The financial closing cycle is a priority for most companies; this is when the financial bodies of a company report their external statutory results and internal management performance metrics.

As vital as it is, many companies still struggle with the periodic closing cycle, which typically involves time-consuming tasks that need to be completed in a very short time-frame.

Although the goal of any organisation is to maximise financial close performance, many companies are challenged find a cost effective financial close performance that is efficient to manage, produces on time accurate results and complies with reporting and regulatory guidelines.

A more efficient financial close can have a dramatic impact on an organization, including reduced cost of compliance, increased investor confidence and greater time available for making decisions based on reliable information.

We are able to provide a service that ensures that the financial close is:

• Reliable
• Efficient
• Fast
• Compliant

With Logica’s solution, companies meet external requirements for accelerated reporting deadlines and internal mandates to reduce costs. A faster close enhances reporting accuracy, engenders investor confidence, and reduces resource costs.

Logica’s Financial Closing team ensures that all required tasks are completed within agreed timeframes, results communicated to the respective company department, issues communicated immediately to the correct function and that an organisation’s overnight window is fully utilised.

Stage 1 – Period End Requirements
Logica will discuss the requirements of the period end with key decision makers within your organisation.

Stage 2 – Period End Schedule
Development
Once the requirements are understood, a period end schedule is developed. This document details the full business requirement of all the tasks required, when they should be executed, what the points of communication are, the necessary actions and who the main business contacts are in the event of any failure. This schedule will be developed into a more concise spreadsheet that is used as the monthly control document.

Stage 3 – Shadowing
For at least one period end close, a senior SAP finance resource from Logica will spend a full month end onsite working through all aspects of the period end close process.

Stage 4 – Reverse Shadowing
Prior to go-live the senior SAP finance resource from Logica will manage the period end close process onsite, supported by the business community currently managing these transactions.

Stage 5 – Go-Live
Once agreed the senior SAP finance resource from Logica will manage the period end close process remotely providing required communication and progress updates as agreed in the previous stages.

Key benefits

• Reliability - A robust closing process generates reliable information for reporting & auditing purposes.
• Speed - Timeliness is a key requirement of any closing process as the number of days available is often mandated to an organisation.
• Efficiency - The cost effective use of manpower, systems and processes during the financial close.
• Compliance - Monitoring internal controls is essential for generating financial reporting and for compliance with regulatory guidelines.