Several European industrial groups, operating in environments with stringent internal control requirements, were facing cumbersome and manual account reconciliation processes.

For one group, the issue involved reconciling invoices with bank accounts and identifying discrepancies in accounting standards. For another, the challenge concerned intercompany reconciliation at the invoice level, with large volumes and tight closing deadlines. The manual processes generated risks of error and limited internal control capabilities.

Before implementing any tools, a thorough review of the reconciliation rules and a structured approach to the target processes were essential.

‍

The fundamental challenge was strengthening internal control and auditability: how to move from time-consuming and error-prone manual reconciliations to automated processes that guarantee the reliability of balance justifications and traceability for audit purposes?

Manual reconciliation processes (invoices/bank accounts, intercompany transactions down to the invoice level) consumed significant resources and did not allow for the rapid identification of anomalies. Auditors regularly pointed out weaknesses in the internal control system.

The objective was to build systems that would:

• automate reconciliations with configurable matching rules,

• identify and report discrepancies and anomalies in real time,

• document each justification to meet internal control and audit requirements.

‍

These projects were conducted with several industrial groups facing similar challenges but with different technical contexts (various ERP systems, distinct data volumes). In each case, we began by observing the accounting teams in their daily work to identify the most time-consuming tasks and recurring sources of error.

Our support focused on:

• defining automatic matching rules adapted to the specific needs of each group (discrepancy tolerance, invoice grouping, credit note management),

• interfacing with existing ERP systems to retrieve data at the required level without manual re-entry,

• designing discrepancy management workflows that allow accountants to focus on cases requiring judgment, while simpler cases are handled automatically.

For one of the groups, a specific intercompany reconciliation module at the invoice level was developed, processing tens of thousands of monthly transactions.

‍