Project Scope
- Scope: DE, AT, CH, LUX, ES, FR and TR
- Structure: approx. 20 legal entities
- Volume: approx. EUR 250 million revenue volume
- Initial structure: historically grown, heterogeneous finance, accounting, tax advisory, reporting and upstream system landscape with inconsistent account, cost center and reporting logic
- Target structure: group-wide harmonized cost accounting, cost center, cost object and consolidation logic as a foundation for management reporting, Power BI, DWH and group-wide steering
- Focus: cost accounting, account and posting logic, cost centers, cost objects, upstream accounting processes, invoice review, consolidation scopes, data harmonization, historical data migration and consolidation readiness
Initial Situation
The group had grown significantly over several years — both organically and through acquisitions. The finance structures had only partially kept pace with this development. Across multiple entities, different accounting processes, local tax advisory structures, inconsistent account logic, various upstream systems and historically grown reporting structures were in place.
A consistent cost center and cost object logic did not exist across the group. As a result, costs, revenues, customers, products and operational performance areas could only be analyzed and compared across entities to a limited extent.
Management steering was therefore strongly based on individual information, experience and liquidity visibility. For a group of this size, this was no longer sufficient — particularly with regard to banking requirements, external stakeholders, cost optimization, management reporting, as well as the first group consolidation and subsequent group audit.
Complexity
The core challenge was not only to implement cost accounting, but to restructure the underlying finance data foundation across multiple entities.
Particularly complex were:
- harmonization of account, cost center and cost object logic across approx. 20 entities
- mapping of different business models, customer, product and performance structures
- harmonization of accounting processes within a heterogeneous DATEV-based starting point
- integration of upstream accounting processes, particularly invoice review and invoice approval
- alignment with various local finance functions and external tax advisors
- phased migration of individual entities and entity groups instead of a big-bang approach
- migration of historical data into a new steering and reporting logic
- definition of different consolidation scopes
- preparation of the first group consolidation
- provision of structured data for Power BI, DWH and management reporting
- creation of a more audit-ready data foundation for the subsequent group audit
Implementation
The project was implemented as a group-wide harmonization of the financial steering and consolidation logic. The objective was to create a structure that allowed entities, costs, revenues, customers, products and operational performance areas to be analyzed consistently.
Implementation was not carried out as a big bang, but in phases by entity or entity group. This allowed local specifics to be considered, existing processes to be analyzed and the new structure to be introduced in a controlled manner.
A central element was the definition of a harmonized cost center and cost object logic. The structure was designed so that not every entity had to use every dimension, while still providing a consistent group-wide model for analysis, consolidation and steering.
In parallel, account and posting logic were harmonized, upstream accounting processes were adjusted and the capture of cost centers and cost objects was embedded earlier in the process. This improved data quality at the source instead of requiring incomplete or incorrect allocations to be corrected later in controlling.
The cost accounting structure was initially implemented in DATEV and subsequently made usable for Power BI, DWH structures and consolidated management reporting. This created a reliable foundation for consolidated steering, reporting, budgeting, forecasting and future group audit requirements.
Role & Contribution
My focus was on initiating, designing, planning and implementing the project from a functional and commercial perspective.
This included:
- initiating the project for the group-wide implementation of cost accounting
- developing the target structure for cost centers, cost objects, account logic and consolidation scopes
- steering the phased rollout across entities and entity groups
- aligning internal finance functions, local stakeholders, external tax advisors and system ownership
- harmonizing historically grown accounting and reporting structures
- integrating upstream accounting and invoice approval processes
- structuring the data foundation for Power BI, DWH and management reporting
- preparing the first group consolidation and subsequent group audit
- building a reliable steering logic for costs, revenues, customers, products and entities
- translating management, banking and audit requirements into an implementable finance structure
Result & Impact
The project created the foundation for significantly improved financial steering across the group.
Key effects included:
- first group-wide harmonized cost center and cost object structure
- significantly improved comparability of entities, business areas, customer and product structures
- more consistent allocation of costs and revenues across multiple entities
- improved data quality through earlier capture of relevant steering information in upstream accounting processes
- more reliable foundation for management reporting, Power BI, DWH and data-driven decisions
- preparation of the first group consolidation and subsequent group audit
- definition of different consolidation scopes for internal and external steering purposes
- improved transparency over cost structure, profitability and operational performance areas
- stronger alignment with banks, audit firm, tax advisors and other external stakeholders
- foundation for more targeted cost optimization, better budgeting and more reliable forecasting processes
The impact was therefore not limited to the implementation of cost accounting. The project created a consolidation-ready, steerable and stakeholder-ready finance structure. A heterogeneous, historically grown data and process landscape was transformed into a significantly more reliable foundation for group steering, reporting, audit readiness and further growth.