Record-to-Report (R2R) can cover a wide range of internally-focused accounting processes connected with the recording of transactions to comply with financial, legal, and tax requirements, with outputs including performance reporting, plus management, legal, tax, and treasury reporting.  Unlike other common end-to-end processes including Purchase-to-Pay, Hire-to-Retire, and Order-to-Cash, the associated work processes are insular to the […]

For a large number of companies, Intercompany Accounting processes have improved dramatically over the past decade, with the introduction of large-scale accounting systems capable of booking all sides of a transaction for business units with the same legal entity, in multiple currencies, with highly-automated processes for any remaining Intercompany Accounting transactions required for legal and […]

While it has been well over a decade since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was put into law, the ability of companies to ensure their compliance in an efficient and effective manner can still be a challenge.  As is the case with many challenging activities and processes, a significant opportunity exists for Shared Services to […]

How your company sets capitalization thresholds for fixed assets has a significant impact on how large your Fixed Asset department needs to be.  When you consider the volume of purchases, typically as the dollar amount increases the number of transactions drops dramatically.  However, increasing the threshold, while it might be supported based on reasonable materiality […]

Even with the proliferation of ERP systems in recent years, the accounting close continues to be a major resource drain for most companies.  To streamline this critical process, many companies have adopted the use of a variety of third-party tools that are now available in the marketplace that are designed to seamlessly interface with the […]

The use of automated account reconciliation software, such as Blackline Account Reconciliations, Chesapeake’s T-Recs Enterprise, and Trintech’s Certification (formerly AssureNET), among others, are becoming more prevalent at companies across the globe.  With this growing popularity, it is likely that most major corporations will be using one of these solutions in the next few years, which […]

As a service organization, Shared Services’ accountabilities are delivering value (balancing cost and service levels) and identifying ways of further leveraging the Shared Services operating model.  The broader objective is to gain efficiencies beyond consolidation through a methodology of continuous improvement that results in more efficient and standardized processes, with much of the activity automated […]

Background A key component of a Peeriosity membership is the ability to benchmark quantitative performance in eight key process areas, and the ability to see differences in structure and design for 28 different business processes that are often candidates for Shared Services. This research abstract looks at the composite results of the structure and design […]

There is no debate that developing accurate accruals is a key tenet of an effective period-end closing process.  However, this is one aspect of the close that has become quite unwieldy at a significant number of companies and, in some cases, has taken on a life of its own.  Whether related to accrual thresholds that […]

It’s common for Finance & Accounting leaders to be asked “How many days does it take your company to carry out the monthly close?” However, the follow-up question not typically asked is “How painful actually is your closing process?”  The financial close continues to be one of the most critical and time-consuming efforts for the […]