Technological developments and the maturation of digital tools have created increased pressure on the finance function to continuously implement new digital solutions. The journey towards the digital and agile finance function has already started in many companies and organisations, and it will accelerate even more in the coming years.
Technological innovation and increased governance requirements have added new layers of complexity to financial management, including reporting and financial transactions. This has increased the amount of tasks putting resource pressure on the finance function.
At KPMG, we focus on three fundamental areas within Digital Finance; Business Intelligence (BI), Data and end-to-end Finance Automation and Finance ERP transformation.
Read more about our services in the three areas by clicking below.
The finance function of the future
We often see a gap between the needs of the finance function and what the company's standard systems can deliver, which often results in repetitive manual tasks in combination with countless Excel sheets. This can end up in heavy and resource-intensive processes that make further development and optimisation impossible.
Technological developments are opening up new, flexible and user-friendly tools that can close this gap. These tools make it easier for organisations to create a coherent management with a high degree of transparency, monitoring, automation and dynamic control - freeing up more time for value-creating work!
This will also ensure that the finance function can continuously optimise existing processes and applications that are far more resilient to external influences and changes as well as scaling within the organisation.
Our approach
Implementing the right digital solutions is an end-to-end process that is based on the customer's specific needs and ambitions at each stage of the process.
Our end-to-end process is described in our Digital Finance Delivery Model below.
| Analysis | Solution design | Development | Implementation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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 |
 |
 |
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| Process mapping Based on the customer's AS-IS processes and challenges, needs and ambitions |
Prioritisation of optimisation measures Starting from needs, ambitions and maturity |
Requirements specification This includes requirements for data and support systems (ex. ERP) |
Customisation and anchoring of processes Including solution documentation |
|
| Gap analysis towards best practices Based on KPMG's good practice process framework |
Solution design Based on a wide range of digital tools, process understanding and the customer's stakeholders |
Solution development and testing Working closely with the customer to ensure a safe handover |
Governance Controls and policies |
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| Optimisation potentials Assessed in relation to cost vs benefit, estimate of benefit realisation |
Implementation plan Often split into several phases |
Governance and reporting Dynamic input and output dashboards |
Profit realisation Follow-up on initial profit calculation |
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| Connector role | ||||
The connector roll:
The interface between finance and IT often makes digital development expensive, cumbersome and time-consuming, which can create a breeding ground for sub-par manual solutions.
As technology continues to evolve, we need to create a "Connection" between the traditional finance function and the BI/IT function, including standard systems (e.g. ERP) that can close the gap with flexible and automated solutions to specific needs.
In order to ensure the best and most up-to-date solutions and to ensure alignment between the finance function and the BI/IT function in the development of digital solutions, it is necessary to have a "Connection" between the traditional finance function and the BI/IT function. In order to ensure the best and most up-to-date solutions and to ensure alignment between the finance function and the BI/IT function in the development of digital solutions, it is necessary to have competences that can understand:
The basic financial processes and needs of the finance function
The technical requirements of the solutions and the tasks and requirements of the BI/IT function
- we call this role a "Connector role".
Our services
The best solutions are often a mix of services within BI, Data, automation in the context of standard systems (e.g. ERP) and best practice adjustments to business processes.
Read more about our digital services within BI, Data and Automation below.
BI & Data:
Most organisations understand the importance of creating data-driven workflows that result in efficient and transparent processes in the finance function.
The challenge often lies in managing the loading and linking of data from different system sources as well as from master data and various user inputs.
At KPMG, we have many years of experience in creating the right data foundation that supports efficient processes and management in the finance function.
Our BI & Data services include among others:
Our deep hands-on experience with processes and financial flows in the finance function gives us a solid understanding of how to clean up financial data and recording frameworks/charts of accounts based on best practice.
Setting up databases that are anchored in finance and contain all relevant data used in the finance function. The purpose here is to set up a decentralised database that finance can access directly, thereby achieving a more flexible data platform that can support relevant output and input for dashboards.
Setting up dynamic applications that digitise and streamline classic tasks in the finance function.
Identification of problem areas and demonstration of concrete solution models in Proof of Concept (POC) solutions.
For example, digital reconciliation models, transparent cash flow models and dynamic reporting models etc.
Development of automated data flows from relevant sources and setup of dynamic reports. KPMG has experience with development in a wide range of BI & reporting tools including Qlik, Tableau, Power BI, Cognos, SAS, Excel, etc.
Finance automation
By automating routine tasks, the finance function can free up time and resources for more value-adding tasks.
Additionally, new processes that are manually resource-intensive to perform can now be done at night or on weekends by scheduled automation jobs. This can be low-code solutions that automate the applications as they are, it can be API automation (or flow automation), app automation or it can be utilising the ERP platform more.
However, in the first instance, it's all about energising the right process. The good 'Connector' has knowledge of both financial processes and digital solutions, and can therefore move both process experts in finance and system specialists in IT to find the right solution to specific challenges. It's not about 'just building robots', but very much about designing the right solution to the specific problem. Maybe we need to change something in the way we run our finance processes (e.g. reminders for payment in a different way), or maybe we need to customise the reminder flow in our ERP system. Ultimately, it's about bringing the finance function and the IT function closer together.
When we automate finance processes at KPMG, we combine different digital tools to achieve the highest possible level of automation.
Our Finance automation services include:
Analyse existing processes and map challenges and gaps towards best practices. Assess automation potential for processes and tasks and develop technical solution designs. Evaluation and prioritisation of automation and digitalisation potential and summarisation in a finance automation roadmap and action plan.
For activities performed outside the ERP system, we typically use a combination of tools such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA), workflow tools, MS Power Platform, Machine Learning, document intelligence systems, etc.
When ERP platform or intelligent automation is not sufficient to automate processes, or specialised digital solutions (supplier invoice management, credit risk assessment, consolidation, reconciliation, etc. we use these for automation.
Regardless of which solution is right for any given implementation, we always take a structured approach to implementation. This consists of detailed and technically validated solution design, agile development and testing, production deployment and implementation support, as well as post go-live support.
Finance ERP-transformation
The ERP system is a central core system and the foundation of a well-functioning finance organisation. However, implementing an ERP system often does not solve all the needs of the finance function, and we often see a gap between the needs and what the company's ERP and core systems can deliver.
Optimisation and efficient use of the ERP system, considered in the context of other flexible digital solutions within BI & Data and automation, can close this gap.
When we advise on Finance ERP at KPMG, we work with different elements of the company's "Operating Model", where specific services are:
We typically uncover automation potential using process mining tools, after which the majority of automation is done via process standardisation and ERP automation.
Finance ERP vision and strategy to ensure the right starting point and assessment of whether the significant investment can be justified (Business Case) and a Roadmap including the need for new roles.
Redefining and streamlining the "Finance Operating Model" in the finance organisation in order to achieve full utilisation of the ERP platform.
Process mining/documentation for a data-driven approach to documenting and assessing the potential of ERP finance processes.
Selection and assessment of finance ERP platforms based on the vision and the company's "Finance Operating Model".
Design and implement finance ERP solutions in close collaboration with the rest of the organisation.
Project management in finance ERP projects where we contribute with specific finance knowledge needed to support an ERP implementation or update.
Contact us and learn more about our services
Jakob West
Partner & Head of CFO Service
KPMG in Denmark
Jesper Vennevold
Director, CFO Advisory
KPMG in Denmark
