Finance, Accounting & Control Transformation

How Aurelia Manufacturing Group accelerated financial close, strengthened controls, improved forecast accuracy, and created reliable management information with the Finance, Accounting & Control Toolkit.

Finance, Accounting and Control transformation case study A full-width case study banner showing financial analysis documents, the case study title, summary, and four measurable transformation benefits. CASE STUDY Finance, Accounting & Control How Aurelia Manufacturing Group accelerated financial close, strengthened controls, and improved planning and decision support with the Finance, Accounting & Control Toolkit. Faster Financial Close Stronger Internal Controls Improved Forecast Accuracy Greater Decision Confidence
Overview

Building a Faster, Controlled, and Insight-Led Finance Function

Aurelia Manufacturing Group is a diversified industrial manufacturer operating twenty-one production sites and seven regional finance hubs across Europe, Asia-Pacific, and North America. Rapid growth, acquisitions, and local process variations had created a slow financial close, duplicated reconciliations, inconsistent management reports, and uneven control performance.

The Finance, Accounting & Control Toolkit provided a standardized operating framework for finance governance, record-to-report, accounts payable, accounts receivable, treasury, tax, cost accounting, fixed assets, financial planning and analysis, internal controls, and management reporting. The group established common policies, clear ownership, harmonized calendars, consistent evidence requirements, and a single performance rhythm from transaction processing through executive decision support.

The Challenge

Slow Closing, Inconsistent Controls, and Limited Financial Visibility

Lengthy Financial Close

Different calendars, late submissions, manual journals, and repeated adjustments extended month-end close and delayed reliable reporting.

Inconsistent Reconciliations

Account ownership, review standards, evidence, and escalation practices varied across entities, increasing control and audit risk.

Weak Forecast Reliability

Fragmented assumptions, spreadsheet dependency, and limited driver analysis reduced confidence in forecasts, cash outlooks, and investment decisions.

Limited Management Insight

Reports focused on historical totals rather than drivers, exceptions, scenarios, and forward-looking actions required by business leaders.

The Solution

A Structured Finance Transformation and Control Framework

Aurelia implemented the toolkit through four coordinated phases:

Four-phase finance transformation approach Finance diagnostic, standardization and controls, automation and integration, and performance management with continuous improvement. 01 Finance Diagnostic Mapped close activities, finance processes, controls, systems, roles, pain points, and baseline performance across all entities. › 02 Standardize & Control Established policies, closing calendars, account ownership, reconciliations, control evidence, approvals, and escalation rules. › 03 Automate & Integrate Reduced manual journals, integrated source data, introduced workflow dashboards, and standardized management reporting packs. › 04 Perform & Continuously Improve Embedded finance KPIs, forecast reviews, control testing, issue ownership, capability building, and continuous-improvement cycles.
The Results

Measurable Impact Across Finance Operations, Control, and Decision Support

The implementation was assessed through month-end close speed, reconciliation quality, internal-control evidence, forecast reliability, management reporting usefulness, and finance service responsiveness. The results below combine practical finance KPIs with visual indicators that leadership teams can use to evaluate toolkit effectiveness.

Financial Close Cycle Time

10 business days before implementation compared with 5 business days after implementation.

Financial close cycle time reduced Financial close cycle time decreased from ten business days to five business days. 50% faster financial close 10 days 5 days Before After

Legend: Light blue = baseline axis/reference; medium blue = before toolkit; dark blue = after toolkit; lower days indicate faster closing and reporting availability.

Reconciliation & Control Compliance

96% of key reconciliations and controls were completed on time with approved evidence.

Reconciliation and control compliance improvement Reconciliation and control compliance improved from seventy two percent to ninety six percent. 96% completed Before: 72% | After: 96%

Legend: Pale ring = remaining evidence gap; blue ring = reconciliations and controls completed with approved evidence; percentage shows post-rollout compliance.

Forecast Accuracy Trend

Finance teams improved forecast reliability through driver-based planning, standardized assumptions, and exception review routines.

Forecast accuracy improvement trend Forecast accuracy increased across seven months after finance toolkit implementation. +29% Month 1 to Month 7 improvement

Legend: Each point represents one implementation month; the upward blue line shows improved forecast reliability and better variance discipline.

Finance Stakeholder Confidence

Business leaders reported stronger confidence in reporting timeliness, financial insight, and decision support.

Finance stakeholder confidence score Finance stakeholder confidence improved from three point seven to four point eight out of five. 4.8/5 ★★★★☆ Before: 3.7/5 | After: 4.8/5 Confidence in finance reporting and decision support

Legend: Blue progress bar = achieved stakeholder confidence; grey bar = remaining gap to full score; star rating summarizes post-implementation confidence.

Implementation Performance Scorecard

The scorecard below illustrates how the toolkit translated finance governance, control discipline, and standardized reporting into measurable operating improvements across the record-to-report cycle.

Performance AreaBefore ToolkitAfter ToolkitImprovement
Month-end financial close cycle10 days5 days50% faster
Reconciliation evidence completed on time72%96%+24 points
Management-reporting pack readiness68%93%+25 points
Forecast accuracy against actual results71%92%+21 points
Manual journal rework and late adjustments34 items/month13 items/month62% reduction

Finance Maturity by Domain

Finance maturity by domain Horizontal bars compare maturity before and after implementation across finance domains. Before After Close Controls Reporting Forecasting Level 1Level 3Level 5

Legend: Grey bars = maturity before toolkit deployment; blue bars = maturity after deployment; longer bars indicate stronger finance process maturity.

Risk and Control Heatmap

Late reconciliationsHigh → Low
Manual journal dependencyHigh → Medium
Unapproved control evidenceHigh → Low
Forecast assumption inconsistencyMedium → Low
Management-reporting delaysHigh → Low

Legend: High, Medium, and Low describe residual risk/control exposure after toolkit deployment; arrows show movement from baseline to post-implementation status.

Monthly Finance KPI Trend

Monthly finance KPI trend Line chart showing monthly improvement in finance KPI score from sixty two to ninety three. M1M2M3M4M5M6M7 62 → 93

Legend: KPI points show monthly finance performance score movement from implementation start to stabilization; higher scores indicate stronger close, control, reporting, and forecasting discipline.

Benefit Realization Summary

Finance policies standardized38
Controls and reconciliations mapped214
Finance users trained186
Reporting packs standardized27
Estimated annual time saved3,100+ hours
Customer Review

Executive Feedback on the Finance Transformation

Alessandro Romano
★★★★★
“The Finance, Accounting & Control Toolkit gave our finance leadership team a clear operating model for close governance, reconciliations, control evidence, reporting packs, and forecasting discipline. Within seven months, our close became faster, our evidence quality improved, and business leaders had more confidence in the numbers used for operational decisions.”
Alessandro Romano Group Finance Director, Aurelia Manufacturing Group

Finance transformation key takeaway and call to action

Finance transformation key takeaway and toolkit call to action A key takeaway explaining the value of an integrated finance operating system, followed by a call to explore the Finance, Accounting and Control Toolkit. KEY TAKEAWAY High-performing finance functions depend on standardized processes, clear ownership, embedded controls, trusted data, disciplined planning, and decision-ready management insight working together to support compliance and faster decisions. BUILD A FASTER, CONTROLLED, INSIGHT-LED FINANCE FUNCTION Strengthen finance governance, closing, accounting, FP&A, reporting, cash management, internal controls, role clarity, performance measurement, and continuous improvement. Explore the Toolkit Proven Frameworks Ready to Use Templates Best-Practice Guidance Expert Support