Project Story: Organize, Modernize And Digitalize Controlling Processes

HANSE Consulting creates efficient controlling processes and frees up resources

The initial situation

The esteemed and dedicated head of accounting for a group of companies in metal manufacturing, with the company since the beginning of her training, was promoted to head of accounting & controlling. Her range of duties was expanded. The filling of planned positions in the newly created controlling team was hesitant, and at the same time a change in shareholders took place. In addition to a wave of ad hoc inquiries from the new parent company, this brought with it the introduction of cash pooling and numerous new internal and external reporting and controlling requirements.

And quite incidentally…

• there was still the subsidiary that had only recently become part of the Group, whose accounting processes and systems were not yet fully integrated
• the tasks of the accounting management continued to exist to an undiminished extent. However, the handover / redistribution of tasks within the accounting department was not to take place until an employee had returned from parental leave.
• in addition, the only key user of the Lucanet reporting and consolidation software was absent for a long period due to illness
• the planning process was also about to start, which was to be converted into a rolling forecast process at the request of the new shareholders – oh yes, according to IFRS, not according to HGB as before. How could this be possible with the patchwork of partial plans and largely manual transfer to the planning tool?
• In the meantime, the economic development of the group of companies was anything but according to plan and led to a further increase in the number of ad hoc queries and emergency meetings.

delays and the absence of important controlling results threatened.

The solution: A controlling expert from Hanse Consulting lends a hand and provides a clear overview

The new shareholder quickly recognized the bottleneck. Contrary to the skepticism of the controlling manager, a HANSE expert was assigned to provide “controlling support”. The initial skepticism of the controlling team was quickly dispelled by his practical experience and shirt-sleeved manner.

An inventory was followed by the development of a target structure together in the team, the “commercial roadmap”, in which all task areas (“modules”) of the Finance/Controlling department were defined.

The Controlling Organization module quickly proved to be crucial in structuring the tasks ahead:

• Was the area organized according to the requirements?
• What role should controlling assume – data analyst vs. sparring partner, centralized vs. decentralized controlling?
• Which competencies and capacities were already available in the team, which ones had to be created if necessary?

Submodules” were assigned to the modules, which in turn were assigned concrete measures with information on prioritization, capacity requirements and responsibility. The structure created transparency and facilitated the prioritization of day-to-day and “special” tasks. The achievement of objectives was ensured by the installation of a steering committee, in which status reports on the respective modules were made at regular intervals.

During the implementation and realization of the new organization and processes, the HANSE expert provided active support in the Integrated Planning and Reporting modules. He moderated the planning and project meetings, which were also demanding due to the new shareholders, and coached the Head of Controlling.

Conclusion

With the support of the controlling experts from HANSE Consulting, the controlling processes and the department were successfully reorganized. The new requirements of the shareholder were thus also met. The implementation of the new technical requirements (including the conversion to IFRS) was also successful due to their many years of practical experience. Furthermore, additional qualifications such as the training at CA controller akademie as well as the profound experience with Lucanet and other reporting and consolidation tools helped.

Thanks to the intensive cooperation and professional coaching of the Head of Accounting & Controlling, she can now confidently and successfully manage the company’s controlling.

We would be happy to support you in reviewing and improving your company processes – as illustrated here using the example of the Controlling department – and also create the prerequisites for their digitalization.

Please contact one of our experts for a non-binding appointment.
Dr. Armin Bratz - Birgit Opitz

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