This document discusses challenges that businesses face with closing the accounting cycle, consolidating financial data, and reporting. It notes that the median time to complete this process is 15 days for large companies, though some take up to 25 days. Continuous accounting and financial performance management (FPM) solutions are presented as ways to streamline the process. Risk management spending by financial institutions is also summarized, including areas of governance, integration, and financial crime compliance. Contact information is provided for IBM solutions that address these issues.

1. Click to add text
© 2014 IBM Corporation
Business struggles with Close,
Consolidate and Reporting Cycle
Presenter: Paul Young, CPA, CGA – Proven Practice Adviser – Risk
Analytics, FOPM/FPM and Close, Consolidate and Reporting
Date October 21, 2017

2. © 2012 IBM Corporation
Author / Bio
September 9,
2014
• Paul Young, CPA, CGA
• SME – Financial Performance Management (TM1, Cognos Controller and
Cognos Disclosure Management, OpenPages, Algorithmics, Cognos
Integrated Server, Cognos Command Center and Datawatch)
• Industry Experience
• 15+ years in Corporate Reporting, Budget & Forecasting, Costing,
Business Process Management, Internal Audit and Controls, Risk
Management, Financial Analysis, Costing
• 11+ years in financial solutions (FOPM, FPM, Risk, Office of the
Finance, Risk Management)
• 8+ years teaching Advance Finance, Advance Accounting, Public
Finance and Advance Management Information Systems
• Blogger in areas like Finance Analysis, Government policies, market
segment

3. © 2012 IBM Corporation
• Time to close the accounting cycle
• Continuous accounting close
• Other pain points for accounting and finance
• FOPM/FPM solutions
Agenda

4. © 2012 IBM Corporation
Times it takes to close
The APQC study, which examined close-to-disclose cycle
time for 524 companies with more than $1 billion in revenue,
found that the top 25% were able to complete the entire C-
to-D process in 12 days or less. The median cycle time was
15 days, while the bottom 25% of companies took 18 days
or longer. The worst performers needed up to 25 days to get
the job done.
September 9,
2014
CFO.com – August 2015

5. © 2012 IBM Corporation
SOX and the Cost of Compliance
Source - http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/news/2017/jun/companies-spending-more-
time-on-sox-compliance-201716857.htmlSeptember 9,
2014

6. © 2012 IBM Corporation
What can be done to expedite the close
• More automation between ERP systems with reporting systems
• Movement to FOPM and FPM solutions
• Strengthening controls on all aspects of the organization (Ongoing
internal audit programs)
• More integration between systems
• Re-engineering other business processes as part of streamlining the
close, consolidate and reporting cycle
September 9,
2014

7. © 2012 IBM Corporation
What is continuous accounting
Source - http://www.digitalistmag.com/finance/2017/02/17/what-is-continuous-accounting-
04917410September 9,
2014
• Continuous accounting is a paradigm shift for finance professionals
responsible for closing the books and producing financial
statements. “The way we’ve always done it” is to wait until period
end, work long hours, and get the end of the period reporting done.
This traditional way of doing things is based on repeating what’s
been done period after period in the past. The reports are getting
done so if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Change is hard.
• The concept of continuous accounting is not waiting until the end of
the period to execute the multiple tasks that need to happen to close
the books. With the advancements in technology over the past
years, it is now possible to execute tasks required for the close
throughout the period. Similar to the concept of a soft close,
continuous accounting provides better visibility into financial results
throughout the period – live and in real time.

8. © 2012 IBM CorporationSeptember 9,
2014

9. © 2012 IBM CorporationSeptember 9,
2014

10. © 2012 IBM CorporationSeptember 9,
2014

11. © 2012 IBM Corporation
Risk Management
September 9,
2014
• Risk Management
• The total global expenditure on risk IT systems and services by financial institutions
(FIs) will be $70bn during 2016.
• The two biggest areas for investment are in the risk governance and integration field
($22.4bn), which is being driven by compliance demands, stress test reporting
obligations and risk data aggregation requirements, and financial crime risk, which
follows closely behind in terms of growth, as cyber and fraud risks multiply and
converge.
• The Chartis 2016 Global Risk IT Expenditure report aggregates all of the firm’s 2015
research to derive a global risk IT spend. The market sizing exercise by Chartis is
based on a comprehensive bottom up methodology driven by thousands of demand
side data points. Furthermore, the analysis has been validated by top-down data from
hundreds of technology vendors and consulting firms.
The report provides an overview of the risk technology market and forecasts 2016
expenditure for specific risk categories, examining the regulatory, operational and
reputational drivers for different sizes of financial institution (FI) and across different
regions

12. © 2012 IBM CorporationSeptember 9,
2014
• Contact information
• Paul Young (email: paul.young@ca.ibm.com)
• IBM Close, Consolidating and Reporting, Risk and Planning Analytics
• http://www.ibm.com/analytics/us/en/business/financial-reporting/
• http://www-03.ibm.com/software/products/en/planning-analytics
• http://www.ibm.com/analytics/us/en/business/governance-risk-
compliance/
• Planning Analytics Workspace -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGYBqvSboAg