Global organisations in particular face a number of complexities in reconciling local versus group GAAP and maintaining local GAAP knowledge. This can be time consuming and costly for businesses, and typically a source of control risk.
The pressure on in-house finance teams to gather appropriate data and to correctly prepare SFS has become a strain. Unlike tax returns, SFS are public. Getting these filings wrong can present reputational, operational and fiscal risks.
To deal with these challenges, companies are increasingly turning to co-sourcing (sharing responsibility for the management and preparation of SFS with an external provider) and outsourcing (where the provider prepares all financial statements and associated filings).
Traditionally these options were often mutually exclusive; however, our approach to SFS preparation gives companies flexibility and a future proofed approach.
Blending technology and expertise to provide flexibility
For many years PwC has helped organisations around the world deal with these challenges and has deep technical expertise as well as well tested and rigorous processes and controls to provide organisations with a sustainable, high quality and commercially viable solution.
As a result of investment we are now able to move this to the next level by blending our expertise with the technology capabilities of Workiva, the world's leading cloud platform for reporting. Allowing us to integrate, automate and accelerate the preparation of SFS.
Workiva is a collaborative platform meaning that everyone who needs access to data has access to it, and everyone is seeing the current version. There’s no emailing of spreadsheets, no worries about version control. And every time somebody changes something, it’s logged, providing a clear audit trail. It is a core technology tool that can be used whether you choose a co-source or outsourced approach to SFS compliance, providing flexibility in your sourcing approach and resourcing models with a single data and workflow model.
And it’s not just flexibility in terms of approach, combining Workiva with PwC expertise in terms of our workflows, templates and deep accounting insight helps ensure the SFS preparation process is more efficient, effective and consistent across the globe, supporting the audit process and enhancing your controls. You can also use our workflows to map your SFS data from Workiva straight through to the Corporate Income Tax compliance process, providing even greater efficiencies.
Future proofing to ensure you are ready for change
Rethinking how you prepare SFS isn’t just about reporting the past and how to do this more efficiently. It is about thinking broader than the immediate compliance requirements and the here and now.
Our approach prepares organisations for future regulatory change and highlights any areas of risk and opportunity beyond statutory reporting. For example, how to respond to:
- Making Tax Digital and provide digital links from ERP systems to SFS and tax filings (using tools like Workiva);
- Increasing ESG regulations and the additional governance controls needed (broadening the use of tools such as Workiva into new compliance areas); and
- Budget and resource constraints (by blending technology and expertise in a single solution).
All helping leaders to make better decisions for the future.
To find out more please contact us.
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