The globally operating family-owned company Viessmann faced a key Finance question: Where does the finance organization need to transform when established structures and processes lead to inconsistent reporting data and inefficiencies across the group?
into root causes, interdependencies, and efficiency potential
of the key areas for action across organization, processes, content, and systems
for the next stages of development, including ongoing initiatives
* To respect our clients’ confidentiality, we do not publish project-specific metrics. The results presented reflect the qualitative impact of our collaboration.
Established Structures, Growing Management Needs
Viessmann’s finance organization was decentralized across plants, sales companies, divisions and the holding company. Management was intended to follow a consistent logic across the group while remaining decentralized to meet the differing requirements of the individual units.
Over time, inconsistent reporting data and different process logics made group-wide management increasingly difficult. There was no reliable and consistent view of where the key drivers and levers within the group lay to positively influence performance. At the same time, it remained unclear what exactly was causing this lack of transparency and where the further development of Finance should begin.
Individual process improvements alone would not have resolved this challenge. What was needed was a shared target state for the finance organization, supported by a roadmap that prioritized the key areas and set out the next steps in a clear and coherent way. The central question was: How should Finance be structured in the future to ensure that organization, processes, data and systems are aligned?
From the Big Picture to the Roadmap
4C began by analyzing the finance organization across the key areas of Accounting, Group Reporting, Controlling, Sales Management, and Finance IT. This provided a comprehensive view of where processes, data, and responsibilities were already working well together – and where inefficiencies were arising.
A particular focus was placed on Record to Report. The analysis identified inefficiencies within the process, assessed opportunities for optimization and digitalization, and evaluated potential organizational adjustments.
Based on these findings, 4C developed concrete options for action and incorporated ongoing initiatives into the overall approach. This resulted in a roadmap that established clear priorities and made the interdependencies between the individual steps transparent.
The roadmap provided transparency on root causes, dependencies and possible courses of action. This enabled us to take a targeted approach to developing our finance organization further.
Clear priorities for the further development of Finance
An organically grown and difficult-to-manage Finance structure was transformed into a clear path for the continued development of the finance organization.
Viessmann gained a shared target operating model and a roadmap that brought ongoing initiatives, key areas for action, and interdependencies into a clear sequence. This enabled the finance organization to drive its development forward in a focused way – with greater clarity for decision-making and a transparent implementation logic.
"What stood out was the openness with which Viessmann examined its own finance organization and processes. This was essential to jointly identify which structures were making group-wide management more difficult and which steps should be prioritized."
