alithya 6/30/21 | 2:20 - 3:20 PM
- 26.
Editor's Notes
- #5 ALECS
- #6 ALECS
- #7 GEORDAN Without performing the financial close and reporting processes, the accounting records and financial statement will be incomplete, inaccurate, and irrelevant. The users of the financial statements will not have decision‐useful information. Decisions made and actions taken will not be based on a faithful picture of the organization’s financial position and activities. The close cycle is a set of activities performed at the end of the period that ensure all transactions and financial events have been recorded, all transactions and account balances have been measured appropriately, and that the financial statements are prepared. This list of actions includes Preparing a trial balance Identifying, collecting, and analyzing information for accounts that require adjustments Preparing the adjusting journal entries and posting them to the ledgers Preparing an adjusted, or final, trial balance Use the final trial balance to prepare the required financial statements Formally closing the accounting records for the period However, going beyond Journal Entry, Transaction matching and account reconciliations – often means combining the close cycle with the insight that managerial reporting brings to the table. So what happens to the usual close cycle when reporting requirements push the process beyond its usual boundaries? Override values for translation purposes and it can be iterative Initial load – flash P&L and then multiple times during the day, as they disccover accruals in the Ledger that need to be reflected in the Consolidation side Late breaking accruals ex: going to review the data with auditors and they need to make an accrual Or they need to setup reserves for a specific situation , and they may realize that the value must be higher based on auditing advice M&A activity after the ledger is closed so they need to work that in Restructuring cost after the fact that needs to be booked to the ledger In some cases ledger re-opens and sometimes they book it directly to Consolidation Can be part of the close ledgers Can be part of consolidate subsidiaries, depending on visibility
- #8 GEORDAN Split into 3 sections – pre ledger, ledger and post ledger – categorize Pre-ledger: Poor data quality: Erroneous postings, last minute postings due to master data misalignment, subledger to GL imbalance Lack of enforced deadlines, multiple review and approval cycles Ledger: Lengthy. Stressful and repetitive process that requires re-work at several checkpoints Constant business changes impacting availability or reliability of data points, requiring revisions , adjustments, and holding open receivables and payable for potential late transactions Manual processing of recurring journal entries Unnecessarily complex calculations/ allocations OR allocations are deferred until the close information is received Lack of enforced deadlines, multiple review and approval cycles Advised Close calendar vs Enforced Close calendar Post-Ledger: Manual updates and comparisons of current activity to prior month and to budget High volume and redundancy in managerial reporting layered in at different stages of the close cycle, requiring significant data manipulation and sometimes coming short of delivering the decision-making information that is truly needed
- #9 GEORDAN
- #10 GEORDAN Best practices used to issue financial reports are designed to create quality information more quickly and to move the focus of the finance function from report generation to content analysis. The goal is a more efficient closing cycle with fewer errors; a world class benchmark of two days.
- #11 GEORDAN Best practices used to issue financial reports are designed to create quality information more quickly and to move the focus of the finance function from report generation to content analysis. The goal is a more efficient closing cycle with fewer errors; a world class benchmark of two days.
- #12 ALECS During today’s presentation we’re going to focus on areas of the close cycle that can be improved. And one major area that we encounter quite often during our implementations is Cost Allocation and Cost Attribution. Let’s name a few Examples of allocations that are embedded in the close cycle: Shared services allocations Corporate overhead Tax effect of transfer pricing Intercompany allocations Here are most situations for allocations/attributions in a financial close cycle encountered during project engagements. Let’s look at their pros and cons. Perform offline, load result to G/L This is a common occurrence, and it is always painful for the business to support it. Lacks transparency -> as consequence, it Cannot support auditing, or it assumes a lot of manual effort to satisfy auditing requirements Highly error prone because it is manual (example : master data has not yet been updated in the offline tool, resulting in skwed numbers because items may have been removed or moved around in hierarchies) Most likely miss critical layers of data /dimensions that would be beneficial for figuring out where the numbers are coming from. Perform in G/L, load result to consolidation Such situations are more likely to satisfy auditing reports but lack flexibility, access is always an issue because all troubleshooting has to go through IT, and maintenance is a problem. Example: Shared services allocations Perform in consolidation using journals OR Perform in consolidation using business rules Data accessibility is good since FCCS is a Business focused software and can support auditing but to set allocations up in FCCS you need specialized knowledge, and you also tend to see more static allocation rules because they are not straightforward to maintain. Example Corp Ovh allocations – if you can do it in a slice, you could get the net and composition vs a single line in the P&L (and you can see the categories , like % of corporate salaries) The alternative we are proposing is this : perform allocations/attributions for your close cycle in PCM and then load data either to your GL or to your Consolidation model. Advantages: PCM is a Business driven application, and was purposely built to satisfy SOX compliance requirements Flexible as it can support any allocation method (waterfall, ABC, reciprocal, etc.) and can adapt as the business changes /grows Can easily integrate with On Prem or Cloud solutions If there is one drawback to it – it’s probably new to the team, and a new software has it’s learning curve. However, because of the point and click interface, it should be a significantly less daunting learning curve compared to any prior alternative.
- #13 ALECS So let’s recap some of the common themes picked up in all these use cases, regardless of situation. Burdening the GL –Slows down the close cycle by either inserting bottlenecks in data responsibilities or delays due to data availability Level of detail may be adjusted to reflect business needs at the cost of optimal run times Unsatisfactory Managerial reporting Allocations are primarily done to support statutory (tax transfer pricing) purposes. If allocations are made beyond this, they should be done in a manner so people can be held accountable. This is typically done by segmenting responsibility statements between non-controllable versus controllable allocations or by moving to a COP concept (contribution to overhead and profit) If performed in inefficient systems / software, allocations will result in unsatisfactory Managerial Reporting. Wjhy is that? - Data perspectives created are summarized, and lack the full and necessary multi-dimensional insight. Allocation methods deployed are not readily visible There are also situations where there are Multiple maintenance points, and significant effort is made to updating multiple models especially when managerial reporting requirements changes due to org changes, M&A , etc. Allocation methods and drivers deployed are limited based on the available tools such as GL or offline solutions. And last but not least, often we find that Management structure no longer aligns with Legal structure which causes headaches when setting up and running allocations in a system that is nor dedicated to this piece of the puzzle. Standard Reporting Multiple methods being used to calculate profitability across the organization will resulted in misleading information. Comparisons between apples and oranges are never easy, and when org structures are on the move, Standard Reporting has a tenedency of slowing things down rather than enable business users to draw insight.
- #14 ALECS We would like to share with you a couple of use cases for the Close Cycle optimization that we have worked on. And even if the industries presented do not apply to your particular situation, try to find the common points between these real life use cases and the pain points within your own close cycle. Financial services use case Insurance Manufacturing
- #15 ALECS
- #16 ALECS Largest types of insurers: - accident and health insurers property and casualty insurers financial guarantors Common challenge: Complex cost allocation models. In the insurance industry, cost allocations are critical due to two trends. First, tightening margins and increased competition heighten the need to scrutinize expenses; The high regulator requirements for granularity and transparency drive insurers to develop complex cost allocation models. Because of these factors, steering business margins in the insurance industry is very important Insurance demand is on the positive side, but margins are moving the other way. On the supply side, behavioral evolution pushes for enhanced user experiences and the use of analytics. And that all means a high level of investment for innovation, transformation, and technology Now when focusing on expense allocations in the insurance industry, we know that they must support multiple reporting views of one common ledger External/Internal US GAAP External/Internal Stat (Insurance Regulatory Body) Legal Entity Reporting Segment Level Reporting So let’s have a look at our real life use case for Cost Allocations Required for internal management review of expenses at the organizational level, aimed at driving behavior to improve performance Functions manage incurred expenses on a departmental basis Lines of Business Product Owners, and Region/Country Managers are accountable for Profit Margins on a post-allocated basis Business Process Challenges & Opportunities Limited transparency into original expenses and methodology of allocated amounts Multiple steps/dependencies in Peoplesoft (PS) allocations process which must be run in sequence over several days Results are aggregated and details lost along the way Maintenance is time-consuming and extremely manual No global allocation engine in place International regions first see Corporate Expense allocation entries when they are loaded into HFM during the consolidated close The preferred method would be to book allocation entries directly to regional ledgers so they were available for the local close Need for a centralized tool that can share allocation rules, drivers, and structures
- #17 ALECS KSCOPE KODE: EPMORACLEALITHYA
- #19 ALECS Hard to model multiple rounds of shared costs Data limits on number of rows Fragile - difficult to debug complex formulas and no version control Slow to run the model, data prep and limited compute power Explored updating existing systems Allocations written in calculations scripts Project estimated to take over a year to complete Major increase in systems complexity
- #20 Increased allocations from 50% of revenue generating expenses to 100% company wide Business Unit Accountability for Corporate Spending Faster Rule Development Running Multiple Allocation Cycles per day High Systems Availability The PCMCS model enables them to generate allocation results within PCMCS in under 20 minutes for Actuals scenario, and in under 40 minutes for 3 years of Forecast data Can now run multiple daily cycles of allocations as data is updated throughout the day Full end-to-end automation with validation mechanisms that enabled the team to simply verify a set of standardized reports and quickly troubleshoot issues
- #22 GEORDAN AND ALECS Impact on Close cycle – replacing offline calculations that were complicated to explain Streamline analysis Added reporting and analysis details Allocating indirect costs down to Product detail. Sourcing BOM, Machine hours, labour hours ,Direct materials and scrap data from the GL Legacy systems that act as data sources have not kept the pace with the business changes nor do they have clean data for the existing areas that leverage them Combining sales data at SKU level, utilities, etc Allocating data in PCM and coming up with Direct labor rate, indirect overhead, Direct overhead rate. Financial Story aligned with Industry leading practices: letting the numbers tell the story Increased ownership and and accountability for Labour hours Enabled complex expense and revenue assignment methods, flexible enough to change as the business changes Ability to now define and enforce thresholds for specific department expenditures Functional P&L example Segment profitability Corporate overhead Standard Costing
- #23 GEORDAN AND ALECS PCM distributed direct (Bill of Materials –based) costs as well as indirect costs across all departments, down to the Product Family detail, for a fully burdened view of the P&L, generating the Direct Labor Rate, Indirect Labor Rate and Indirect Overhead Rate Reporting segments externally
- #24 GEORDAN AND ALECS Task management in FCCS that does not have an equivalent in ERP Talk about ERP vs PCM Standardize and automate journal entries, including allocations, and restrict the use of journal entries to one person. • Automate the cut-off at the receiving function. • Avoid the bank reconciliation by advancing the account close, including fees in the recurring journal entries, and using the bank’s online transaction review system. • Continually review wait times using process mapping techniques. • Eliminate multiple approvals and/or implement ranges within which approvals are not required. • Set a materiality level. • Eliminate small accruals and adjustments. Reduce investigation levels to large variances (dollars, percentages, and designated accounts). • Use internal audit to locate transaction defects in advance. • Conduct daily review of key components of the financial statements. • Defer certain tasks to days prior to and after the closing cycle. • Separate internal operating reports (flash reports) from external financial reporting. • Automatically create operating reports. • Standardize the close package. • Cycle internal reports on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis. • Distinguish between the level of detail needed for internal reports and that required by external parties
- #25 GEORDAN AND ALECS