A company with multiple legal entities needs to consolidate its accounting data to produce consolidated reporting. This allows the company to analyze the performance of the group as a whole, and also to compare the performance of its entities with one another. Thierry Guelfi, Group CFO, HR & Legal at Peers Group, uses EMASPHERE to consolidate his financial data. He explains:
We have many entities in France and abroad. In EMASPHERE, a single click gives us either a consolidated group view or a specific view of one particular subsidiary.
Digitalization means a tenfold increase in data volume, but also a growing number of data sources.
How many software applications does your company use? A few seconds of thought are enough to realize there are a lot. Our customers typically count at least 3 different ones:
This growing mass of data offers great opportunities for analysis, but it is also a challenge. The key for organizations is to figure out how to capitalize on this data. In this context, consolidating data in a centralized performance analysis software such as EMASPHERE makes perfect sense. Here is what Serge Gregoir, CEO of the Eutraco group and an EMASPHERE user, has to say:
Today, we generate more and more data and, with business intelligence in mind, we naturally want to integrate it further into our business model. Without reliable reporting, it is difficult to make consistent choices and take the strategic decisions needed in time to maintain our levels of performance and profitability.
Once data from multiple sources is consolidated, new perspectives open up: cross-analysis. For example, you can cross-reference financial data with non-financial data from your CRM to analyze average revenue per customer. Damien Ruiz, finance manager at our customer Coffreo, saw this for himself, as he shared in his testimonial:
We can now focus our efforts where we have the best ROI opportunity. We rely on a mix of sales and financial data to guide our actions.
In many companies, data is siloed, scattered across different software applications. Departmental practices reinforce this. It is common to see a department use its own software, which further increases the fragmentation of the organization's data.
This fragmentation compartmentalizes analysis. In this setup, each data source is analyzed in a different way, by a different person, on a different platform.
As a result, data visualization is limited. There is no single platform where all the data can be viewed in a consistent and comprehensive way (that is, including all of the company's data).
Consequently, a lack of data consolidation deprives you of a global view of your company's performance.
Today, many companies still consolidate their data manually. To do so, they rely on spreadsheets, formulas and macros that are complex to build and maintain.
Yet according to an academic study, nearly 9 out of 10 Excel files contain errors. The source of these potential errors is easy to identify: manual data reprocessing and the repetitive tasks that come with it.
Using Excel does not just expose you to the risk of errors… It also means wasted time. Maxime Herbays, CFO of Be Burger, comments on this:
Every month, we have to produce consolidated reporting, which used to take (...) almost 3 days of work [in Excel]. We had to pull a trial balance, review it, make sure everything had been entered correctly, make the necessary corrections and finally consolidate everything.
In short, management consolidation in Excel can quickly turn into a nightmare. Our customers mention this frequently. It is often one of the triggers of their interest in solutions such as EMASPHERE. Thierry Guelfi, Group CFO, HR & Legal at Peers Group, shared his view on the matter:
Excel is not the best tool for consolidated reporting. EMASPHERE saves me a lot of time today when producing my reports. As soon as I make a change in my accounting, it shows up in my EMASPHERE reporting in just a few clicks, without having to run an extract or manipulate data.
EMASPHERE saves up to 67% of the time spent producing consolidated reporting.
Which criteria should you keep in mind when choosing a consolidated reporting solution? Here is our checklist.
Make sure you choose a consolidated reporting tool that is compatible with the software your company uses:
- accounting software;
- ERP;
- HRIS;
- CRM;
- …
If your company has several legal entities, managing multiple charts of accounts must also be taken into account. Your reporting platform must be able to handle these different charts so you can produce consolidated reporting.
Intercompany management is another fundamental for companies made up of several legal entities.
To speed up this repetitive process, choose a solution that, like EMASPHERE, offers these three features:
Thierry Guelfi (Group CFO, HR & Legal at Peers Group) sums up how easy it is to access intercompany data:
[EMASPHERE lets us] separate out intercompany transactions, so for each entity we have a separate line for flows between companies.
80% of the recurring questions your team asks about finance could be avoided if you gave them the right level of information through your consolidated reporting. (Source: Thierry Guelfi, Group CFO, HR & Legal at Peers Group).
To save this precious time too, check that the features of your consolidated reporting tool match the needs of the people who consult your reports.
As mentioned earlier in this article, cross-referencing data from different software applications is a powerful ally for your business performance analysis.
So look closely at how the consolidated reporting software lets you cross-reference the different types of data from your applications.
Leave tedious management reporting behind: equip yourself with a consolidated reporting solution tailored to your needs.
Our business experts, drawing on our experience with 10,000+ customer companies, support you throughout your project.
You deserve data that is accessible, clear and actionable!
Request your demo and discover efficient consolidated reporting with EMASPHERE.