Multi-company reporting refers to consolidating data across separate, independently operated companies. These companies may not be part of the same corporate structure but are owned or managed by a single holding group or investment firm.
For finance and accounting teams within multi-company organizations, the process of financial reporting can be complex and demanding. Whether it’s generating and distributing financial statements for individual entities, creating reports for specific company groupings to mirror organizational hierarchies, or delivering a comprehensive consolidated view of the entire organization, there are significant challenges standing in the way of delivering timely, accurate financials to all stakeholders. Some of these challenges are explored below.
6 Multi-Company Reporting Challenges
1. Lack of Standardized Systems: Different companies often use entirely separate accounting software, ERP systems, or processes. Integration can be more challenging due to incompatible systems.
2. Diverse Accounting Policies: Each company may have its own chart of accounts, revenue recognition policies, and expense management practices. There is often less uniformity in data or structures compared to multi-entity reporting.
3. Limited Control: The reporting company often lacks operational control over subsidiaries, making standardization and compliance more difficult.
4. Ownership Structures: Consolidation may need to account for minority interests, equity method investments, or partnerships, making reporting even more complicated.
5. Data Access and Sharing: Acquiring accurate, timely data from independently managed companies can be difficult due to varying priorities and systems.
6. Reporting Objectives: For many organizations, management-level reporting typically focuses on internal performance and compliance. But multi-company reporting may also prioritize external reporting for investors, lenders, or regulators.
Automate and Eliminate Multi-Company Reporting Challenges with FYIsoft
Companies operating in complex accounting environments and tasked with consolidating financial data for multiple companies are often challenged with slow and cumbersome reporting processes. The disparate data is typically siloed in separate databases, and the ability to bring it together into a standard reporting format requires either manual manipulation (error-prone), or IT/technical assistance (time delays).
The architecture behind FYIsoft’s solutions is designed to automate the consolidation and reporting for multiple companies. Our proprietary technology, ConnectFYI®, has the powerful ability to integrate and extract data directly from each company’s ERP system, and transform that data into a standardized reporting format. The transformed data is then stored in our data mart and ready to be instantly accessed for reporting.
For multi-company organizations, FYIsoft’s automation can eliminate most of the manual work involved in reporting, exponentially improving staff productivity and the accuracy of financial statements in ways that would not otherwise be possible.
Use Case: How a Global Manufacturing Company Automated Multi-Company Reporting with FYIsoft
With U.S. headquarters operating on Sage, its (acquired) European operations ran on Microsoft’s Dynamics NAV. Before every monthly close, the accounting team would need to pull trial balances from NAV, and then import the data into Sage for reporting. There was a lot of manual work required to consolidate the financial data for reporting, which required weeks of time for every month-end close.
FYIsoft has been a game-changer for the company. The accounting team has automated the entire process, eliminated nearly all of the manual tasks, and reduced the month-end close cycle significantly. Within weeks of going live, the CFO shared, “We’re still learning, but FYIsoft has already saved us several days every month and reduced our close time up to 38%. The even bigger gain is HOURS of time for my accounting staff throughout the month so they can really analyze the numbers instead of just manually moving data.” Download the case study to read more.
FYIsoft’s Multi-Company Reporting Software: Built for Finance, Loved by IT
Although the technology behind our software is powerful, the simplicity of the solution is perhaps a greater benefit, especially for IT teams. FYIsoft solutions are designed specifically for accounting and finance teams. End users can easily use our software with very little training, and with no IT assistance.
Finance teams enjoy additional convenience with the ability to access the financial data from all companies through one secure login and one screen. There is no longer a need to log into separate databases or have multiple windows or spreadsheets open simultaneously.
Creating financial reports for any or all companies, any time period, or any consolidated rollup variation is as simple as a few clicks. IT no longer needs to spend their valuable time creating financial reports every month (or week), or battling through a painful manual consolidation process to combine data from different databases. IT is now free to focus on mission-critical tasks like protecting the company from cyberattacks or advancing innovations with the use of AI.
To learn more about the technology behind our multi-company reporting software, download the whitepaper on FYIsoft’s Technology Advantages.
Multi-company reporting demands great flexibility to accommodate diverse systems and ownership structures. FYIsoft was built to conquer these challenges. If your company is struggling to achieve consistent, efficient reporting, schedule a demo to see how easy multi-company reporting can be with FYIsoft.