Building a Shared Service Finance Function: People, Process, & Technology
The Situation
A private equity sponsor recently invested in an $100M+ business services company in the property insurance sector. The Company was comprised of 5 Business Units (BU) across the US and Canada with each company operating independently with limited back-office integration. Accordion was engaged to design and implement a scalable shared service finance and accounting function to provide synergies and facilitate growth. Our work included designing F&A processes, a corresponding organization model including key roles and responsibilities, and facilitating the selection of an ERP. We developed key business requirements, facilitated an end-to-end vendor selection process, and drafted a go-forward implementation and rollout plan. Accordion also provided implementation PMO assistance throughout both the ERP implementation and shared service rollout to the business units.
Services
Finance Function Assessment & Design
Process Redesign & Implementation
ERP/Financial System Execution
Implementation Project Management & Oversight
The Execution
Future State Design
- Interviewed finance leads at each BU to assess current state business processes (financial & operational), pain points, and confirm future-state business model and design.
- Documented critical requirements for Lead-to-Cash, Procure-to-Pay, Hire-to-Retire, and Record-to-Report processes.
- Created process flows, integration requirements, and BU comparisons to assess where system and operational nuances needed to be considered.
- Developed future-state process design and system architecture along with overall technology stack to support key finance, accounting, and operations functions.
- Identified and detailed finance function improvement initiatives, along with milestones and roadmap, within the broader value creation plan. Key initiatives included key hirings, finance function centralization, OTC optimization, new COA design, and others.
Fast-track ERP Vendor Selection and Implementation Planning
- Developed and shared RFP with select ERP vendors.
- Developed ERP system demonstration agendas and instructions requesting live demos of certain use-cases to prove functionality.
- Coordinated targeted demonstrations with vendors and liaised to answer subsequent questions and field for the Company.
- Developed scorecard for evaluating vendor presentations.
- Recommended selection of Oracle NetSuite as the ERP.
- Assisted in vendor negotiations including pricing and T&C’s development.
- Drafted go-forward plan for NetSuite implementation, related timelines, and milestones with implementation vendor.
- Prepared onboarding materials and assisted in on-boarding of selected NetSuite implementation partner.
Empowering CFOs to Drive Enterprise Transformation
Learn how Accordion empowers CFO-driven transformation, from digitization initiatives to modernizing finance processes to leveraging data, analytics, and insights.
The Results
Accordion’s Transformation team helped the Company realize synergies through development of a shared service finance and accounting function to serve all business units and serve as a platform for future acquisitions. With our assistance, the Company conducted a fast-track ERP vendor selection and planning in order to promptly launch their NetSuite implementation along with other function centralization initiatives.
