Before:
Challenges in Currency Translations and Report Generation
Ellsworth Adhesives’ data was spread across four ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems, making it difficult for leaders to understand their cash flows. As a global distributor of products, Ellsworth dealt with 16 different currencies and 31 distribution centers, but they relied on Excel to import their trial balances manually into a consolidating platform. These variances would add up to large, time-consuming tasks for the team. Read-time exchange rate data was extremely time-consuming as well due to the diverse range of product offerings, and as a result, currency exchange rate translations were slow.
Once Ellsworth handled exchange rates, they moved to eliminations. A wrong entry would mean going through the strenuous process all over again, requiring an additional three people and eight days to create a report. Making matters worse, the consolidation platform had no security features, which meant if the data was reloaded without prior communication, the results for the workbook would change. This would lead to ever-varying data, making generating reports difficult.
Each business workbook had 50-60 different tabs on it, based on the business unit’s size and how many balance sheet accounts they were using. Corporate would review the reconciled data quarterly, on a rotating schedule to ensure they were accurate. Ensuring the accuracy of basic numbers was another manual task that Ellsworth did not need. Something needed to change.
Solution:
Collaborative Partnership to Easily Obtain Additional Capabilities
Ellsworth Adhesives partnered with Spaulding Ridge to build a modernized finance system in OneStream that corrected the roadblocks they were facing. Spaulding Ridge helped Ellsworth to streamline consolidations through automated direct connections from Ellsworth’s four ERP systems to OneStream. With accurate data pulled directly from the source, Ellsworth could now generate yearly, quarterly, and monthly reports instantaneously.
Spaulding Ridge also implemented our Dynamic Cash Flow solution that provides real-time insights and advanced forecasting capabilities. With this, Ellsworth is now able to gain visibility into each business unit entry and fix any asset transfer mismatch. Ellsworth is also able to restrict data entries or lock a specified period to stop data from being changed during that time.
We configured a driver-based planning and specialty planning system to accelerate FP&A processes for Ellsworth. They can reverse-populate data and understand the impact it has on their business. We also incorporated automated intercompany eliminations, cash flow reporting, USD overrides related to investment in subsidiaries, and eliminated exchange rate issues, leading to better processes for the Ellsworth team. As the market shifts, Ellsworth now has the flexibility to generate real-time forecasts that are adaptable to varying scenarios based on key metric projections.
