Here are some examples of our projects:

Smart reporting

Problem - The board of a public listed service company was receiving a finance report which was difficult to read, contained poor quality variance commentary and overall lacked focus on key areas and material issues.

Approach - Understood the key drivers of the business; designed a report covering the key areas; established materiality limits, engaged General Managers and key finance experts and obtained their input and ownership of commentary on material variances, associated root causes and actions they were taking to rectify issues .

Solution - Implemented an easy to read finance report using charts, tables and other techniques to focus on key areas with commentary highlighting root causes behind major variances and actions being taken to rectify issues.

Result - The board reduced their reading time and were better informed on the key areas, issues and associated actions.  The format was so successfull that a number of General Managers also adopted the same format for their business level reporting.

Fast close

Problem - A large resources company took three weeks of long hours by the finance team each month to prepare the consolidated management accounts. Staff were dissatisfied and had little time for other work.

Approach - Improve the processes and their priorities to reduce the time and effort required to produce the management report.

Solution - Processes including transaction processing (procure-to-pay, payroll, fixed assets & general ledger), reporting and analysis were redesigned and their frequency and priority changed. Staff were properly trained to use the computer system effectively.

Result - The month end close was achieved in four days, including analysis of the results, and finance staff productivity and satisfaction soared.

Rolling planning & forecasting - Vic Forests

Problem - VicForests is a new Victorian Government business enterprise that assumed a business of the Department of Sustainability and Environment. With a seasonal business, managing their cash flow is crucial. They need to forecast business results to ensure ongoing commercial success.

Approach - Convince senior management that rolling planning and forecasting is a superior way to run the business and that traditional annual planning and budgeting is inadequate for them.

Solution - Design, with VicForests people, a quarterly forecasting process & implement it by 'holding their hands' during the first two quarters.

Result - Controlled business agility, able to respond to changing circumstances and still meet financial commitments to Government.

Shared services - Fosters Group

Problem - The share service area inherited multiple alternative processes and systems making it difficult to get synergies in operation.

Approach -Workshopped staff to understand the current processes and systems, provided best practice and developed desired end state and steps to get there.

Solution - Summarised in a simple diagram which clearly showed the current state, desired end state and implementation timing broken by quick wins, medium term and longer term requiring integrated systems.

Result - Clear and concise road map and action plan on how to integrate processes and systems to enable benefits to be derived quickly without waiting for integrated systems.

Streamlined processes - Shell Australia

Problem - Large amount of staff resources and extremely slow process to reconciling transactions relating to buy and sell transactions with other oil companies.

Approach - Streamline process and reduce workload to perform reconciliations.

Solution - Used root cause analysis to identify causes and addressed causes via workshop with staff involved in process. Purchased reconciliation tool to auto match remaining transactions.

Result - Substantial reduction of staff resources due to greatly reduced number of reconciliation items and more efficient process.

Post merger integration - Tabcorp

Problem - Two major mergers left Tabcorp with a number of different general ledger systems, taking substantial time and resources to close and produce management reporting.

Approach - Make short term process improvements until fully integrated systems could be put in, standardising and reduce workload as much as possible without standard systems.

Solution - Aligned processes including GL timetables, turned off excessive reporting and used materiality guidelines to refocus close adjustments and variance reporting on key issues.

Result - Quicker general ledger close with staff having a better understanding of end to end processes. Reduced time on close and reporting with greater focus on key things.

Finance efficiency and effectiveness - Shell Australia

Problem - Changes in staff and the business requirement had lead to some staff having disparate workloads and inappropriate skills to do work. Business had future plans to move some functions to shared service area.

Approach - Restructure the area with flexibility to move some functions easily into shared services area.

Solution - Tasks and workload matched with competencies required and staff skills. Some roles planned to disappear as some functions moved to shared services area.

Result - Staff now with the appropriate skills to do roles and operating more efficiently.