When we talk about shared service centres, one would think of an “accounting factory floor”-numerous accounting staff working on accounts payables, receivables and general ledger transactions for multiple countries in a structured and orderly fashion.

We have discussed hosting such a function for a few prospective clients but the common conclusion is that unless there are sufficient economies of scale, there is no business case for our prospective clients or us. Yet, we have found a niche whereby one of our clients is operating a lean organization and requires a solution that neither justifies a full time hire nor setting up of a shared service centre.

A regional player in internet-powered entertainment content provider has accounting teams in 7 countries across South and South East Asia. The client needs to report its consolidated monthly results to its headquarters in North America.

The challenge is that there are 7 sets of financial statements in 7 different currencies, inconsistent chart of accounts, reconciliation of inter-company balances and a tight monthly reporting deadline. The client’s regional controller requires a dedicated full time equivalent for only a week every month hence balancing the resource required to deliver HQ requirements and benefit obtained is a challenge.

We listened and provide a service package. We allocated a person to collect the reports, synchronize the chart of accounts, reconcile inter-company accounts and consolidate the profit and loss accounts and balance sheet. With proper preparatory work, simple use of email platforms and Microsoft applications, we delivered the consolidated accounts on a timely basis. The regional controller used to get distracted compiling the consolidated package herself can now tend to other pressing and critical tasks.