Analysis instead of administration
When Mikael Ingvarsson started as Cash Manager at the service management company Coor in October 2008, he was faced with an empty desk. Not because the previous person had tidied up so nicely, but because the desk was new. Quite simply, nobody had ever worked specifically within this area before.
The circumstances were that Cinven Ltd made public its acquisition of Coor Service Management in the autumn of 2007. The new ownership structure brought about a new financing situation and stricter requirements for forecasting cash flows, which resulted in Mikael being given the task of filling the desk and creating new routines.
“Previously, the focus had simply not been on cash issues. Like many others, we had gone ahead with Excel, which worked well, but it became untenable due to our rate of growth.”
Today he can look back at what was, given the circumstances, an unusually rapid reorganisation. An important decision was to invest in a new Liquidity Management system, and now Group Finance works with completely different long-term planning.
During his 14 years at Handelsbanken, the last few years as Senior Cash Manager Advisor at the regional bank in Stockholm, he met a number of people who used the OpusCapitas system, but had no personal insight into how it worked in practice.
“Only now do I see the value in employing these types of services. The arguments used for selling such systems really do add up. To have the time to raise our sights and analyse the result, rather than simply administering it.”
Goal-orientated commitment
He launched the whole project in spring 2009 by putting a simple but fundamental question to all the financial managers in each country: what requirements and needs do you have? From then on things moved rapidly.
“Many dedicated project groups are assigned to a project like this and carry out complete pilot studies. At an early stage I prepared myself for the challenge of doing everything myself, in parallel with Excel for safety’s sake.”
OpusCapita contributed for an intensive period of five to six weeks. Altogether, it took over half a year before the new system was taken into use.
“With hindsight I realise that a treasury system could have been an alternative. But I’m convinced that we will have greater exchange in the long term with this solution. There are many possibilities and I don’t consider the system to be complex. In fact I am really looking forward to working with its full potential.”
Strength in numbers
Even if Mikael Ingvarsson already feels that he has got the hang of it, he is dependent upon 25 rapporteurs in the company, from the Nordic region, Canada, Belgium and Hungary.
“In order for them to begin to find their feet it would be good if we could raise the frequency. But we must hurry slowly. The rapporteurs have an extremely important role in validating all figures from the financial system to ensure that there are no mistakes or that anything is missing.”
Today, Coor works with measuring points each quarter, but the reporting frequency will increase. The vision is that a press of a button is all that will be required. There’s also a test environment on the wish list.
Three tips
Mikael Ingvarsson mentions three important tips for anyone about to invest in a Liquidity Management system.
- Do not overestimate your own capacity.
And thus not be mean with the consultancy time, especially with the technical part of an implementation. - Be aware of other internal projects.
At the same time as the OpusCapita system was to be implemented, the Coor companies in Sweden and Denmark were involved in a comprehensive upgrade of their financial systems. - Dare to adapt the system to your own needs.
Last year Coor carried out several company acquisitions, and with the help of OpusCapita, there is now a process which ensures that integrations take place as smoothly as possible.
The future guaranteed
Just now Mikael Ingvarsson is waiting for more detailed feedback internally. But it’s accounting year-end, so nobody has really had time to answer.
“I’ve already had it confirmed, in connection with our internal training, that we are on the right track. Nobody is harking back to life with Excel sheets. It is an excellent platform which meets today’s requirements, and definitely those we will have in the future.”
