COST & PERFORMANCE TRANSPARENCY FOR FINANCE SHARED SERVICES ORGANIZATIONS

Self-image, structures and service portfolios of finance and controlling departments are undergoing deep changes in many big and medium-sized companies. Responsibilities which were traditionally assigned to accounting are increasingly being re-integrated into the other departments. Strategic aspects in particular are getting more attention - for example, the provision of consistent real-time data relevant to the management of the company or the planning of long-term cost management.

Because of the pressure to lower costs and increase efficiency, three quarters of all companies are today considering the implementation of a Finance Shared Services Center. These are intended to standardize processes, achieve benefits of scale through higher transaction volumes and to ultimately save costs.

However, the value contribution of the financial department to the company’s success is not simply a consolidation of services. A permanent cost optimization can only be achieved when all services are aligned with the requirements of the customers and when they visibly contribute both on a management as well as department level to an optimization of business processes.

Transparent Finance Services with CATENIC Anafee™

CATENIC specializes in business critical requirements of IT and Shared Services organizations. Anafee™ is the most powerful solution available today for efficient controlling of costs and value added in the area of finances on the basis of a “classic” costing methodology.

Comprehensive Analysis of Cost Drivers

• Determination of all actually provided services in the area of finances through a comprehensive analysis of financial data and cost types
• Evaluation of turnover, costs and consumption rates of finance services based on functional, technical and organizational criteria
• Identification of inefficient processes through the reporting of all costs and services from the perspective of the business process
• Carrying out of flexible target-performance comparisons for freely definable periods on the basis of “Info Cubes”

Transparent Calculation - Usage-Based Accounting

• Definition of a fully standardized finance services catalog based on individual business requirements and processes
• Calculation of service costs taking into account both direct costs and overhead (cost unit accounting), calculation and reporting of internal transfer prices
• Charging of all process-related service costs on the basis of the costs-by-cause principle by using Anafee together with the ERP system (e.g. SAP).

Accurate Planning & Reporting

• Create ad hoc-reports, such as accounting analyses, cost types/cost centre analyses, time series or variance analyses, etc. with a fully web-based tool
• Flexibly generate reports and charts such as service accounts, management overviews and cost trends and automatically distribute them
• Web-based decentralized planning of service quantities and forecast of costs for future service demands
• Create and manage multiple planning scenarios to simulate future business developments or for benchmarking purposes

Implementing CATENIC Anafee™ - start easily, extend flexibly

Anafee is not only a flexible and easy-to-use standard software, but also a comprehensive integrated solution from a single source. In addition to the individual configuration and integration of the software into your system environment, CATENIC offers comprehensive consulting services and numerous “best practice templates” for the swift implementation of transparent controlling structures in your company.

The financial data from the ERP system (usually SAP) are imported as the basis for the calculation into Anafee and after the calculation, transmitted back to the leading accounting system in a suitable format. The necessary consumption and resource information can be consolidated from virtually any type of structured data source. Furthermore, a certified interface to the SAP NetWeaver™ platform enables a transaction-oriented accounting of SAP applications. The open architecture of Anafee, pre-defined designs for standardized service catalogues as well as the know-how of CATENIC are the key for extremely quick project implementations and enable you to start using the solution almost immediately.

After only a few days of “on-the-job” training, key users are able to operate, administrate and improve the system on their own. In general, Anafee requires less than an hour per month for internal system maintenance.

A Greater Scope of Possibilities because of Transparent Financial Controlling

Active Control of Services

All IT services are aligned with the requirements of your internal and external customers, transparently calculated and charged according to actual use. The tight tracking of the consumption rates and their costs provides a reliable basis for planning of future service investments and enables a transparent cost management of all transactional and non-transactional services.

Cost-Effective Service Performance

You provide precise, consistent and relevant information for decision makers in real time. You report in a condensed and comprehensible form in the “jargon” of your customers. Inefficient processes and undesirable cost drivers can be identified and eliminated through a dialog with company management and other departments. You improve services and raise user awareness of the cost of finance and controlling services through the strong focus on the customer.

Higher Productivity

The process costs for planning, calculation, accounting and reporting in the Finance Shared Services Center are significantly reduced. Expensive manual efforts for pulling together financial and consumption data are avoided. Service capacities can be adapted flexibly to changing consumption rates. You expand your scope for active, focussed control of your service portfolio and you increase the effectiveness of your entire service organization.

Strategic Integration

Demonstrate the value proposition of your Finance Shared Services organization for every single business process as well as with regard to the overall financial success of the company. You show your competitive strength in comparison to external service providers, create a strategic “sourcing option” for future investment decisions and achieve greater flexibility of business decisions.

Standardized Service Processes

You support the achievement of strategic company objectives through effective governance and corresponding metrics, such as process performance and financial performance. This standardization also enables you to establish unified international accounting, and to manage controlling and corporate performance management throughout the corporate group.

Legal Compliance

Your entire service organization is aligned to comply with the requirements of international rules for finance (e.g. IAS /IFRS, BilMoG) and the German guidelines for long-term archiving and auditability (GDPdU). Anafee also supports the legal documentation requirements regarding corporate transfer pricing to group divisions at home and abroad (e.g. the German AO §§90(3), 162(3,4). A stringent authorization and role concept for the user administration in combination with a complete and detailed log ensures sustainable auditability.