Automated reconciliation delivers faster, clearer, more accurate results
Challenges
If uses Wallstreet Suite version 7.4 to manage its investments and cash flows through the front, middle, back-office and accounting processes. The Investment Accounting department also runs Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne (E1) accounting software. As part of the control function, the accounting team reconciles the performance data against the accounting data on a monthly basis. This is done by extracting instrument details (such as individual transaction data) from the portfolio management system and comparing them against bookings in the accounting system. This task used to be performed manually using a cumbersome and time-consuming process of cut-and-paste.
Anita Enström, Head of Investment Accounting at If explains: “the cumulative amounts of data to be reconciled for each instrument or transaction are large. For example, a single bond, paying twelve monthly interest coupons, could generate over 100 rows of data.” Apart from the time required to transfer the data manually, it was also a repetitive, error-prone process, so the accounting team was anxious to find a better, more efficient and more accurate way of working.
Solution
SkySparc consultants had worked with If during the upgrade to version 7.4, when SkySparc tested data for migration to the new production environment and also configured the data using OmniFi, SkySparc’s automated integration and testing platform.
During the upgrade work, it was clear that OmniFi, which offers an automated Reconciliation Module as standard, would be the ideal solution to improve both the speed and quality of the monthly reconciliation between its portfolio management and accounting systems.
SkySparc’s consultants mapped the instruments and transactions from the Wallstreet Suite configuration to the E1 formats using their specialist knowledge, working within OmniFi’s standardized, easy-to-use format. When the reconciliation is run, the data from the portfolio management system is matched against the transactions recorded in the accounting system, and any discrepancies that fall outside the set tolerances are flagged up.
Some fine-tuning was required to ensure the parameters were appropriate and the presentation as clear and logical as required. “SkySparc’s consultants were very supportive and knowledgeable, ready with alternatives and solutions to every small issue,” says Enström.
The quality of the reconciliation report from OmniFi is excellent and consequently we have a faster process and better understanding of the data. The solution makes the data more transparent.
Anita Enström, Head of Investment Accounting, If Insurance
Results
After some testing, the reconciliation process was ready to go live. Today, If’s Investment Accounting department can extract the data it needs to perform the monthly performance data reconciliation “at the press of a button”. As well as automating the process, speeding up the reconciliation and reducing errors, there are further benefits as a result of the project: “The quality of the reconciliation report from OmniFi is excellent and consequently we have a faster process and better understanding of the data. The solution makes the data more transparent,” says Enström. It also provides good control of the data, allowing, for example, some differences to be accepted or rejected on a case by case basis.
Enström and the team also appreciate the fact that the process can be run each month within the Investment Accounting department without the need for any specialist systems expertise because OmniFi fetches the data from the portfolio management system and presents it in a familiar format. “It’s very easy for us accountancy professionals to use,” she says. In the future, the time needed for this task is likely to reduce to less than an hour.
