Financial compliance and the business case for statutory reporting software

Statutory reporting and disclosure management obligations cannot be completed in a quick and compliant manner without the right software. For companies that have not yet adopted the right software solution, making a business case for investment is a challenging but necessary next step.

After all, new technology investments require careful assessment of the potential costs and benefits to the organisation. With resource allocations under greater scrutiny in the changing global economy, all possible objections from the buying council must be handled and resolved.

When developing the business case, consideration needs to be given to the potential return on investment (ROI) from the enterprise software. This could include cost savings and efficiency gains, as well as the expectation of stronger risk management and regulatory compliance.

Real ROI metrics to benchmark your proposal

Thomson Reuters recently commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct an independent cost/benefit analysis of ONESOURCE Statutory Reporting (OSR).

Extensive interviews were conducted with four OSR customers, the findings of which were aggregated to create a composite multinational corporation (MNC) that was transforming its statutory reporting processes across 100 entities in 20 countries.

Forrester determined that, over a three-year period, the composite MNC achieved:

risk-adjusted PV total benefits of $1.44 million, compared to total costs of $783K
net present value (NPV) of $661K
present value (PV) cost savings (outsourcing, audit overruns, legacy processes etc.) of $803K
an 84% ROI

What should I include in my statutory reporting technology pitch?

Here is a summary of how the data from the composite MNC study can be used to develop a strong business case for investing in ONESOURCE.

1. OSR delivered 68% efficiency gains by:

Automating manual accounts production and financial reporting processes, supported by in-built content for 45+ jurisdictions.
Ensuring standardisation and harmonisation of disparate global processes.
Securing process continuity and centralised knowledge management.
Reducing time spent on end-to end processes, from data preparation/ load to roll forward, and from initial draft to final review.
Enabling skilled staff to focus on value-added activities (such as strategic analysis and business innovation).
Supporting agile working and cross-regional collaboration in ways that strengthen organisational culture and cohesion.

2. OSR drove more than $800K in cost savings by:

Phasing out manual processes and legacy software, and their maintenance costs.
Key feature: OSR supports the delivery of statutory reporting compliance processes globally, whether through an SSC, in-country or hybrid approach, ultimately replacing legacy systems.
Automatically preparing financial reports in line with auditor requirements.
Key feature: OSR provides standardisation and a full audit trail that can significantly reduce the need for auditor review iterations and overruns.
Reducing the need for local language translation services.
Key feature: OSR’s in-built language translation functionality provides instant and automatic report and user interface translation from the local language.
Providing automatic XBRL tagging in line with local regulatory requirements.
Key feature: OSR removes the need to outsource the tagging requirements for the submission of electronic regulatory filings.

3. OSR can manage global risks of regulatory compliance breaches by:

Delivering centralised disclosure management for 45+ jurisdictions.
Being customisable to organisational needs both centrally and on an entity basis.
Providing centralised report templates and regulatory content updates, which are regularly updated to support full local and global regulatory compliance.
Ensuring the application of consistent internal standards, formatting approaches and data quality for all financial records and reports.
Enabling global oversight of the organisation’s fulfilment of its statutory financial reporting compliance obligations.

4. OSR can also benefit the business by:

Supporting process centralisation initiatives.
Eliminating process inefficiencies and unnecessary costs that can burden the bottom line.
Reducing organisational dependence on local finance and accounting staff, as competition for highly skilled talent escalates worldwide.

ONESOURCE helps MNCs prepare for business uncertainty

It is vital that your organisation is prepared for the future, whatever it brings, and can leverage the latest technological tools to maximise efficiencies and drive down costs wherever possible. Investing in an enterprise enablement software can support that objective by delivering substantial efficiencies and cost savings.

OSR can help your businesses to:

Digitise, harmonise and centralise manual processes.
Eliminate inefficiencies that can burden the bottom line.
Achieve standardised reports, process continuity and consistency.
Gain visibility into your statutory reports and data across regions, and enable better internal and external collaboration.
Maximise the skills and expertise of your talent.
Ensure regulatory compliance across global business operations.
Be agile and ready to take advantage of new growth and expansion opportunities.

Finance is the backbone of every organisation, and OSR provides peace of mind that global statutory reporting function can be fulfilled seamlessly in a wide range of business scenarios.

“ONESOURCE has the capacity to operationally transform businesses processes from the inside out, and our customers report on the efficiencies they are able to achieve. Whilst having a business case signed off is arguably the toughest part of a new customer journey, providing insight on the potential benefits, both quantified as well as unquantified, will help to strengthen your application for funding.”
— Sakshi Rehani, Statutory Reporting Proposition Lead for Asia and emerging markets at Thomson Reuters.

More resources to help you prepare your business case

Are you preparing a business case for statutory reporting software? Or looking to justify your current expenditure on statutory reporting technology? Get ideas from The Total Economic Impact™ of Thomson Reuters ONESOURCE Statutory Reporting.

Thomson Reuters has also created a detailed step-by-step guide containing practical toolkits for multinationals and their shared services centres on How to Build a Fail-Safe Business Case for Statutory Reporting Software.

To learn more about how OSR could benefit your finance department, see our earlier blogs in this series:

A more detailed breakdown of the independent research findings is available in the Forrester Consulting study The Total Economic Impact™ of Thomson Reuters ONESOURCE Statutory Reporting.

Access full study here