Hello there, Ann Karblom, Senior Business Consultant and Cristina Stomberg, Senior Consultant at Implema – you’ve developed a new service, “Fast Financial Closing”, what’s the background to this?
At Implema, we continuously develop services to maximize the value of our customers’ business systems. At the same time, we’ve seen that many companies spend unnecessarily much time and energy on monthly financial closings. This, in turn, leads to both a high workload and a lot of stress – month after month. Against this background, we want to help our customers identify bottlenecks and optimize their closing process. That’s why we developed Fast Financial Closing.
Being ready by day 5 of a new month is entirely possible for most companies! It can free up to 8-10 days per month – time that can be used for more value-creating work, especially in accounting and analysis.
So what exactly is Fast Financial Closing?
Fast Financial Closing is about making the closing work more efficient and of higher quality by simply using functions that already exist in Dynamics and in SAP, the business systems that Implema works with.
The idea is to streamline the company’s closing processes with the goal of setting these up in a checklist directly in the business system. Full support for a fast closing is available today in Dynamics Financial Period Close Workspace and in SAP Financial Consolidation.
We start with a review of the entire closing process. What are the parts and dependencies that create delays? What system support is there to minimize these and make it easier for users? Here we guide the customer step by step in the analysis and improvement work, to what ultimately becomes a checklist and workspace in the system. The checklist provides full overview and control of all activities in all companies, across areas, responsibilities, and roles. Here you can quickly see status in real-time.
After we have done the basic setup in the system together, the customer can manage and further develop the list on their own. We also present suggestions for additional opportunities for efficiency improvements and automation in the system.
Besides Saving Time, What other Benefits Does Fast Financial Closing Have for the Organization?
There are several benefits, not least in employee satisfaction. It leads to less stress and a lower peak workload. With clear tasks and responsibilities, one person can be responsible for an area and develop in their role. It also enables skill exchange and reduces vulnerability.
Does this Suit all Companies or is it more Suitable for a Certain Type of Company?
It suits anyone who has ever thought that “this should be possible to do more smoothly and quickly”. Reviewing and questioning routines and processes is healthy for a business; it’s easy to get stuck in “this is how we’ve always done it” and not dare to challenge, for example, deadlines.
So, to answer the question, yes, it suits all companies, but the more complex the closing, the greater the effect. Even simple closings that take a long time with few people can become more efficient and controlled with the service.
What should one Do if They Want to Know more about Fast Financial Closing?
Feel free to contact either of us or your regular contact at Implema, and we’ll tell you more. cristina.stomberg@implema.se, ann.karblom@implema.se
