Since plans, budgets, forecasts, and actuals often reside in separate systems, extracting and aggregating data can be time-consuming and error-prone. And using spreadsheets for consolidation and reporting only increases the chance of error.

For Consolidation Solutions Simpson Associates use IBM Cognos Controller. This product automatically collects data from general ledgers and other sources - including spreadsheets - and unites it into a single source to provide an accurate, consistent view of enterprise finances.

• Multi-source data integration. Controller provides perpetual access and mapping to data from disparate sources across the enterprise. Data can be fed directly from transaction sources or from supplemental input forms in Excel or on the Web. Journal entries can be posted for repeating and recurring balanced adjustments
• Allocations. Controller sets up all methods of cross-enterprise financial allocations. Data can be allocated by any measure - such as head count or square footage. Built-in flexibility enables tiered or waterfall allocations - single passes or multiple passes that require intermediate consolidations.
• Inter-company eliminations. Organisations operating multiple legal entities or subsidiaries need to produce accurate consolidated statements, require the elimination of inter-company transactions. IBM Cognos Controller lets you perform one-off or repeatable eliminations and automatically determine the amounts that need to be eliminated as inter-entity transactions are matched and reconciled.
• Currency conversion. Effective currency management requires handling multiple exchange rates including beginning and end of month rates, average rates, maintenance of historical rates, and conversion of many input currencies to one reporting currency. Controller easily manages unlimited input currencies, conversion, and calculations for gains or losses on exchange.
• Version control IBM Cognos Controller supports an unlimited number of annual collected data versions called submissions, which can include budgets, actuals, adjustments, or adjusted actuals in both functional and reporting currencies. Submissions make data management flexible and powerful, and help co-ordinate the closing process.

Financial Statements & Reporting

Controller offers end-users a financial report-writer for creating income statements, balance sheets, stockholder equity statements, cash flow statements, variance analysis and more. Simple or complex analyses are just a few clicks away, as are automatic better-than and worse-than reporting on debits and credits with no re-keying of data. Additionally, Controller handles multiple hierarchies for internal management reporting and analysis, as well as external statutory reporting and analysis.

• User-friendly flexibility. IBM Cognos Controller provides key financial ratios and statements when you need them - in print, online, to Excel, or over the Web. Administrators can define user access rights, while users have the flexibility to see reports in alternative views, including custom formats and calculations.
• Full formatting and layout. Rapidly develop and modify all types of financial statements and management reports. Add new accounts or dimensions, alter underlying accounts structure, alter the roll-up, even alter your business model, and see changes instantly.
• Compliance-ready. IBM Cognos Controller provides you with a single version of the financial truth. Consolidated and validated actual results are prepared and delivered according to your financial statement and accounting standards. A final consolidated financial view of the enterprise is always ready for certification.
• Self maintaining. Reports are data driven, adjusting to changes in years or versions and instantly incorporating new accounts, organizations, or products - all managed automatically within the report, with no administrative effort required.
• Time and version comparisons. Including month-over-month, quarter-over-quarter, current actual, current budget, prior year, and more.
• Easy deployment. Reports and forms can automatically be deployed to a thin client Web browser, with no special coding or technical intervention. Finance has total control over the timing and content of Web-published information.

Insight, Analysis, and Integration
IBM Cognos Controller enables ready access and distribution of financial information throughout your organisation. It gives decision-makers the insight they need, when they need it. Furthermore, it off-loads endless reporting requests from the finance team to conserve precious time and resources.