The first FA&R network meeting of 2019 took place at WSP Global’s premises in Manchester, where host Rachel Ryan provided a warm welcome for SSF UK members. An inspiring, forward-thinking setting, members praised their hosts’ ‘amazing hospitality’ and ‘great venue’. FA&R network chair, Lubnah Alam (Head of Finance Shared Services, J Murphy & Sons), put together an exciting agenda and led a meeting characterised by lively discussion, where members participated actively and were engaged throughout.
The day began with a showcase of WSP Global and then Debbie Pickering, RtR Manager at J. Murphy & Sons, gave us a member perspective on their balance sheet reconciliations and reporting journey. We always place great weight on the member contribution here at SSF UK because we know the value in sharing stories. Feedback from the meeting showed our members agree: 75% stated that sharing of specific case studies by members would be a topic of interest at a future FA&R network meeting.
The spirit of sharing continued with two discussion exercises; one focused on Benchmarking & KPI’s and explored the measures used to report Balance Sheet Reconciliations, which reconciliations are classed as “Red, Amber, Green”, what materiality is exercised, manual vs automatic sign off processes and the make up the individual teams carrying out reconciliations. Later in the morning, attendees collaborated to share how FA&R teams are structured to manage efficiency.
Martin Kotze from Blackline, SSF UK FA&R network sponsors for 2019, brought in the automation aspect and gave a presentation titled ‘Start Your Journey to Digital Finance Transformation’. Sli.do feedback from the meeting showed that members found Blackline’s proposals interesting, with several stating they could see the potential and wanted to investigate further.
This was followed by a round table discussion around how other companies deal with audit adjustments, specifically, the 13th period in the ledger vs Extended Trial Balance adjustments. Finally, a networking lunch rounded off a busy, productive day.
Live sli.do polling at the end of the session captured some of the key take-aways from the meeting, including the ‘power of the network’, ‘similarities of everyone’s issues’ and the ‘benefit of knowledge sharing’.
Much discussion was had about potential topics for the next FA&R network meeting, with suggestions including:
Do join us at the next FA&R network meeting (date and location to be announced soon) for what will undoubtedly be another fantastic exercise in collaboration and best-practice sharing.
