Scaling a Global Capability Center for a U.S. SaaS Leader
The challenge
Rapid growth had quietly broken a process that used to work. Headcount had tripled in two years, the transaction volume had followed, and the close still ran the way it had when the company was a quarter of the size. Twelve business days after period-end, the books were finally ready — and by then, the numbers were already stale.
- Everything happened after period-end. Reconciliations, accruals and intercompany entries all started on day one of the close.
- Review was a bottleneck, not a rhythm. A single controller signed off everything at the very end, creating a multi-day queue.
- Everything happened after period-end. Reconciliations, accruals and intercompany entries all started on day one of the close.
Our approach
“For the first time, the close felt designed instead of endured. We got our evenings back — and the board got numbers they could trust.”
What we built
- Everything happened after period-end. Reconciliations, accruals and intercompany entries all started on day one of the close.
- Review was a bottleneck, not a rhythm. A single controller signed off everything at the very end, creating a multi-day queue.
- Everything happened after period-end. Reconciliations, accruals and intercompany entries all started on day one of the close.
The results
Within a single quarter, the close dropped from twelve days to four — and stayed there. Two-thirds of the close is now automated or pre-run, accuracy at sign-off is near-perfect, and the finance team spends its time on analysis instead of assembly. All of it delivered without a single additional hire.
Just as importantly, the CFO now takes clean numbers to the board on schedule, every month — and the close has stopped being the thing that keeps the finance team up at night.
Related work & thinking
The Five-Day Close, On-Demand
RPA & Automation
Virtual CFO, On-Demand
Global Capability Centers