Near Real-Time Group Consolidation

The reporting calendar is non-negotiable. Board meetings, market disclosures, sponsor updates, banking covenants — they all expect numbers at a fixed point in the month. But the consolidation that produces those numbers is held together with spreadsheets, manual journals, and one or two people who know how it works.

Each cycle has the same pattern. Entity-level data arrives at different times. Intercompany positions don’t reconcile cleanly. FX rates get applied inconsistently. The group finance team spends two weeks fighting the data before they can analyse it. The CFO inherits a board pack that’s technically accurate but commercially stale.

And the model itself is a liability. It works because the people who built it know its quirks. If they leave, the close breaks.

A consolidation model engineered for speed, reliability, and handover.

The architecture starts with a defined data layer — one source of truth per entity, fed on a fixed cadence, with intercompany reconciliation enforced before any consolidation runs. FX treatment is rules-based, not manual. Minority interest, equity-method investments, and consolidation adjustments are codified, documented, and auditable.

The model produces parallel views — group P&L, group balance sheet, group cash flow, and the same three statements for each operating entity. Drill-through is built in: any group number resolves to its entity-level constituents in a click, and any entity number resolves to the underlying trial balance.

Where the group reports to a stock exchange or under IFRS, the model produces statutory output as a primary deliverable, not as a separate exercise. Where there’s a sponsor cadence on top, the same engine produces the sponsor pack.

We hand over a documented model that the in-house team can run, audit, and extend.

A group close at day 5 with full per-entity and group views available the same day. Recent work has taken groups from a two-to-three-week close to a five-day close, with no compromise on audit integrity.

Reporting the CFO can stand behind — internally to the board, externally to the market, to auditors, and to investors. The numbers tie. The narrative is built on data that’s a week fresher than it used to be.

A model that doesn’t depend on a single person. Documentation, version control, and clear ownership mean the close survives team changes.

Bandwidth back. Group finance stops fighting reconciliation and starts answering the questions the business actually needs answered.