The challenge
A European automaker wanted to reengineer key accounting workstreams to unify processes across its operations in China, Malaysia, the U.S. and Europe. Inaccuracies and slow reporting in its accounts receivable (AR) and accounts payable (AP) functions led to limited visibility of the company’s performance in key markets. Financial status reports were gathered and generated in siloes, resulting in higher operational costs and an extraordinarily high number of aging, unreconciled items. As a long-term client, the company approached Cognizant for a digital solution.
Our approach
Based on takeaways from an ongoing engagement with the client, Cognizant knew that its processes had increased in complexity. As the automaker’s centralized ERP system failed to generate information efficiently, we proposed improving key internal accounting processes using our OneFinance program to review existing non-standardized workstreams and develop a best practice template for each workstream. These templates would be adopted globally and interoperate seamlessly with SAP. Partnering with the company’s procurement functional teams, we defined strategies, framed an operating model, and then developed a process to address variances in systems and processes for each country.
