Implementation of a New Accounting System

Problem Identified

The business was an international Property Company with a £125 million mixed-use commercial property portfolio and a £180 million residential project under development in the UK. They had identified a need to improve the quality and timeliness of reporting of the company’s financial performance to its overseas Head Office. As the UK Division had a number of subsidiaries and joint ventures with different accounting systems in place this resulted in delays and unnecessary complexity in extracting the information required.

Solution Proposed

The solution proposed was to introduce a new accounting system across the entire UK Group. This process required choosing the appropriate accounting software before undertaking a detailed ‘line by line’ identification of each company’s revenue and cost drivers such that a single chart of accounts could be created to enable each subsidiary to report off the same accounting platform.  Historic accounting records were then migrated across from the old systems of each subsidiary so that the group retained continuity of financial information in its new system. In addition new reporting formats were created and designed to enable the managing director to full understand how each subsidiary within the group was performing.

Outcome

The new system eliminated the complexity in pulling together the financial information required each month and lead to a substantial reduction in the time and fees charged by the company’s firm of accountants. It also improved the quality of financial reporting delivered to the UK managing director and enabled the UK Division to deliver ‘flash reports’ to Head Office 5 working days before the month end and management accounts to be reported 3 working days following month end.