Financial Consolidation: Rigor Restored

By Mainaa Lamri, Director of the Consolidation & Reporting Practice at Beyond Plans

Statutory consolidation is back in the spotlight. After years spent chasing ever-faster closes, many finance departments are rediscovering the value of controlled rigor — the kind that ensures reliability, auditability, and continuity between management data and consolidated statements.

In over twenty years of working on consolidation projects, I’ve seen finance teams swing between excessive technicality and loss of control. Today, the priority is no longer to close faster, but to close better — within a traceable, autonomous, and connected framework. This is the discipline we advocate at Beyond Plans.

This is no longer a purely technical concern; it’s now central to financial governance. With accelerated closing cycles, more frequent audits, and increasingly complex IFRS frameworks, finance leaders can no longer rely on fragmented models.

A Need for Continuity and Confidence

Too many organizations still experience the closing process as an obstacle course — manual extractions, Excel reprocessing, and IT dependency. The result? Long timelines, limited visibility, and a persistent disconnect between operations and performance management.

Restoring continuity means rebuilding the link between accounting production and consolidated reporting, automating controls without sacrificing rigor, and giving finance teams back full ownership of the process.

A modern consolidation framework goes far beyond data aggregation: it orchestrates a collaborative, documented process built on best practices.

When Consolidation Breaks Free from Technical Constraints

Legacy systems have long locked consolidation into rigid, parameter-heavy setups, where every change required costly development. Finance now wants to take back control.

This is where open, no-code platforms come in — environments where consolidators can define their own rules and controls. Anaplan’s Financial Consolidation & Reporting (FCR) application perfectly embodies this new approach.

Built for the cloud, it gives finance full governance over its closing process — and it’s this autonomy that we, at Beyond Plans, place at the core of our engagements.

A Framework Inspired by Best Practices

The FCR model is built on a preconfigured IFRS-compliant framework: a standard chart of accounts, consolidated reports, and integrated rules for eliminations and currency conversions.
Multi-currency management, scope changes, cross-shareholdings, and intercompany transactions are handled natively, within a transparent and fully auditable environment.

Some organizations report monthly closes up to 75% faster and audit times cut by half — clear indicators of the maturity achieved by this new generation of frameworks.

A New Role for Finance

The transformation is cultural. Consolidation no longer belongs to IT — it’s once again a finance-led discipline, built on three pillars:

• Autonomy: rules and controls can be maintained without technical dependency

• Auditability: full traceability, from individual accounts to group reporting

• Interoperability: seamless integration with any ERP or reference system, regardless of chart structure

This structural flexibility makes it possible to add analytical dimensions — by product, geography, or client — without impacting performance.
Consolidation is no longer a compliance exercise, but a true lever for analysis and decision-making.

From Solution to Framework

But even the most advanced solution isn’t enough on its own. The real value lies in the framework that supports it.

A successful consolidation project combines accounting rigor, IFRS expertise, and deep process understanding. At Beyond Plans, we see that success comes when technology serves as an enabler — not the focus — of a trusted framework.

Our approach relies on:

• a precise functional scoping (scope, IFRS and local GAAP requirements);

• tailoring the standard model to business specifics;

• automating collection and validation workflows;

• embedding adoption support from the start of the project.

This progressive, well-documented methodology ensures consolidation that is both sustainable and scalable.

Measurable Results

Organizations that have adopted this approach report tangible outcomes:

• faster, smoother closing cycles;

• instant visibility into consolidated statements;

• significantly reduced maintenance costs;

• simplified auditor–finance relationships;

• new simulation capabilities for scope changes;

• and full coverage: statutory, intercompany, equity, cash flow, and group reporting.

Beyond operational gains, this represents a cultural shift — finance teams regain control of their timelines and their data.

Toward Connected Consolidation

Consolidation no longer ends with closing. It now forms part of an integrated planning continuum — from budgeting and forecasting to performance and ESG reporting.

Connecting the consolidation model to planning allows finance teams to simulate the impact of mergers or divestments in the same environment as their strategic planning.

This is connected consolidation — finance that is rigorous in execution, and agile in decision-making.

FAQ – Financial Consolidation and Transformation

➡️ Why rethink consolidation today?
Because the growing complexity of organizations and the increased frequency of closings demand a more fluid, continuously auditable, and scalable model.

➡️ What’s the advantage of a preconfigured solution like FCR?
It provides built-in best practices while remaining fully extensible — striking the right balance between standardization and adaptability.

➡️ How long does it take to deploy such a solution?
On average, 8 to 12 weeks, depending on scope and level of customization.

➡️ What’s the role of an expert partner?
To ensure functional coherence, drive adoption, and secure long-term autonomy for the finance team.