McGladrey Benchmarking Survey: Year-end process improvements and best practices

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During the spring of 2010, McGladrey conducted a year-end benchmarking study of over 100 finance executives throughout New England. The survey was developed in order to outline current trends, best practices and issues that organizations face during the year-end close process. Components of the process that are evaluated within the survey include: financial close, consolidation, management and financial reporting and tax preparation.

The survey results indicate that a strong correlation exists between the quality of the financial close process and all year-end functions. All organizations are in search of an approach that leads to a more efficient process, minimizing time spent on low-value activities, reducing errors and increasing the amount of relevant information delivered to the business and key stakeholders.

In addition, the 2010 Benchmarking Survey provides information critical to achieving a successful year-end close, such as:

• The primary difference between organizations that close in less than five days and those that take longer
• What organizations see as the most critical areas for improvement
• What reporting processes are able to produce external financial reporting packages in less time
• Why the practice of outsourcing of tax preparation has grown and what benefits can be realized
• The correlation between obstacles to reducing the close cycle and issues in providing data to auditors