From External Accountant to Integrated Finance Function: CFO Mandate in A/V and Simulation

Building a fully integrated, in-house finance organization for an Austrian-American company in the A/V and medical simulation training sector – as Chief Financial Officer responsible for ERP implementation, reporting and transatlantic financial structure.

Responsibility:

  • All financial agendas of the Austrian GmbH and the American Inc.

Mission:

  • Ensuring liquidity
  • Introduction of integrated financial accounting based on Odoo
  • Introduction of a monthly reporting system
  • Development and integration of the financial organization of the American subsidiary
  • Implementation of annual financial statements

Measures:

  • Insourcing of all financial accounting processes and integration into the newly introduced ERP (Odoo)
  • Definition of a structured process for month-end closing
  • Definition of the interfaces to the other departments
  • Replacement of legacy financial accounting and conversion from paper-based to digital invoice workflow

Successes:

  • Financing the establishment of the American subsidiary
  • Digitization of the invoice workflow
  • Project financing for major projects

Special Challenge:

  • The introduction of financial accounting had to take place in a rudimentarily implemented ERP, which resulted in numerous time-consuming reworking and data cleansing processes. The new processes resulting from the introduction had to be designed and implemented accordingly.
  • As financial information had not been used in the past, a new understanding had to be created.
  • The increased transparency provided by the reporting system led to surprises in terms of the company’s profitability. This had to be argued and explained accordingly