How KPMG Powered Finance through the target operating model can accelerate the execution of a digital close solution. Why it is important. Why Choose Powered Finance.
The future agility of your month end close and equally your finance function requires the latest data, delivered in real-time to help you make immediate decisions. KPMG Powered Finance reaches beyond efficiency gains from traditional (and often manual) tasks by using automation, predictive analytics, and cognitive learning to optimise and accelerate your month end close process.
KPMG Powered Finance provides the evidence and support you need for answering the challenges that exist across your month end activities, such as:
- How should our month end process change to increase business agility?
- How can the finance function report quicker, more accurately and provide higher value to the wider business?
- How can I help my people embrace the change?
- How do I get more value from my data and start to take advantage of the next generation of technology?
- How do I provide the insight and control to oversee wider innovation and transformation?
In our previous editions, we explored some of the warning signs that you encounter during the month end close process and therefore this results in a case for change - to digitise your close process.
Inefficiencies and sub-optimal reporting times with your month end process may be due to an external event or internal symptoms that are less visible and impacting your critical path - large numbers of manual journals/activities, and high error rates are common causes of staff frustration and burnout at month end.
If this sounds familiar, then KPMG can help you plan your digital close transformation.
Our Credentials – Accelerated Digital Close
At KPMG we understand the challenges of effectively managing and digitalising large and complex processes. We’ve brought significant value to our clients by helping them execute an accelerated ‘digital close’. Our typical outcomes include reduced reporting cycle times and improved accuracy of management and regulatory reporting leading to better insights, whilst simultaneously improving staff wellbeing and morale:
£1.3bn Turnover Oil and Gas Company
- Our clients accounting close activities were characterised by protracted and variable close timelines and a perpetual cycle of accounting and reporting. Typical monthly and quarterly cycle time to report to board was 20-28 days.
- A series of tactical and enhancement initiatives were identified reducing the reporting cycle time from 20 days to 14 dayspost tactical/RPA initiatives and down to 8 days post further process and system enhancements.
£260m Turnover Life Sciences Company
- The clients monthly close process was characterised by protracted and variable close timelines and a perpetual cycle of close and report.
- Gaps to leading practice & pain points were identified for each of the key areas of the close, to provide clarity on where improvements were required. A series of improvement initiatives were identified to support the reduction of the reporting cycle time from 12 days to 8 days
£450mTurnover Multi-National Petcare Provider
- The Client had experienced rapid growth through acquisition across 9 countries before being acquired by a global manufacturer and service provider. As a result, the close timelines and processes varied dramatically across different parts of the firm, using multiple different systems. The client was also unable to meet the much more stringent reporting deadlines of their new parent company.
- Leading practice processes were developed in close co-ordination with the client and a third party responsible for the implementation of the Oracle system.
- Subsequently automated solutions were developed and implemented for major manual tasks causing significant delays to the close process.
- As a result of these improvements, the close timelines were reduced from 12 days to 4 days, allowing the client to meet their reporting deadlines
How do we do it?
KPMG Powered Finance takes a strategic, structured, and informed approach to your digital close transformation. Focusing on business outcomes, technology is used as an enabler, ensuring that process improvements are continuous and impactful.
Our approach can be scaled according to your business needs and desired outcomes – accelerated reporting times, automation, increased business partnering and value adding focus.
Within Powered Finance we have developed a large library of leading practices for the month end process and using them as a baseline, our approach is to help you focus on what is important:
· Develop a summary view of you current close schedule and timeline, capturing key pain points, associated drivers, and underlying issues.
- Compare current practices against recognised leading practices to understand the gap to be bridged to deliver a ‘quality’ digital close.
- Identify a set of improvement opportunities and associated enabling activities – categorised as tactical, RPA and enhancement initiatives
- Develop initiative charters, detailing initiative scope, objectives, timescales, milestones, success factors, key stakeholders, anticipated benefits as well as key risks and constraints
- Propose a governance structure, proposed programme delivery workstreams and high-level implementation plan for your digital close transformation.
In addition, we can also use the KPMG Target Operating Model as a blueprint to shape how both a month end transformation and a wider Finance transformation can play through every layer of your organisation.
The initial stages of your transformational journey can have the most profound impact on your ultimate outcome. It's during this stage that the big decisions are made and the place you are trying to end up is determined. The quality of the outcome is in direct relation to how clearly you understand where you are trying to go. Business leaders should be the driving force for the vision but need a starting point to work from. That's where KPMG's Target Operating Model can help empower you to move to a 'best in class' vision.
We can help ensure you gain maximum benefit from your technology platform, simplify organisational challenges, and choose the most efficient path to achieve your month end process and functional goals by using KPMG leading practice pre-configured on the platform of your choice.
Our assets can be thought of as a collection of solution accelerators comprised of hundreds of predefined or prebuilt processes, workflows, definitions, integrations, reports, dashboards and even training programs. Using this combination of assets to suit your organization goes a long way towards helping you to envision where you are heading and validate that it will work for you.
Why choose KPMG Powered Finance?
- Pre-built ecosystem of assets, based on KPMG leading practice
- Fully integrated leading practices across the Target Operating Model (TOM)
- Pre-configured for the leading Cloud technology platforms (SAP/S4Hana, Oracle, MS Dynamics 365, Workday)
- Access to proven real-world technology solutions and industry-specific experience designed to reduce risk and enhance ROI
- Improved ability to manage and navigate change by bringing your Finance workforce along your Transformation journey
- A solid platform for continuing evolution in the future
