If the speed and accuracy of an organization’s financial close say a lot about its efficiency, what is your company’s closing process saying about yours? What if you could shave days off your close? Today, people in companies just like yours are asking themselves these questions, improving their processes and technology, and running their businesses better. To learn more about SAP’s end-to-end financial solutions, visit the SAP Finance Leadership Center. http://spr.ly/financialclose

1. Make Time for Analysis If the speed and accuracy of an organization’s financial close say a lot about its
efficiency, what is your company’s closing process saying about yours?
by Accelerating What if you could shave days off your close? What could you do instead?
Your Close
Could you focus on more strategic efforts? Could you help make better
decisions? Today, people in companies just like yours are asking themselves
these questions, improving their processes and technology, and running their
businesses better. What are you doing?
Is your company’s financial close faster Do you think you could close faster?
or slower than it was five years ago?
M T W TH F Preferred Close
On average, companies 4.7 days
2012 8 days today take a half-day
longer to close than they
Most companies
2007 7.5 days did in 2007.
believe they should be
Current Close closing more quickly
7.2 days than they are now.
Why is it so important to close faster? How much time do you
spend on analysis now?
Have more time for analysis Get management information
and auditing before publishing out as fast as possible
financial statements
44% 13% 23%
Less than a quarter of a financial
analyst’s time is spent providing
Reduce the time and money Get financial information out value-added analysis to
spent on the closing process as soon as possible the business
31% 13%
So, what’s the first step to
What’s getting in your way? achieving a faster close?
Make closing an explicit objective:
Companies closing more slowly than five years ago cite:
Companies that establish a clear
program and get management
commitment to shorten their closing
process accomplish their goal
77% of the time.
40% 35% 20% Companies that don’t have a program in place for
More internal The need to capture and The need to check for speeding up their close succeed in doing so only
levels of review consolidate more detail errors more carefully
15% of the time.
How can you close faster and increase satisfaction with the close?
Among companies
43%
use automated
that complete their processes On average, companies Companies that use dedicated
monthly close in less with a high degree of consolidation software applications
than 4 days: automation in their or ERP systems to manage their
closing process can close are more than twice as likely
complete their to be satisfied than those primarily
27% automated >3
use some
quarterly close using desktop spreadsheets.
processes more than three
days days earlier than
those with little or Consolidation ERP Desktop
16%
use little or no Software Systems Spreadsheets
automation no automation. or vs.
78% 71% 32%
To learn more about SAP’s end-to-end financial Sources
solutions, visit the SAP Finance Leadership Center. Ventana Research Trends in Fast Clean Close Benchmark Research, 2012
http://www.sap.com/financialclose APQC, research presentation, Financial Management: The Quest for Excellence, 2012
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