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2Asurion_Confidential
Agenda
Asurion
Issues & Opportunities
Why BlackLine
Implementation
Current State
Return on Investment
Future State
3Asurion_Confidential
Over 20 years of innovation, leading provider of Support Services, Mobile Protection & Extended Warranties
Asurion Overview
Global Accounting OperationsAmericas – Nashville, TN (HQ) and Sterling, VAEurope – LondonAsia Pacific – Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney, New Delhi, Seoul, Taipei, Beijing, Shanghai
Global and growing – 16,000+ global employees serving 275+ million consumers
4Asurion_Confidential
Microsoft Dynamics A/X 2009 for ERP (in process of upgrading to 2012 R3/AX 7)
Asurion Finance Systems Overview
BlackLine for Reconciliations, Consolidation Integrity and Task Management
Hyperion for Planning and Reporting
5Asurion_Confidential
Issues & Opportunities
Before BlackLine
Pre-Close Activities
Month-end Post Month-end Activities Reporting
Month end processes
Reconciliations
Tie-out ledgers to reporting
These issues created inefficiencies in our close processes along with a list of control gaps that
had to be corrected
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Issues & Opportunities
1. Global, high level close deadlines issued before close to all of finance
2. Manual checklists for month end close
3. Audit requests were distributed via email in a spreadsheet and then emailed internally and externally
4. Tracking of completeness of account reconciliations was tracked in various spreadsheets
Tracking month-end processes prior to BlackLine
7Asurion_Confidential
Issues & Opportunities
Balance Sheet Reconciliations Prior to BlackLine
94% of spreadsheets contain errors with 5% of cells having errors *
* Source: Panko, Raymond R.. “What We Know About Spreadsheet Errors.” Spreadsheet Research (SSR. 2 16 2009). University of Hawai’i. 27 Feb 2009
2. No tracking / visibility / accountability
3. No standard templates
4. Manual process of updating reconciliations
5. New accounts added for a fast growing business
6. Difficult to track deadlines and completeness of reconciliations
7. No efficient way to review reconciliations globally or share them with auditors
1. Spreadsheets
8Asurion_Confidential
Issues & Opportunities
1. Multiple ledgers and a master file from Hyperion compared in spreadsheets (ignored smaller companies for materiality)
2. This process took hours and was too time consuming to repeat throughout close
Matching in Spreadshee
t
Reporting Trial
Balance
GL Trial Balanc
e - Japan
GL Trial Balance - Europe
GL Trial Balance – US
GL Trial Balance
– Australia
GL Trial Balance – Hong Kong
Prior to BlackLine: Matching our general ledger trial balance to our reporting system
9Asurion_Confidential
Why BlackLine
• Functionality that we needed via the, Accounts (Reconciliation), Tasks and Consolidation Integrity modules
• Customizable calendars, deadlines and tasks
• 1 instance, accessible anywhere (SaaS)
• Centralized storage of reconciliation support and other documents
• Wide array of knowledge bases
• Customizable alerts and workflow
• Easy to update balances multiple times per day
• Standard templates (Bank, prepaid, accruals, sub ledger match…)
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BlackLine Implementation
Software Search
late 2010
Implement U.S.
Q2 - Q3 ‘11
U.S. Live in Sept ’11
Added Sterling VA
location Q2 ’12
Europe/Japan Q3 ’12
APAC Q4 ’12 -
Ongoing
Initial implementations accomplished with Finance, little IT involvement and 3rd party consultant = $$$
Int’l locations implemented by 1 BlackLine Admin, very little IT involvement = $
11Asurion_Confidential
Current State - Reconciliations
12 General Ledger Instances (11 – v2009, 1 – v2012)
160+ Entities
140,000+ Balance Sheet Accounts Monitored
4,000+ Accounts With Balances
2,100+ Reconciliations
155 Users
1 System Administrator, 1 Local Admin (Finance)
12Asurion_Confidential
Current State - Tasks
• Monthly close checklists• Audit request tracking• Controls compliance sign-offs• System Admin and other tasks
Uses
• Tasks in central location and easily updated• Each task assigned (optional approval)• Task dependencies can be set• Emailed alerts (past due, workflow)• Document tasks in detail and attach other
documents as needed• Dashboard used to check status of tasks
Key Feature
s
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Current State – Consolidation Integrity
Consolidation Integrity Reconciliation
Mapping file between
Reporting and Ledger accounts
Trial balance
from Hyperion reporting
Trial balance
from ledgers
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Integration to BlackLine
ETL Server Location
BlackLine FTP Server
BlackLine Software
DAX Instances
SCHEDULED INTERFACESExtracts are scheduled across 8 of 11 AX 2009 instances.· U.S. Instance – 7 loads/day
during close· International instances load
3/day during close.
DAX Instances
MANUAL INTERFACESExtracts are run manually for 3 of the 11 AX 2009 instances 1/day during close.
15Asurion_Confidential
Closing the Gap
Before BlackLine
Pre-Close Activities
Month-end Post Month-end Activities Reporting
Month end processes
Reconciliations
Tie-out ledger to reporting
With BlackLine
Pre-Close Activities
Month-end Post Month-end Activities Reporting
Month end processes
Reconciliations
Tie-out ledger to reporting
Tasks Module
Accounts Module
Consolidation Integrity Module
16Asurion_Confidential
Return on InvestmentTim
eVi
sibi
lity
Improved Visibility• Balances and
explanations during month-end close
• Improved documentation of tasks/procedures
• Central database• 1 instance, accessible
anywhere
Time $avings• Reduced time for
reconciliations, system tie-outs and total month-end close time
• Less interaction time needed with auditors
• No manual update of spreadsheets
• Transition of reconciliations to new preparers
• Improved quality of reconciliations• Control gaps filled!• Reduced use of spreadsheets
• Reduced paper, storage, overhead, audit costs
• Reduced staff
17Asurion_Confidential
Future State
Shorten deadlines to complete reconciliations Formal balance sheet preparation reviews Revisit certification thresholds (current levels
are very conservative) Further roll-out of tasks globally for month-end
close, audit and compliance tasks Increased utilization of Reporting module Implement future BlackLine functionality To Be Continued…
Faster
Efficient
Better Information
19Asurion_Confidential
Questions?
Asurion.com
[email protected] of Finance Systems
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/michaelabaasPresentation access: Slideshare.net/MichaelABaas