Mastering Post-Merger Financial Reporting: A Proven Pathway to Consolidation
Mastering post-merger financial reporting: A proven pathway to consolidation
Mastering post-merger financial reporting: A proven pathway to consolidation
Explore how EXL’s expert solutions and methodologies streamline intercompany reporting and reconciliation, ensuring accurate, compliant, and unified financial insights after a merger
Getting the reports right is vital to post-merger success, particularly when it comes to intercompany financial reporting. No enterprise willingly endures the pain of a merger and acquisition (M&A) without full expectations of a significant payback. But how can you determine payback if your reporting practices, accounting policies, and disclosure requirements are not aligned? Reconciling intercompany transactions, balances and accounts post-merger is no easy task. Financial calendars, charts of accounts (COAs), valuation methodologies, and other reporting details must first be consolidated to establish a cohesive version of truth. This, after all, is what investors and stakeholders expect – and the finance department is on notice to provide it.
EXL recently assisted a global property and casualty (P&C) insurer that had acquired a smaller insurance firm, whose diverse accounting policies had thrown the larger firm’s financial reporting process into a state of disarray. Inconsistencies in data were rampant. Information stored on various systems and platforms would have to be located and merged to even begin unifying the diverse accounting policies and valuation methodologies entrenched within the two associated firms.
Job one was to assess the differences between the two companies and map out a consolidation framework based on the gap analysis. EXL data experts helped to clean and ensure that high quality data was accessible to all parties tasked with creating accurate reports. The team then established uniform accounting principles, consolidation rules, and reporting templates that would unify the two reporting environments. Proactive compliance management was put in place to ensure adherence to regulatory requirements. Meanwhile, realistic budgeting and cost-control measures were agreed to, with an eye on preventing financial overruns. The final outcome produced a unified reporting system built on best practices and harmonized around a fully integrated ERP ecosystem. Reconciling post-merger, intercompany transactions, balances, and accounts across subsidiaries, business units, and geographic locations can be a burden on a financial department tasked with delivering accurate, timely financial reports. EXL can simplify the process through our long-standing industry experience, purpose-built technology, and acceleration frameworks.
Read our whitepaper to unlock the insights on post-merger integration in the insurance sector. Learn from real-world case studies and industry insights to address the top financial integration challenges.