EquaTerra Helps Large Consumer Products Company Make F&A Shared Services Operations More Competitive Take a pdf of this article with you At a Glance Company Profile Industry: One of the world’s leading consumer products companies Headquarters:Cincinnati, Ohio Services Featured F&A Shared Services Strategy and Assessment Support Data Collection Analysis Evaluation and Comparison Recommended Next Steps Business Processes Involved General Ledger General Accounting Fixed Assets Accounts Payable Accounts Receivable Executive Summary There were several primary drivers for the project: The company wanted to determine whether their current F&A shared services operations were competitive with the external marketplace and in particular external service providers. They were evaluating a global service delivery location analysis and looking to potentially migrate work from one center to another Quality, service, operational control, and focus on core competencies were key considerations. Some of our clients typically want to execute a cost play for their shared services next generation, but in this case, the client was running their operations fairly cost effectively. They already had operations in lower cost geographies and had taken advantage of labor arbitrage. They wanted to get to the next level from an operations and level of service perspective. They also wanted to mitigate the risks managing their shared services centers. The Business Challenge They wanted an objective third party that could not only provide the appropriate quantitative analysis of their operations, but also provide an operational review of their F&A shared services delivery structure. They wanted an outside advisor to evaluate their operations. How We Helped EQ's solution We proposed a five week project plan that included data collection, analysis, interviews, workshops and formulation of a future state delivery model. We also included a transformational roadmap on how they could go from their current state, to a future state. Our approach Used EquaTerra’s sourcing strategy and assessment methodology to address the company’s needs and requirements. We also leveraged our extensive BPO market database to assist in our analysis of both costs and operations to help us formulate the final presentation and read out. Results Client satisfaction was high, and they hired us for the follow-on effort to assist them on a transaction looking into outsourcing of their F&A centers. Advisor Insights Lessons Learned This was a fixed fee project, and we were able to scope it effectively based on dialogue with the client during the sales process. Challenges When the client says they have financial data the way we need it, do not always believe them. This is always the case where the client said their financial and budget information was already collected, and in a format that they thought we could use. This was not true and we spent a good portion of the first three weeks, collecting and formatting the financial data. Need to ground the data and financials earlier in the process. Always be in communication with the Project Sponsor to minimize the surprises that almost always come up in something like this. Get the schedule and the interviews and the checkpoints schedule week one. It is always possible to change them, but in a tight timeframe the executives that you need to interact with have calendar issues and are busier than ever.   About EquaTerra EquaTerra sourcing advisors help clients achieve sustainable value in their IT and business processes. Our advisors average more than 20 years of industry experience and have supported more than 2,000 transformation and outsourcing projects across more than 60 countries. Supporting clients throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific, we have deep functional knowledge in Finance and Accounting, HR, IT, Procurement and other critical business processes. EquaTerra helps clients achieve significant cost savings and process improvement with internal transformation, shared services and outsourcing solutions.