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MANAGEMENT



Financial Consolidation Management
                                                                                                                1410




For the last 20 years, organisations have invested into transformation of the entire financial consolidation
process from ERP accounting systems to financial consolidation software in order to improve the way of tackling
the challenge of Financial Close & Balance Sheet Consolidation with modern software solutions. Despite these
investments, more than 90 per cent of organisations still rely on spreadsheets to gather information from
disparate financial systems and perform variance analysis on financial statements, compiling information
from multiple sources. The requirement for transparency in financial statements is non-negotiable, and this
starts with the financial close and reporting process. Financial consolidation software solutions have certainly
improved the process, driving organisations towards a more consistent chart of accounts, and supporting
the period end processes, such as allocations and inter-company eliminations. However, when looking at the
actual activities that finance employees perform each month, it is clear that there are still significant gaps. This
article provides a realistic view of the use of technology to improve the financial close and reporting process
and achieve increased quality, accountability, auditability, efficiency and ultimately, regulatory compliance.


                                          Support for the Financial                  ideally in the fewest number of days
                                          Close                                      possible in order to release results on
                                          The      financial    closing   process    a timely basis.
                                          represents a key corporate gover-              Despite the importance of the
                                          nance process and the ultimate set of      financial close as a key corporate
                                          controls over financial results. While     governance process, the resources,
                                          transactions represent the results         or “toolbox,” that finance typically
                                          of operations, it is up to finance to      uses to execute this process is less
                                          execute control reviews and analysis       than strategic, and focused on filling
                                          processes to validate transactional        technology gaps, with the norm being:
                                          information, identify potential errors     •	 Multiple	 general	 ledgers	 and	
                                          or misstatements, and put the seal              disparate transactional systems
                                          of approval on financial results. For           with inconsistent data structures
                                          many organisations, the number of               that must be mapped to a
                                          information interfaces, period end              consistent reporting format;
                                          journal entries, validation and analysis   •	 A	lack	of	visibility	to	the	status	and	
Sanjay Mehta                              activities, and consolidation of results        execution of the closing process,
(The author is a CEO, MAIA Intelligence
                                          equates to several hundred sequential           and the related tasks and evidence
Private Limited. He can be reached at
sanjaymehta@maia_intelligence.com)        steps performed to close the books,             gathering performed by finance,



106    THE CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT      mARCH 2011
1411                                                                                         MANAGEMENT


            To date the obsession            considered as well.                              Leading	finance	users,	consistently	
            with Fast Close                       The water-fall process presented       highlight the following areas where
            velocity has been                below outlines the key phases of            automating the financial close drives
narrowly focused on the                      the financial close process at a high       value and a corresponding return on
consolidation system itself —                level. During each phase, and as a          investment (ROI).
usually located in group finance             prerequisite to moving to the next          •	 Process	 improvements	 –	 fast	
at the centre or corporate                   phase, analytic activities are performed         close, real-time reporting, shorter
headquarters. Naturally, it is               to validate the results. These manual,           planning      and      re-forecasting
highly desirable that modern                 spreadsheet-based processes are                  cycles.
consolidation software is able               ‘internal control’ reports that provide     •	 Efficiency	 –	 less	 manual	 effort	
to compute the group results                 the analysis of information required for         required     for    reporting     and
quickly. Over the years successive           assurance during the financial close.            analysis.
improvements in hardware                     This process of validating information      •	 Reliance	 –	 more	 accurate	 and	
capability together with database            with manually compiled analytics is              timely information available to
and software techniques                      time consuming, resource intensive,              more users.
help in faster collation and                 error prone and presents critical control   •	 Audit	efficiency	–	reduced	resource	
representation of data.                      implications for financial reporting,            requirements and cost of annual
     with the knowledge of these             and ultimately business decisions.               and quarterly audits.
     processes in the heads of just a        most financial consolidation systems        •	 Finance	 ownership	 –	 a	 solution	
     few employees;                          integrate information at a high level,           that is owned by finance and easy
•	 Limited	 reporting	 capabilities	 that	   automate period-end activities, such as          to use, with less reliance on IT.
     have propagated spreadsheet-            eliminations and produce summarised              Although there is no agreed
     based reports that house critical       income statements and balance sheets        definition of the ‘Fast Close’, it is
     financial results which are the         with limited analysis capabilities.         commonly deemed as the number of
     company’s “corporate records.”          Detailed analysis and reporting (both       days taken by companies to publish
     Spreadsheets are further used to        variance and management) take place         their final audited accounts following
     support multiple manipulations          outside the consolidation system.           the year end. It is, however, a broad
     of the same data over and               Analytic reporting – a key capability       brush measure that says little about the
     over to meet various reporting          on which finance professionals spend        efficiency of the underlying process. For
     requirements, with weak controls        most of their time – is missing.            example, two companies that produce
     as to accuracy, approvals, and
     tracking of recipients.
    When taking a deeper look at the
risks and opportunities within the close
process, dealing with reporting and
analysis issues is where organisations
have the best opportunity to achieve
both greater efficiency and reliability.

Optimising the Financial
Close Process
In order to optimise the financial close     Modernising the Financial                   their results thirty days after the year
process, organisations should match          Reporting Environment                       end are ranked equally, irrespective of
the key activities that drive the actual     When a strategic goal is to modernise       whether one of them uses thirty percent
close process with the technologies          the financial reporting environment, the    more finance resource than the other
that provide process support as well as      best practice is to invest in a solution    to meet the deadline.
information integration. With increased      that will meet financial consolidation          Another curiosity is that a
scrutiny of the financial close as a key     analytic     requirements,     statutory    benchmark focused exclusively on the
internal control process, providing          financial reporting, and provide the        year end, says nothing about the regular
assurance over the internal controls         information platform for performance        monthly or quarterly reporting cycles
that govern the close process must be        management and decision support.            which are the lifeblood of management



                                                                                 THE CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT      mARCH 2011     107
MANAGEMENT                                                                                                 1412




reporting, performance measurement           subsidiaries’ systems tightly into the                    The first priority
and control. Clearly, there is a need for    reporting supply chain and require little                for an organisation
more holistic approach which not only        in the way of formal IT skills are allowing              seeking to change
drives faster reporting throughout the       finance functions to exert control over       processes in order to maintain
year, but also underpins a process of        mapping tables, data transfer and             compliance is to focus on
continuous improvement.                      changes to charts of accounts so that         improving the core systems
      To date the obsession with Fast        the process of harvesting data from           that directly support financial
Close velocity has been narrowly             reporting entities becomes depend-            reporting and accuracy. This
focused on the consolidation system          able and accurate. This level of              means looking at the processes
itself — usually located in group            automation accompanied by greater             for gathering, consolidating,
finance at the centre or corporate           control and visibility across the entire      and reporting financial
headquarters. Naturally, it is highly        organisation greatly accelerates the          information results, and finding
desirable that modern consolidation          process whilst simultaneously reducing        improvements to deliver
software is able to compute the              errors.                                       the information in a more
group results quickly. Over the years             The expectation of the User Group        transparent, accurate, secure,
successive improvements in hardware          is always to have a process as simple         and timely manner.
capability together with database and        as	 the	 Approval	 Process	 depicted	         results.
software techniques help in faster           here, however to have best possible           •	 ERP Systems
collation and representation of data.        controls and efficiencies in the process,     	 Enterprise	 Resource	 Planning	
      Collecting data from subsidiaries      one need to ensure the application                (ERP)	and	general	ledger	systems	
has always been fraught with difficulty.     provides the ease and control both                are excellent for storing data and
The heterogeneous nature of many             that are managed and control by the               managing the transactions that
global businesses, reflected in their        Finance team.                                     support the business. Companies
diverse operational systems and                   The fact that statutory reporting            typically	have	an	array	of	ERP	and	
charts of account has acted as a             these days has partly metamorphosed               other financial and non-financial
significant drag on the Balance Sheet        into a marketing exercise and a means             application systems, ranging from
Consolidation (BSC) as group finance         of delivering a corporate message has             state-of-the art solutions to legacy
grapple with a multitude of different        added to the pressures.                           and proprietary data systems.
systems interfaces. Even the simplest
‘mapping’	 of	 data	 from	 local	 ERP	 to	
group systems can involve extensive
manual procedures, spreadsheets,
and batch transfers of files, introducing
the potential for serious error along
every step of the way. The scope for
mistakes is also greatly magnified by
the number of entities involved and
frequent changes in group reporting
packs, brought about by management
demands and regulatory change.
The difficulty is that once erroneous        Inefficacy of Current                         	   Unfortunately,	 ERP	 and	 general	
data enters the reporting supply             Consolidation Systems                             ledger systems are not designed to
chain, it tends to travel through the        meeting the consolidation challenge               easily integrate or consolidate data
process unchallenged, consuming              is difficult because organisations                from other sources. To produce
valuable time and resources to put           use manual, inadequate, or multiple               appropriate financial statements,
it right.                                    consolidation systems for their                   a single aggregated view across
      However, vast improvements in          financials. As a result they are unable           all transactional systems is
the management of data quality are           to structure, control, and automate               required. As well, these systems
beginning to have an impact. A new           the process for internal and external             do not provide all the necessary
generation	 of	 advanced	 ETL	 (Extract,	    reporting, and are unable to gain                 consolidation functionality. To
Transform	and	Load)	tools	which	bind	        a single, accurate view of financial              ensure that the closing process is



108    THE CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT      mARCH 2011
1413                                                                                          MANAGEMENT


            To do away with                 needed to calculate and track impor-         the current regulatory environment,
            the inefficacy of               tant functions such as inter-company         companies need a consolidation
            Current Consolidation           adjustments, business changes, and           system that streamlines processes,
Systems the use of modern                   other journal entry changes.                 ensures accuracy, and helps control
software solutions becomes                                                               costs. It is essential that the system
inevitable which would lead                 Consolidation: The                           deliver in these areas:
to improved financial close                 First Step in Sustaining                     •	 Financial	 reporting	 from	 a	 single	
and reporting process and                   Compliance                                        version of the truth. Reporting must
achievement of increased                    The first priority for an organisation            also support delivery of many styles
quality, accountability,                    seeking to change processes in order              and types of reports – for example,
auditability, efficiency                    to maintain compliance is to focus                producing reports across multiple
and ultimately, regulatory                  on improving the core systems that                GAAPs	 –	 and	 providing	 a	 line	 of	
compliance. All above may result            directly support financial reporting and          sight from management reports to
in achieving a better financial             accuracy. This means looking at the               financial statements.
consolidation management                    processes for gathering, consolidating,      •	 Future-proofing	 of	 consolidations.	
system.                                     and reporting financial information               As requirements such as IFRS enter
    timely and accurate, the system         results, and finding improvements                 the fold, systems need to be able to
    must handle all the complexities        to deliver the information in a more              handle the different consolidation
    of consolidation, such as currency      transparent, accurate, secure, and                and reporting complexities driven
    conversion and inter-company            timely manner.                                    by common accounting standards
    eliminations. What’s more, it is            The goal is to have a consolidation           and reporting.
    not flexible enough to manage           and financial reporting system that          •	 A	 single,	 centralised	 platform	 for	
    the accounting of business              helps businesses effectively manage              all processing and calculations. It
    changes such as mergers and             their financials; reduce the risk factors        is no longer appropriate to provide
    acquisitions— in a timely manner.       for errors, fraud and manipulation;              supplementary processing with
•	 Spreadsheets                             lower the cost of compliance audits;             multiple systems, spreadsheets,
    Spreadsheet systems are widely          and accelerate the closing and                   and people.
    used for accounting and financial       reporting process.                           •	 Adaptable	 to	 business	 change.	
    reporting. But multiple spread-             Reliable financial data is the back-          The current pace of business
    sheets make each person or              bone of compliance, and a robust con-             requires a new degree of agility and
    department an island of report          solidation system provides the foun-              nimbleness in finance. Companies
    information. This can lead to           dation for accountability. And this is the        need to quickly incorporate the
    duplicated effort and opens the         jumping off point for delivering greater          latest information for analysis or to
    door to inconsistent data repre-        transparency and management of                    identify scenarios for mergers and
    sentation. Spreadsheets drive un-       company performance— the broader,                 acquisitions. As organisations add
    acceptable rates of input errors—       sustainable objectives going forward.             and divest new entities, financial
    from data entry, re-keying, link-                                                         results must reflect these changes
    failures, and cut-copy-and-paste        Compliance Calls for a                            in a timely manner.
    activities. Security of spreadsheets    Better Solution
    is inherently problematic, since        Using manual and inadequate                  Conclusion
    communication of information is         consolidation      systems      creates      In conclusion, to do away with the in-
    via emails or shared drives. As well,   inefficiencies, exposes the process          efficacy of Current Consolidation Sys-
    auditing of spreadsheet content is      to errors, and increases compliance          tems the use of modern software
    virtually nonexistent, since there      costs. Such systems negatively impact        solutions becomes inevitable which
    is no systemic ability to track who     the bottom line, as businesses sacri-        would lead to improved financial close
    received what information or who        fice performance initiatives to instead      and reporting process and achieve-
    made which changes to the data.         direct time and resources toward fixing      ment of increased quality, accountabi-
    As	with	ERP	systems,	spreadsheets	      errors and reworking the numbers. This       lity, auditability, efficiency and ultimately,
also lack sophisticated consolidation       can lead to further inspections, audits,     regulatory compliance. All above may
capability. They don’t have the             and restating of financial statements,       result in achieving a better financial
necessary level of sophistication           which drive expenses even higher. In         consolidation management system.n



                                                                                 THE CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT        mARCH 2011       109

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Financial Consolidation Management

  • 1. MANAGEMENT Financial Consolidation Management 1410 For the last 20 years, organisations have invested into transformation of the entire financial consolidation process from ERP accounting systems to financial consolidation software in order to improve the way of tackling the challenge of Financial Close & Balance Sheet Consolidation with modern software solutions. Despite these investments, more than 90 per cent of organisations still rely on spreadsheets to gather information from disparate financial systems and perform variance analysis on financial statements, compiling information from multiple sources. The requirement for transparency in financial statements is non-negotiable, and this starts with the financial close and reporting process. Financial consolidation software solutions have certainly improved the process, driving organisations towards a more consistent chart of accounts, and supporting the period end processes, such as allocations and inter-company eliminations. However, when looking at the actual activities that finance employees perform each month, it is clear that there are still significant gaps. This article provides a realistic view of the use of technology to improve the financial close and reporting process and achieve increased quality, accountability, auditability, efficiency and ultimately, regulatory compliance. Support for the Financial ideally in the fewest number of days Close possible in order to release results on The financial closing process a timely basis. represents a key corporate gover- Despite the importance of the nance process and the ultimate set of financial close as a key corporate controls over financial results. While governance process, the resources, transactions represent the results or “toolbox,” that finance typically of operations, it is up to finance to uses to execute this process is less execute control reviews and analysis than strategic, and focused on filling processes to validate transactional technology gaps, with the norm being: information, identify potential errors • Multiple general ledgers and or misstatements, and put the seal disparate transactional systems of approval on financial results. For with inconsistent data structures many organisations, the number of that must be mapped to a information interfaces, period end consistent reporting format; journal entries, validation and analysis • A lack of visibility to the status and Sanjay Mehta activities, and consolidation of results execution of the closing process, (The author is a CEO, MAIA Intelligence equates to several hundred sequential and the related tasks and evidence Private Limited. He can be reached at sanjaymehta@maia_intelligence.com) steps performed to close the books, gathering performed by finance, 106 THE CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT mARCH 2011
  • 2. 1411 MANAGEMENT To date the obsession considered as well. Leading finance users, consistently with Fast Close The water-fall process presented highlight the following areas where velocity has been below outlines the key phases of automating the financial close drives narrowly focused on the the financial close process at a high value and a corresponding return on consolidation system itself — level. During each phase, and as a investment (ROI). usually located in group finance prerequisite to moving to the next • Process improvements – fast at the centre or corporate phase, analytic activities are performed close, real-time reporting, shorter headquarters. Naturally, it is to validate the results. These manual, planning and re-forecasting highly desirable that modern spreadsheet-based processes are cycles. consolidation software is able ‘internal control’ reports that provide • Efficiency – less manual effort to compute the group results the analysis of information required for required for reporting and quickly. Over the years successive assurance during the financial close. analysis. improvements in hardware This process of validating information • Reliance – more accurate and capability together with database with manually compiled analytics is timely information available to and software techniques time consuming, resource intensive, more users. help in faster collation and error prone and presents critical control • Audit efficiency – reduced resource representation of data. implications for financial reporting, requirements and cost of annual with the knowledge of these and ultimately business decisions. and quarterly audits. processes in the heads of just a most financial consolidation systems • Finance ownership – a solution few employees; integrate information at a high level, that is owned by finance and easy • Limited reporting capabilities that automate period-end activities, such as to use, with less reliance on IT. have propagated spreadsheet- eliminations and produce summarised Although there is no agreed based reports that house critical income statements and balance sheets definition of the ‘Fast Close’, it is financial results which are the with limited analysis capabilities. commonly deemed as the number of company’s “corporate records.” Detailed analysis and reporting (both days taken by companies to publish Spreadsheets are further used to variance and management) take place their final audited accounts following support multiple manipulations outside the consolidation system. the year end. It is, however, a broad of the same data over and Analytic reporting – a key capability brush measure that says little about the over to meet various reporting on which finance professionals spend efficiency of the underlying process. For requirements, with weak controls most of their time – is missing. example, two companies that produce as to accuracy, approvals, and tracking of recipients. When taking a deeper look at the risks and opportunities within the close process, dealing with reporting and analysis issues is where organisations have the best opportunity to achieve both greater efficiency and reliability. Optimising the Financial Close Process In order to optimise the financial close Modernising the Financial their results thirty days after the year process, organisations should match Reporting Environment end are ranked equally, irrespective of the key activities that drive the actual When a strategic goal is to modernise whether one of them uses thirty percent close process with the technologies the financial reporting environment, the more finance resource than the other that provide process support as well as best practice is to invest in a solution to meet the deadline. information integration. With increased that will meet financial consolidation Another curiosity is that a scrutiny of the financial close as a key analytic requirements, statutory benchmark focused exclusively on the internal control process, providing financial reporting, and provide the year end, says nothing about the regular assurance over the internal controls information platform for performance monthly or quarterly reporting cycles that govern the close process must be management and decision support. which are the lifeblood of management THE CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT mARCH 2011 107
  • 3. MANAGEMENT 1412 reporting, performance measurement subsidiaries’ systems tightly into the The first priority and control. Clearly, there is a need for reporting supply chain and require little for an organisation more holistic approach which not only in the way of formal IT skills are allowing seeking to change drives faster reporting throughout the finance functions to exert control over processes in order to maintain year, but also underpins a process of mapping tables, data transfer and compliance is to focus on continuous improvement. changes to charts of accounts so that improving the core systems To date the obsession with Fast the process of harvesting data from that directly support financial Close velocity has been narrowly reporting entities becomes depend- reporting and accuracy. This focused on the consolidation system able and accurate. This level of means looking at the processes itself — usually located in group automation accompanied by greater for gathering, consolidating, finance at the centre or corporate control and visibility across the entire and reporting financial headquarters. Naturally, it is highly organisation greatly accelerates the information results, and finding desirable that modern consolidation process whilst simultaneously reducing improvements to deliver software is able to compute the errors. the information in a more group results quickly. Over the years The expectation of the User Group transparent, accurate, secure, successive improvements in hardware is always to have a process as simple and timely manner. capability together with database and as the Approval Process depicted results. software techniques help in faster here, however to have best possible • ERP Systems collation and representation of data. controls and efficiencies in the process, Enterprise Resource Planning Collecting data from subsidiaries one need to ensure the application (ERP) and general ledger systems has always been fraught with difficulty. provides the ease and control both are excellent for storing data and The heterogeneous nature of many that are managed and control by the managing the transactions that global businesses, reflected in their Finance team. support the business. Companies diverse operational systems and The fact that statutory reporting typically have an array of ERP and charts of account has acted as a these days has partly metamorphosed other financial and non-financial significant drag on the Balance Sheet into a marketing exercise and a means application systems, ranging from Consolidation (BSC) as group finance of delivering a corporate message has state-of-the art solutions to legacy grapple with a multitude of different added to the pressures. and proprietary data systems. systems interfaces. Even the simplest ‘mapping’ of data from local ERP to group systems can involve extensive manual procedures, spreadsheets, and batch transfers of files, introducing the potential for serious error along every step of the way. The scope for mistakes is also greatly magnified by the number of entities involved and frequent changes in group reporting packs, brought about by management demands and regulatory change. The difficulty is that once erroneous Inefficacy of Current Unfortunately, ERP and general data enters the reporting supply Consolidation Systems ledger systems are not designed to chain, it tends to travel through the meeting the consolidation challenge easily integrate or consolidate data process unchallenged, consuming is difficult because organisations from other sources. To produce valuable time and resources to put use manual, inadequate, or multiple appropriate financial statements, it right. consolidation systems for their a single aggregated view across However, vast improvements in financials. As a result they are unable all transactional systems is the management of data quality are to structure, control, and automate required. As well, these systems beginning to have an impact. A new the process for internal and external do not provide all the necessary generation of advanced ETL (Extract, reporting, and are unable to gain consolidation functionality. To Transform and Load) tools which bind a single, accurate view of financial ensure that the closing process is 108 THE CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT mARCH 2011
  • 4. 1413 MANAGEMENT To do away with needed to calculate and track impor- the current regulatory environment, the inefficacy of tant functions such as inter-company companies need a consolidation Current Consolidation adjustments, business changes, and system that streamlines processes, Systems the use of modern other journal entry changes. ensures accuracy, and helps control software solutions becomes costs. It is essential that the system inevitable which would lead Consolidation: The deliver in these areas: to improved financial close First Step in Sustaining • Financial reporting from a single and reporting process and Compliance version of the truth. Reporting must achievement of increased The first priority for an organisation also support delivery of many styles quality, accountability, seeking to change processes in order and types of reports – for example, auditability, efficiency to maintain compliance is to focus producing reports across multiple and ultimately, regulatory on improving the core systems that GAAPs – and providing a line of compliance. All above may result directly support financial reporting and sight from management reports to in achieving a better financial accuracy. This means looking at the financial statements. consolidation management processes for gathering, consolidating, • Future-proofing of consolidations. system. and reporting financial information As requirements such as IFRS enter timely and accurate, the system results, and finding improvements the fold, systems need to be able to must handle all the complexities to deliver the information in a more handle the different consolidation of consolidation, such as currency transparent, accurate, secure, and and reporting complexities driven conversion and inter-company timely manner. by common accounting standards eliminations. What’s more, it is The goal is to have a consolidation and reporting. not flexible enough to manage and financial reporting system that • A single, centralised platform for the accounting of business helps businesses effectively manage all processing and calculations. It changes such as mergers and their financials; reduce the risk factors is no longer appropriate to provide acquisitions— in a timely manner. for errors, fraud and manipulation; supplementary processing with • Spreadsheets lower the cost of compliance audits; multiple systems, spreadsheets, Spreadsheet systems are widely and accelerate the closing and and people. used for accounting and financial reporting process. • Adaptable to business change. reporting. But multiple spread- Reliable financial data is the back- The current pace of business sheets make each person or bone of compliance, and a robust con- requires a new degree of agility and department an island of report solidation system provides the foun- nimbleness in finance. Companies information. This can lead to dation for accountability. And this is the need to quickly incorporate the duplicated effort and opens the jumping off point for delivering greater latest information for analysis or to door to inconsistent data repre- transparency and management of identify scenarios for mergers and sentation. Spreadsheets drive un- company performance— the broader, acquisitions. As organisations add acceptable rates of input errors— sustainable objectives going forward. and divest new entities, financial from data entry, re-keying, link- results must reflect these changes failures, and cut-copy-and-paste Compliance Calls for a in a timely manner. activities. Security of spreadsheets Better Solution is inherently problematic, since Using manual and inadequate Conclusion communication of information is consolidation systems creates In conclusion, to do away with the in- via emails or shared drives. As well, inefficiencies, exposes the process efficacy of Current Consolidation Sys- auditing of spreadsheet content is to errors, and increases compliance tems the use of modern software virtually nonexistent, since there costs. Such systems negatively impact solutions becomes inevitable which is no systemic ability to track who the bottom line, as businesses sacri- would lead to improved financial close received what information or who fice performance initiatives to instead and reporting process and achieve- made which changes to the data. direct time and resources toward fixing ment of increased quality, accountabi- As with ERP systems, spreadsheets errors and reworking the numbers. This lity, auditability, efficiency and ultimately, also lack sophisticated consolidation can lead to further inspections, audits, regulatory compliance. All above may capability. They don’t have the and restating of financial statements, result in achieving a better financial necessary level of sophistication which drive expenses even higher. In consolidation management system.n THE CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT mARCH 2011 109