Implementing together At CreditAccess Asia

CCH Tagetik for consolidation

Finext implemented CCH Tagetik for consolidation at CreditAccess Asia. CreditAccess Asia is a micro-lender focusing mainly on micro and small businesses in Asia. The international organization is ambitious and growing rapidly: founded in 2008, it now has more than 2.6million customers in India, Indonesia and the Philippines. It employs more than 10,000 people.

This growth also affects consolidation. "Before this, we did the consolidation in Excel. Because different versions of the consolidation pack were often sent, it was difficult to do the consolidation in a timely and planned manner. We also did not have a central database where all the information was stored," Ted Medenblik, Chief Accounting Officer of CreditAccess Asia, says of the reason for switching to a more automated consolidation solution, such as CCH Tagetik for consolidation.

"Within this coaching model, most of the implementation is done by the organization itself, under the guidance of an experienced consultant."

Simple and innovative

The choice fell on CCH Tagetik. In doing so, the international lender had an important wish: they wanted to implement the solution via a coaching model. "Within this project model, most of the implementation is done by the organization itself, under the guidance of an experienced consultant," says Alwin Berkhout. As a consultant at Finext, he took on the coaching role.

This way, the organization can get as much out of the solution as possible at the least amount of implementation days. "The cost aspect definitely played a role," Ted explains. "Our consolidation is not that big or special, we felt that based on our knowledge and experience we should be able to do a lot ourselves."

"When implementing CCH Tagetik for consolidation, a coaching model is not very common yet," says Alwin. However, the approach fits well with CreditAccess Asia's culture. For example, CreditAccess Asia's mission is to offer simple and innovative financial services.

Implemented within 15 consulting days

The chosen approach was successful; in about three months AND within the agreed 15 consultancy days, the new consolidation solution was implemented. "Looking back, I would definitely do it this way again," says Ted.

Good planning is a key success factor in the coaching model. "From both sides you have to stick to the schedule well, otherwise the implementation will ripen too much," agrees Alwin. "On the first day, we immediately blocked off one coaching day per week in our calendar, and we stuck to that well," agrees Ted.

Coaching in practice

The weekly coaching days are broken up into two parts. "At the beginning of the day, we first looked together at how the past week had gone; are there any questions and is everything set up well?" says Alwin. "The second part of the day I gave explanations, and at the end of the day we discussed the next actions."

Meeting with a regular schedule is a good trigger, according to Ted, to ensure that he and a colleague get everything done on time: "Every week, Alwin gave us 'homework' for the coming week."

Ted also took on the role of project manager, with activities such as preparing action lists, scheduling and agendas. "In a coaching model I don't have time for that, then I focus on guiding the implementation," Alwin explains. "Of course we can do the planning from Finext as well, but then we have to be here more often. Actually, it then becomes more of a coaching-plus model."

Finext FIT template

The implementation uses the Finext FIT template, the Fast Implementation Template that Finext has developed based on best practices. From this FIT template, simple and clear choices can be made around the consolidation process.

Alwin: "You can think of CCH Tagetik as a standard build, with technology that you can tap into. On the first day, I set up the Finext FIT template as a base. That way you don't have to build the entire consolidation from scratch; the consolidation on the Dutch market, for example, is already built into the template. That way you can reuse what is useful, and remove what is not necessary."

In addition to the implementation, Alwin produces a number of reports around the year-end closing to provide for various 'IFRS disclosures'. "We very much appreciate the flexibility to pick up a few more things on an ad hoc basis," says Ted. He is positive about working with Finext anyway. "It has suited us very well. Because of the flexibility, but also because of the knowledge and experience that clearly emerged during the project."

"Now we can do more qualitative things. There is more time for value-added activities, such as analyses. With that, my work has become more interesting."

Save time

Ted is enthusiastic not only about the course of the implementation, but also about the results of the new solution: "The year-end closing has gone well and the quality has gone up; because of the built-in checks and balances, we are sure that things are connecting." Quarterly reporting has also improved. "We now have a more managed, planned process for group financial reports."

However, he considers the most important benefit to be the time savings: "Because of CCH Tagetik for consolidation, I can do more qualitative things, instead of operationally exchanging Excel sheets and having them reconciled. I now have more time for value-added activities, such as analyses. With that, my work has become more interesting."

Taking even more advantage of CCH Tagetik

Ted sees further opportunities to leverage CCH Tagetik to support CreditAccess Asia's continued growth. "More frequent reporting, for example with monthly reports. We do not consolidate at the monthly level at present; mainly qualitative information is then reported via Excel. The next step is to also report this qualitative information, such as the number of customers and the like, via CCH Tagetik."

He also sees opportunities around the annual process. "We can start adding budgeting and planning, which is missing now. And in the future I would like to further automate the whole process around the annual report, then we will move more toward Disclosure Management."