When a leading biotech company wanted to improve its financial reporting

Abstract

Timely, integrated, and accurate financial reporting is crucial for enabling global operations. That fact became acutely evident for a leading biotechnology organization when it realized its financial systems weren’t keeping pace with rapid growth. The US$4.5 billion life sciences company knew it was time to invest in the reporting and analytics applications and processes that would allow it to leverage its global strategies.

The challenge

The member firm client needed a globally consistent and integrated platform for reporting and analytics. It had also been hampered by a lack of a defined support organization, standardized processes, and automation – making every planning and consolidation cycle difficult and prone to error.

How analytics helped

A member firm analytics team was brought in to implement an Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) system and an e-business suite, including process and organizational improvements. The solution offered included the full spectrum of capabilities to support its transformation, including EPM, process redesign, organizational redesign, security, and governance.

With a project team of 15 to 20 Deloitte Analytics member firm specialists, a full EPM suite was delivered, with globally consistent, scalable, efficient, and appropriately granular applications. A solution was developed that included a planning process to handle management allocations and foreign currency exposure analysis and deployment of a data relationship management solution to centrally maintain and distribute metadata. What’s more, the member firm team assisted in integrating data among all relevant applications and standardized processes to support future acquisitions and business growth.

Finally, a Center of Excellence was designed which was responsible for the management, ownership, and governance of the applications.

The solution

By applying analytics driven insights, the member firm client was able to replace spreadsheets for data submission with data extracts. They also improved the user experience for ease of use, reduced manual interventions, decreased reliance on Microsoft Excel, and enhanced analysis capabilities.

Today, the member firm client has the tools and standardized processes it needs to leverage allocations management, analyze currency exposure, reduce redundant data sources, and eliminate multiple reconciliation activities. It’s also achieving greater insight into the budget/close cycle, and supporting acquisitions and growth in a highly competitive and rapidly changing industry.