Developing Future-Oriented Reporting in a Short Time

Klöckner & Co SE is a fast-growing company that currently has over one hundred units that need to be consolidated. The company also plans to expand in the future by means of acquisitions. In order to meet both its current and future requirements as well as to comply with IFRS accounting standards, the company decided to implement SAP BusinessObjects Financial Consolidation (SAP BOFC). This program was intended to replace the previous consolidation system (SAP FI-LC). With the implementation of the new system, an automated connection to the legacy systems and a high degree of userfriendliness in terms of data acquisition and validation on the reporting unit level were very important. At the same time, the system had to ensure that the financial statements were comprehensible.

Klöckner & Co SE and Arvato Systems formed a joint project team to implement the new system. As the implementation partner, Arvato Systems was able to share its many years of expertise in the operation and development of this system with the relevant department. During the implementation process, the project partners developed master data, interface definitions, data acquisition forms, analyses, and a method for implementing the consolidation logic. The interfaces necessary for establishing a connection to the previous systems were created with SAP BusinessObjects Financial Information Management (FIM). As a specialized ETL tool, FIM provides a highly automated connection to SAP and other systems. Any necessary transformations or adjustments can be made at any time. Moreover, all data up to the level of the original accounting records can be analyzed.

Integrated reporting with SAP BOFC allows for the consolidation of balance sheets, profit and loss statements, and cash flow statements, as well as segment reporting, all of which are carried out according to IFRS international accounting standards. In this system, data is structured in such a way that all the necessary analyses can be quickly and easily carried out. The multi-lingual report package contains all the information from and for the Klöckner Group’s international subsidiaries. While the disclosures for the individual subsidiaries once required reporting in Excel, this is no longer necessary. The support that the new system provides for the financial statement preparation process and the high level of automation in the Group’s coordination processes have significantly reduced the amount of work and coordination required at the company’s headquarters. The new system reduces the workload for employees working on the financial statement preparation process, allowing them to submit their reports earlier.