Insightful » accounting

Oracle EBS “Year-End Close” Tips and Hints

ryan.alford — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 15:06:10 +0000

By Tracy Bishop

If you want to improve your year-end processes around Oracle financials, there are a number of things you can do. The main one is to prepare well ahead of the deadline. We all know that year-end will be a rush with operational activity and sub ledger processes, including squeezing the actual accounting for year-end into a very small window. However, there are things you can do up front to take away some of the effort.

These include:

Checking your set up is correct, in terms of classification of accounts. Be sure you have used the GLOIRE process to roll forward balances well ahead of year-end. I once worked for an organization that did not roll forward their previous year’s balances until about two weeks before the following year-end. A simple report to help identify misclassified accounts will avoid problems in this area.
Checking chart-of-accounts parent/child relationships and summary accounts. Don’t leave it to the last minute to tidy up your hierarchies. Make sure there are no instances of orphan children in the hierarchies and make sure the hierarchies you have still support the reporting you will have to do at the end.
Making sure the FSGs you used last year are in good shape. Row sets can be complex and must be adjusted for any “in year” changes to your chart-of-accounts. Complex FSGs can also be prone to error, so do some integrity checks to make sure you will not have any problems.
Regularly run reports across the organization to identify any unposted journals or transactions. This will help avoid any nasty surprises.
Make sure your accruals are handled properly and completely
Use a sequential referencing system for all the regular year-end adjustments you have to make so you can easily run a quick report to check progress and identify any missing actions
Put together a “pre” year-end report pack to help with these checks (and others you may have)
Put together some easy-to-use monitoring reports to make sure everyone in the process can easily check their figures with drill-down to details
And finally, be sure the annual reports you produce can easily be reconciled back to the data in Oracle. Consequently, if this isn’t done, you will feel like you are doing the whole year-end process again when the auditors arrive.

For more information on Preparing for Year-End, visit http://mini.insightsoftware.com/yearend.

Author: ryan.alford

Ryan is the Internet Marketing Manager for InsightSoftware.com.

Spreadsheets Gone Wild!

ryan.alford — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 17:36:11 +0000

Using spreadsheets in conjunction with an ERP system is one thing. (It’s not suggested, but it happens.) However, using spreadsheets without an ERP is a completely different story altogether. According to research from the Aberdeen Group, many small and mid-size businesses are using spreadsheets without an ERP (such as JD Edwards or Oracle E-Business Suite) but in conjunction with a standalone accounting tool.

“Not surprisingly, spreadsheets top the list,” the Aberdeen research report explains. “But interestingly, spreadsheets were seldom the only tool used even in very small companies. Often spreadsheets are used in conjunction with standalone accounting applications and other desktop applications that do not qualify as true enterprise level applications or other applications that lack the breadth, depth or level of integration of ERP.”

So, it’s a “chicken and egg” scenario; which came first, the ERP or the spreadsheet? In most cases, the spreadsheets have been there all along. It’s hard to break a habit that seems to work efficiently, but there are other solutions that work better.

Does your organization rely on spreadsheets? If so, are they in combination with an ERP system or standalone accounting tool?

Author: ryan.alford

Ryan is the Internet Marketing Manager for InsightSoftware.com.

InsightSoftware.com Helps Ease the Pain Associated With the Year-End Close Process

ryan.alford — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 00:02:18 +0000

InsightSoftware.com, the leading provider of business process optimization software, assists companies with their year-end close preparations with its flagship product called Insight. Built especially for users of Oracle’s E-Business Suite (EBS) and JD Edwards (JDE) World and EnterpriseOne, Insight provides users with real-time access to the information necessary to create reports and data inquiries.

“Insight honors the already established ERP security setup for EBS and JDE,” said Julie Holmes, product manager for InsightSoftware.com. “Confidential information leaks become a thing of the past. Insight can help users easily create reports to show relevant information in a summarized format, with drill-down to transactional detail. ”

Before starting the year-end process, all data needs to be accurate and complete. The human resources team will spend time verifying addresses, tax IDs, and deferred compensation. Accountants will be busy identifying significant variances and completing audit compliance checks. Using Insight helps save time re-running reports but it will also help companies avoid penalties and late filing fees.

“Closing the year is the easy part,” said Holmes. “It’s all the reporting afterwards that can be difficult. Insight helps maintain the reporting that can overwhelm the human resources and finance teams.”

For more information on Insight’s Preparing for Year-End software applications, visit http://mini.insightsoftware.com/yearend/.

Author: ryan.alford

Ryan is the Internet Marketing Manager for InsightSoftware.com.

Preparing for Year-End: Taking Care of Business

ryan.alford — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 17:36:25 +0000

There’s no denying it: Using JD Edwards and Oracle’s E-Business Suite (EBS) to help close the books at year-end is no picnic. It can get complicated, quickly – especially when it involves complying with government-required standards. Members of both financial and human resources teams realize the oncoming deadlines and paperwork requirements. Of course, this usually happens as the third quarter ends and the fourth quarter begins (maybe later if procrastination persists).

It can be a struggle sifting through information that’s been placed on hold for months. The habits are all the same when it involves the last minute finalization of year-end financials and HR formalities. But now it’s time to break those habits and institute a new proactive approach to the year-end debacle.

According to PriceWaterhousecoopers, when it concerns closing the books, financial statements that are mistake-free and offer accurate details of the year-end results are more likely to avoid the plights of a public company’s late filing assessments:

“Closing the books is the process that a corporation uses to reconcile, consolidate, and report financial information on a periodic basis. A shorter, more accurate close process is cost-efficient and frees finance professionals to focus on strategic activities, such as analyzing the company’s financial data for patterns, trends, and warnings. In addition, companies with short, accurate close cycles build investor confidence with timely, error-free financial statements.”

Creating and implementing a series of best practices for the entire organization can change the dynamics of the year-end close. A “year-end checklist” is important to any strategy when gathering the required data and reporting for the annual closing of the books. This is especially useful when engulfed in the hazards of an audit.

To read more, click here.

Author: ryan.alford

Ryan is the Internet Marketing Manager for InsightSoftware.com.

Changing the Rules of JD Edwards Reconciliations at Quest Midwest

ryan.alford — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:21:04 +0000

InsightSoftware.com plans to highlight its Insight Reconciler product during the Quest Midwest tradeshow, Aug. 17 and 18 in Rosemont, Ill.

Insight Reconciler rewrites the rules of JD Edwards reconciliations, highlighting integrity issues in real-time and explaining inconsistencies with full transactional drill-down.

According to a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers study, accurately managing the reconciliation of accounts adds to an organization’s financial reporting success: “Effective management of account reconciliation activities greatly increases executives’ ability to proactively identify and resolve issues that could result in misstatements in financial accounting and reporting records and lead to substantial write-offs. Many common account reconciliation problems are preventable. By creating and putting in place appropriate reconciliation and information management processes, and improving organization, training, and automation, companies can gain assurance over their general ledger balances.”

For JD Edwards users, having Insight Reconciler helps gain this assurance over the GL – in addition to Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Inventory, Fixed Assets, and Received Not Vouchered. Built for end-users, Insight Reconciler is customizable to suit an organization’s specific reconciliation needs.

“…(Insight Reconciler) has dramatically improved the efficiency of our end-users, from ad-hoc lookups to month-end close, reconciliations and audit cycle reductions,” said Melissa Penfield, Director of Business Systems at Majestic Realty Co.

Dump the spreadsheets. Stop the pivot table madness. It’s time to learn why having a tool like Insight Reconciler can help. The PricewaterhouseCoopers study continues: “Information management issues range from preparation of reconciliation in spreadsheets (which rarely have supporting documentation and proper controls over versions) to lack of visibility into the current status of account reconciliations. In many companies, internal audit reviews and Sarbanes-Oxley 404 tests are the only formal source of information available to evaluate the potential impact of unreconciled financial accounts on financial statements.”

To learn more about Insight Reconciler, visit http://www.insightsoftware.com/reconciler/.

Attendees of Quest Midwest can visit InsightSoftware.com at booth No. 23 for an Insight Reconciler demonstration. Additionally, showgoers are invited to attend InsightSoftware.com’s session, “Improve Data Integrity to Streamline Reconciliations and Month End Reporting,” presented by Tracey Lewis on Aug. 18, 9 a.m. – 9:50 a.m., in room International F.

Author: ryan.alford

Ryan is the Internet Marketing Manager for InsightSoftware.com.

Reconciliations: It Doesn’t Have to be This Way!

ryan.alford — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:30:33 +0000

Check out InsightSoftware.com’s cartoon about JD Edwards reconciliations:

http://www.youtube.com/insightsoftware#p/a/u/0/RspO90mFy8w

Stay tuned for more in the series. Let us know what you think!

Author: ryan.alford

Ryan is the Internet Marketing Manager for InsightSoftware.com.

Reconciling the Accounts in JD Edwards Doesn’t Have to Be Painful!

ryan.alford — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:27:37 +0000

A company’s financial prowess and compliance go hand-in-hand. Without proper insight and strategic oversight of the business, many of today’s top global companies are missing a large piece of the financial puzzle.

CFOs should maintain the perfect balance between strategy, planning, forecasting, budgeting, reporting, and analysis. This is more simplified (and cost-effective) by having an automated process for account reconciliation. Without a monitoring system in place, performance improvements will be limited.

In a research report called “How to improve reconciliation activities,” published by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, many “account reconciliation problems are preventable. Timing, is also frequently an issue: account reconciliations that are in arrears more than one month risk misstatement of the financial results. Depending on the level of risk, perform reconciliations daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly.”

Curious to know what to do about reconciliation problems in JD Edwards? Implement automation that recognizes reconciling items and streamlines the review process.

Author: ryan.alford

Ryan is the Internet Marketing Manager for InsightSoftware.com.

Do all signs point to an unorganized implementation of Order-to-Ship?

ryan.alford — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 17:00:37 +0000

It’s not an easy job. An optimized Order-to-Ship business process offers continual progress towards improved cost control and delivery performance.

However, there might be a few challenges in the systems, including:

Rework to correct data accuracy issues
Late shipments and setbacks in delivery performance
Increased customer complaints
Time spent on complaint resolution
Poor management of backorders
Inefficient order processing and fulfillment
Untimely invoicing
Diminished cash flow and sales margins

In an Aberdeen Research study called “Working Capital Optimization: Increase Cash Flow in the New Economy,” author Nari Viswanathan said that “Best-in-Class companies are 30% as likely as all others to use cash conversion metrics as part of their supply chain organization metrics. Companies that embed cash conversion metrics into the set of supply chain metrics are twice as likely to have reduced their cash conversion cycle over the past year (45% versus 21%). Some of the key metrics that have been adopted as part of the process are: Sales forecast accuracy, on-time shipping, on-time delivery, inventory turns, logistics costs as a percentage of sales, and gross profit margin.”

Achieving an on-time shipping and delivery system is an industry standard met by few. Using JD Edwards can get you on your way, but will only take you so far.

To read more, click here.

Author: ryan.alford

Ryan is the Internet Marketing Manager for InsightSoftware.com.

Sox the Owl Appears on eBay!

ryan.alford — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:06:43 +0000

When InsightSoftware.com was known as The GL Company, “Sox the Owl” was its mascot. Nowadays, Sox’s memory lingers in the form of fond trade show photographs and tchotchke giveaways.

Recently, one of those giveaways surprisingly appeared on eBay: http://bit.ly/9SK8hm. The auction describes the plush bean bag character as a “rare collectible” and “retired and no longer being manufactured.”

Sox is going for an opening bid of $7.99. Here’s our auction (or contest):

Do you have a “Sox the Owl” memory you’d like to share? Send your thoughts to marketing@insightsoftware.com.

All entrants will have a chance to win a Sox the Owl plush bean bag character – very rare and in great condition. “This cool looking owl would make a great addition to a collection!”

We’ll share your memories on this blog. Good luck!

Author: ryan.alford

Ryan is the Internet Marketing Manager for InsightSoftware.com.

JD Edwards Executive Luncheon in Greensboro, NC

ryan.alford — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 20:34:36 +0000

Bring your appetite and join InsightSoftware.com and brij for a sumptuous meal and great networking on June 23, 11:30-1:30. You will see why InsightSoftware.com is quickly becoming the reporting tool of choice within the JD Edwards community.

With Insight you truly revolutionize operational reporting throughout your organization. Insight supplies solutions for functional areas such as: Finance, Human Capital, Supply Chain, Manufacturing and Project and Asset Management. Insight goes beyond mere reporting to drive productivity and profitability gains throughout your organization.

Leave with knowledge of the solutions that can help you optimize your business processes, all over lunch. We will treat you to lunch at the UNDERCURRENT restaurant . Click here to RSVP.

User Group meetings on the horizon:

Rocky Mountain User Group on June 10: http://bit.ly/diOd8T

JD Edwards Southeast Regional User Group in Atlanta, GA on June 17: http://bit.ly/9ewZJR

Eastern Canada Regional User Group on June 21 in Mississauga: http://bit.ly/9zCbOF

Author: ryan.alford

Ryan is the Internet Marketing Manager for InsightSoftware.com.