Reconciliation process improvement and automation

Project overview and objectives

A global retailer engaged our team to help automate and improve their reconciliation process through BlackLine. Not only did they have unstandardized, extensive, manual close processes spanning 5 SAP instances, multiple chart of accounts (CoA), and two shared services centers (SSC)—but they were also undergoing a major transformation as they prepped for consolidation into one CoA and SAP S4 HANA.

What we did

First things first, we performed a thorough assessment of current state, aligned on key project goals, and sought stakeholder buy-in. Once we had everyone on the same page, we:

• Optimized, standardized, and automated critical record-to-report workstreams in different global regions​
• Provided guidance on leading practices for standardizing policies and practices across two SSCs
• Increased efficiency with an automated system integration of the General Ledger, AP, AR, and AA Subledgers
• Integrated feeds from a Treasury Management System to enable auto-certification rules

Impact

Here’s just a few of the things we accomplished:

• Significant time savings when performing account reconciliations, accelerating the overall financial close cycle​
• Automation of over 40% of reconciliations, providing clear visibility into end-to-end process performance​
• Increased awareness of gaps in the current financial close process that paved way for data improvement opportunities across 5 SAP instances

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