Financial Risk

Many organizations continue to experience longer-than-necessary close cycles, inadequate analysis of results, duplication of efforts and overall process inefficiencies. With growing financial reporting requirements on the horizon (e.g., IFRS and XBRL), many organizations are now looking to drive greater efficiency and effectiveness into their financial close process. The challenge they are facing is how to undertake that effort in a manner that minimizes disruption and leverages information technology.
SafePaaS can help you implement a disciplined financial close process to mitigate the risk exposure related to the quality and timeliness of financial reporting.

We can assess current processes including the overall rollups and accountabilities.

For example, we can start by understanding the following:

Do business units, individual locations and shared service centers need their own checklists?
Is there value in consolidating checklists for all entities, locations and divisions into one master checklist?

Once we understand the tiers and level of detail required for the close checklist, the next step is to design and implement a streamlined tasks management system. To produce effective reporting, the task management system should be simple, but include relevant data for each activity type (e.g., preparation, review, analysis, etc.).

Benefits to be considered in developing a business case:

• Management can establish a consistent activity-based process that reports on progress and challenges
• Executives can monitor the close process on a daily basis using dashboard reporting metrics
• The process and documentation can be used to establish a strong foundation for Section 302 certification, and inclusion of key review activities promotes a clear testing plan for Section 404 related requirements
• Information obtained from the tracking of historical performance can be used to assess opportunities for improvement in efficiency to meet SEC filing deadlines
• Transparency of the audit trail and ability to identify focus areas to improve overall productivity