Overview
Clean Solutions Group is an ESG-focused company dedicated to providing customers with high-quality and environmentally responsible nonwoven cleaning and filtration products. Formed in 2022, CSG combines leaders in nonwoven manufacturing to create a sustainable green cleaning powerhouse.
Services Provided
- BlackLine Modern Accounting Playbook (MAP)
- BlackLine Financial Reporting Analytics (FRA)
Challenge
As the finance team juggled data from two ERP platforms,the monthly close for Clean Solutions Group (CSG) took an average of 15 days, says Corporate Controller Alberto Cruz. The complex, manual process involved reviews and approvals centered around team members exchanging spreadsheets and supporting documents by emailing links to a file storage platform.
The finance team’s challenge was compounded by extensive customizations to its ERP platforms that slowed the team’s ability to obtain data easily.
The extended process meant the finance team was often reporting results closer to the end of the current month than the end of the previous one, leaving the team ill-equipped to support functional leaders with detailed performance insights.
“Anytime you can go from a 15-day close to a fourday close, it’s a huge improvement.”
Alberto CruzCorporate Controller, Clean Solutions Group
Solution
Having worked with BlackLine in previous roles, Cruz knew the platform offered considerable potential to streamline CSG’s financial close and reporting. He contacted BlackLine, which referred him to Sensiba with a glowing recommendation.
Working together, Sensiba and CSG implemented BlackLine’s Modern Accounting Playbook (MAP) solution, which includes automated account reconciliations, task management, bank transaction matching, and other features. CSG also implemented Financial Reporting Analytics (FRA) within BlackLine MAP to gain real-time visibility into balance sheet and income statement information, supported by detailed traceability and drilldown capabilities.
Compounding the challenge was CSC going through an acquisition during the implementation process. The finance team was, at the same time, preparing acquisition accounting, undergoing a financial statement audit, implementing BlackLine, and carrying out its monthly closes under the manual process.
“Sensiba was a huge help,” Cruz says. “When they made the referral, BlackLine stressed that Sensiba would provide a hands-on-experience throughout the process, and Sensiba was there every step of the way.”
Result
Working with Sensiba, CSG was able to reduce the average 15-day financial close to four days by centralizing document and task management into a platform that streamlined the process considerably. The FRA tool allows CSG to automate the majority of its financial statement and balance sheet preparation. “We’re now in a position where we download that FRA package and we have consolidated financial statements that only need minor adjustments,” Cruz says. Beyond speeding the close, the BlackLine implementation freed time the finance team can devote to working closely with other functional leaders.
“We’re able to focus on value-add initiatives,” Cruz says. “Instead of spending 15 days on the monthly close, we’re able to spend time working with our cross-functional departments on operational synergies. We can support sales and operations in ways we hadn’t been able to do because we didn’t have the availability.”
Cruz says finance leaders considering an implementation should map out their IT infrastructure carefully so they know where their data is coming from and can create automations more easily.
“Everyone says data comes from their ERP, but they need to know if there are bolt-ons or customizations feeding that data,” he says. “It’s important to work closely with IT to perform a very thorough assessment of your IT environment before an implementation like this.
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