Financial & Operational Readiness

What is the challenge: Unforeseen personnel changes in accounting, finance, IT and other operations areas that come from resignations, transfers or layoffs should not impact your ability to execute or handle day-to-day operations. But maintaining momentum and eliminating risk during a management transition can be very difficult. It requires a rapid response that allows your existing team to continue functioning smoothly. Finding the right individual, with the necessary technical skills and background to fill that vacant role can be time consuming, costly and detrimental towards the quality and efficiency of your operations.

Related Services:
• Accounting and Audit Support
• Financial and Regulatory Reporting
• Internal Audit Services
• Management Transition Services

What is the challenge: The road to prompt and accurate financial reporting is difficult and often highly complex. Accelerated filing deadlines, multinational consolidation issues, accounting for unusual transactions, and many of other factors make the risk of missing financial reporting deadlines very real. Today's accounting organizations are faced with the need to balance day-to-day operations and strategic initiatives with ever-changing regulatory requirements and accelerated reporting deadlines from the SEC. All of these requirements must be performed in a timely and consistent manner and often under the additional stress of the annual audit.

The key to alleviating this reporting risk is constructing a financial and regulatory reporting strategy that addresses the company's unique challenges such as heavy reliance on manual processes, frequent and material changes in the business, ongoing Sarbanes-Oxley efforts and other factors dictated by the SEC and other regulatory agencies. Companies must evaluate whether they have the in-house expertise and capacity to handle all technical aspects as well as the time-sensitive nature of reporting obligations while managing day-to-day operations.

Related Services:
• Accounting and Audit Support
• Financial and Regulatory Reporting
• Internal Control Services
• IT Audit and Technology Risk
• Management Transition Services

What is the challenge: With the pending adoption of IFRS companies should start to consider transition plans to aid in a smooth, cost-effective conversion. For many this will entail a fundamental change to reporting and many areas may be impacted. Companies will need to consider factors such as the impact on reported performance, whether staff is appropriately skilled and what their training requirements will be, as well as the tax implications of the new standards. Although adoption has been extended companies and their audit committees should develop an initial understanding of the potential impacts as well as preliminary plans to convert. And since multiple years will be required for reporting it's not too early to begin assessing the impact.

Related Services:
• Accounting and Audit Support
• Financial and Regulatory Reporting
• Internal Control Services
• IT Strategy and Planning

What is the challenge: Companies are especially looking for near-term opportunities to eliminate the complexity and waste embedded in many of today's finance and accounting, IT functions and related functions. Organizations that grow rapidly over time can end up with processes built on a foundation of inefficient, overly manual and redundant business practices. The challenge is to simplify complex processes and reduce cost and waste without slowing the pace of operations. Simplification requires collaboration and planning across functions to get it right. It means tolerance for breaking old habits and behaviors associated with the old way of doing business. Simplification also requires the identification and evaluation of the best available technology solutions to automate and control key processes. Ample attention must also be given to embedding effective governance, risk and controls into the new process to ensure they remain streamlined and effective over the long-term.

Related Services:
• Enterprise Risk Management
• Business Process Management
• Enterprise Resource Planning
• IT Strategy and Planning
• Virtualization and Green IT

What is the challenge: Trusted data and analysis is needed to meet reporting commitments, to ensure service delivery and to budget wisely. But data is almost always required from different systems within and across departments to support for financial, management and other types of reporting. Without the ability to synthesize data from across the enterprise management is left to piece together incomplete and often inaccurate data as the basis for important decisions. Fortunately business intelligence and other decision support tools have become largely standardized, affordable and easier to use. The push for common enterprise architecture also allows for organizations to more easily share and leverage data in ways unheard of in the past. New processes, systems, controls and governance frameworks are also needed to ensure data quality, compliance with standards and regulations and speed of delivery. Security is also critical. Data leakage, privacy, confidentiality and other factors must be addressed with up to date policies, systems, and controls.

Related Services:
• Enterprise Risk Management
• Enterprise Performance Management
• Data Management/Business Intelligence
• IT Strategy and Planning