Transform Month End Closing Process From 10 Days to 3 Days

During the month-end closing process, a significant amount of work was performed using Excel, requiring substantial time and coordination across multiple stakeholders to produce performance summaries and management reports.

We supported the client by visualizing the end-to-end process, identifying structural issues and bottlenecks, and enabling automation of the workflow through to reporting.

Our Approach

Process Design and Standardization

• Designed and implemented a P&L framework.

• Defined order entry and cutoff rules and enforced timely invoice generation.

• Established perpetual inventory processes to improve accuracy and timeliness.

Governance and Capability Enablement

• Assigned process and data owners for each farm.

• Retrained teams to better leverage ERP in combination with existing manual processes.

• Updated SOPs, delivered user training, and assigned ERP expert advisors to the Finance team.

Data and System Improvements

• Cleaned and maintained master data (items, vendors, customers).

• Updated cost center and profit center structures to enable accurate P&L reporting in ERP.

• Resolved issues in End User reporting.

• Automated routine journal postings and scheduled recurring maintenance activities.

Key Issues Addressed

• Lack of standardized operations and clearly defined order cutoff rules.

• Delayed customer invoicing and heavy dependence on manual Excel reporting.

• Unclear ownership, outdated SOPs, and limited system training.

• Inconsistent master data and outdated cost/profit center configurations.

Results

• P&L closing cycle reduced from 10 days to 5 days.

• Timely and accurate reporting directly from ERP, minimizing Excel dependency.

• Clear ownership and standardized processes across regions.

• Sustainable routines for data management, reporting, and ongoing maintenance.