Johannesburg, 01 Sep 2015
After an initial implementation of Cognos Controller in 2005, the consolidation of the Waco International group results still involved many manual processes at head office level. In 2009, the controller data entry was rolled out to operational level, and through controller functionality, each operation loaded, balanced and locked its own results for submission to head office.
The controller chart of accounts was also expanded to include all IFRS required disclosures, which eliminated the manual capturing of data at consolidated level. The automation of the consolidation process reduced the preparation of group results from five days to two days. The controls within Controller has also enabled the head office auditors to place full reliance on operational data in Controller once data has been audited and locked, which reduced the manual tracing of data at various consolidation levels, and an annual R1 million (US$125 000) reduction in audit fees materialised as a result.
However, the preparation of various group financial statements still involves significant hours in the preparation and auditing thereof, says Dharishan Padiachy CA(SA), Group Accountant, Waco International. The introduction of Cognos Disclosure Management (CDM) to the process will further enhance report integrity and streamline shareholder and financial statement preparation processes.
CDM will also enable Waco to eliminate audit hours in the manual capturing and casting of financial statements, which the company estimates will result in a further R250 000 reduction in annual audit fees.
CDM functionality is endless, and during the next phase, Waco will also aim to utilise CDM to prepare all its monthly operational management accounts that are currently being produced via Excel extracts from controller, which will further enhance data integrity of operational data.
Read the full case study: Synergy helps Waco bat the last mile frustration
Share