Financial Consolidations

Executive View

Top Level Objectives

The current recession and financial crisis is driving an increase in regulation. Similarly, recent corporate and financial scandals have resulted in an increase in compliance requirements. Add these factors to the ever present need to report financial performance in a timely fashion and it is no wonder that the need for financial consolidation solutions has never been greater.

Rolta’s financial consolidation solutions provide the means of producing auditable financial statements quickly and accurately. The solution addresses the issues of data collection, standardization and consolidation. Whether a single entity or a complex corporate conglomeration the Rolta financial solution delivers and expedites the financial close process to produce pristine consolidated financials.

Solution - Innovation

Faith in the financial results is the backbone of any performance management system. It is especially essential for financial consolidation systems where company executives are held responsible for the financial results. Rolta’s financial consolidations solutions establish the foundation from which auditable financial statements are produced. The ability to produce these results quickly allows executives to communicate financial results confidently while at the same time reducing the risk reporting anomalies.

Financial consolidations are becoming more complex as organizations deal with mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, partnerships, SOX, IFRS, domestic and foreign regulations, multiple financial systems and many other consolidation challenges. Through the use of Rolta’s rapid implementation methodology consisting of project accelerators, we are able to establish financial consolidation solutions at a fraction of the cost and duration without sacrificing functionality.

Advantage - Insight

In addition to producing legal financial results and satisfying regulatory reporting, financial consolidation systems have evolved into a key component of an enterprise performance management platform. These solutions are the foundation for financial reporting and analysis. Rolta’s solutions strike a balance between satisfying the needs of external regulators and internal management in a way that doesn’t compromise system integrity. The results are evident in an information rich platform that provides financial transparency to the organization.

Benefit - Impact

The financial consolidation solution often is established as the primary financial reporting solution of an organization. In doing so, it provides the reference for reporting and analysis throughout the organization. In other words, the results produced in this system are established as the “one version of the truth” in financial reporting. Therefore, it becomes the basis to guide other reporting and analysis. Having these financial reports quickly allows the organization to spend more effort on analysis that supports both operational and strategic management.

Management View

Business Objectives

The task of producing financial results that can satisfy both external regulators and internal management has never been more complex. Companies today face many challenges such as mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, partnerships, SOX, IFRS, domestic and foreign regulations that add complexities to the financial consolidation process. Add to this the common occurrence of having numerous general ledger systems of varying maturities, technologies and data structures from which to gather financial data and it’s no wonder that the financial close process has become challenging.

Satisfying the financial close process which produces auditable financial statements and information is a fundamental requirement of every business. The controller’s office is under pressure from executive management, government regulators, stakeholders and industry analysts to provide these results regularly and quickly. Rolta’s solution delivers a solution by which these goals are achieved quickly and with the data integrity that promotes confidence in the numbers.

Rolta’s solution is built on solid principles of audit ability and business modeling. A must have for any consolidation system is the ability of the data to stand up to rigorous scrutiny. This is established by systematically collecting the data from the general ledgers and other source systems in a way that guarantees accuracy. The business model is also established in the solution. That is, all processing is modeled and established in the centralized system. Whether it is currency conversions, intercompany eliminations, ownership and partnership considerations, key metric calculations or other business rules, the processing and calculations are performed in the system where adherence to policy can be guaranteed. Employing these concepts make disagreements over data based upon spreadsheet manipulations a thing of the past.

Solution

Rolta’s Financial Consolidation solutions provide key consolidation functionality as well as adding value to internal company management through reporting and analysis. Key consolidation functionality can include currency conversions, intercompany eliminations, ownership, partnership and joint venture considerations and other needs required to satisfy regulator and filing requirements. Internally, management is provided with the ability to perform rich financial reporting and analysis in a way that supports the management of the organization.

Rolta’s methodology and expertise ensure an appropriate balance and placement of the consolidation system within the organization’s Enterprise Performance Management strategy. The experience and expertise brought by our consultants ensures a solution is delivered that maximizes the value and capabilities in the form of providing insight to the business without jeopardizing the organizations ability to close the books quickly and satisfy regulators.

Approach

Through years of experience and successful implementations, Rolta has developed a unique methodology for implementing enterprise performance management solutions. This methodology, named HyJump, employs accelerator tools combined with a battle tested project management approach to expedite the implementation.

Business Value

The Rolta financial consolidation solution delivers a centralized system for exceptional financial reporting, analysis and accuracy. Establishing this solution provides an organization with confidence in its financial data that can be used in a variety of ways to add value to the business. This value is based on the system being the cornerstone for all financial data to support performance management and decision making.

Technical View

Technical Issues

Traditionally many organizations use either manual methods in spreadsheets or dated consolidation technology.

Spreadsheet based systems and dated technologies are deficient for financial consolidations in several areas. Speed of consolidations, accuracy of data, integrity and faith in the results, flexibility to change, risk of human error, deployment to a wide audience and scalability are all challenges that require modern consolidation technologies. In addition, the demands required by SOX and other compliance programs require a great deal of integrity in the process, system and data. Without a financial consolidation solution, these requirements are very difficult to meet.

The Rolta solution addresses these requirements though the combination of business processes and technology. The technical solution that establishes the platform for financial consolidations contains the benefits of a secure centralized system. Benefits include automation of data extraction, transformation and loading routines, data validation processes, centrally defined business rules and calculations, robust security capable of handling complex data sensitivity needs, scalability and deploy ability to an enterprise audience, user friendly interfaces and self serve reporting and analysis capabilities.

Solution Components

Rolta financial consolidation solutions are delivered through packaged software applications. These multi-tier solutions are designed to handle anything from small and mid-size organizations to large enterprise class deployments consisting of hundreds of users. The major components consist of the ETL function, database layer, application layer and web layer that provides for easy access for reporting and ad hoc analysis.

Implementation

Through years of experience and successful implementations, Rolta has developed a unique methodology of implementing enterprise performance management solutions. This methodology, named HyJump, employs accelerator tools combined with a battle tested project management approach to expedite the implementation.

How Does it Fit and Why is it Different?

Most organizations today are realizing the need to move to a modern technology for financial consolidations. Simply put, the demands placed on this function cannot be met with spreadsheet technology. A financial consolidation solution from Rolta uses the technology components to address needs of automation, integrity, audit ability, enterprise deployment, scalability and speed.