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The Finance Function

Equinox Consulting provides the insight needed to comply with today’s more stringent financial regulations, while optimizing organizations, processes, and systems.

Ensuring compliance with stringent regulations that aim to guarantee greater transparency

New regulations requiring tighter controls and increased transparency to customers, markets, and regulatory authorities have led to new responsibilities – and a new, more strategic role – for bank finance departments. In addition to the traditional financial reporting and cost control duties, bank finance departments are now also accountable for:

• Ensuring regulatory compliance
• Improving the quality and transparency of financial communications, which must be provided under increasingly short deadlines
• Improving the efficiency and reliability of accounting processes
• Enhancing flexibility and streamlining accounting systems to keep pace with industry changes
• Making sure that the accounting information provided to managers corresponds to the relevant risks
• Reducing costs and allocating capital effectively

Bringing in-depth knowledge of the finance function to bank projects

Optimization of finance department procedures within banks

• Recommend effective processes for management controls, cash flow management, accounting, account consolidation, performance tracking, and financial communications
• Delegate roles and responsibilities for central and auxiliary functions, outsourcers, and shared service centers

Accounting projects

• Implement accounting applications based on our in-depth knowledge of the leading software packages currently available on the market (e.g., RDJ, PeopleSoft General Ledger, Oracle GL, and Magnitude)
• Manage domestic and international projects
• Manage change concerning the organization and business processes
• Ensure compliance with new regulations (e.g., reports for BAFI, FINREP, and COREP)

For all these types of projects, Equinox consultants use their solid experience with bank accounting, auditing, internal controls, IFRS, and other accounting issues to provide hands-on support throughout the implementation of finance department projects.

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Sample Project

Speeding up the year-end closing process

Thanks to Equinox, several leading financial institutions have cut the time needed to finalize their year-end accounts by up to 50%. Our consultants were able to do this by using process optimization techniques and testing new account-closing scenarios. They developed action plans that involved streamlining processes, incorporating the most recent accounting standards, upgrading IT systems, and addressing organizational and employee-related factors.

A secondary advantage of this type of project is that it helps companies standardize their accounting processes following the adoption of IFRS, and builds employee awareness of the importance of the finance function within the organization.