Our References

Bigger Picture

Following the takeover by an investor, the previously manual processes in group accounting had to be automated and more closely integrated. The core challenges lay in the transition from HGB consolidation to IFRS and later to J-GAAP. In addition, various group levels were consolidated with push-down of ppa postings for each level to the legal entity. This involved many different subgroups with decentralized data upload for differing fiscal year logics.

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Industrie: Sanitary products

Region: Germany

Mitarbeitende: 7.500

4C Consulting approach

Definition and establishment of group-wide harmonized structures in accordance with the required IFRS financial statements
Mapping of local CoA to IFRS accounts and automation of the upload routine, taking into account different fiscal year logics
Implementation of the investment register for HGB and IFRS within the consolidation system
Integration of automated ppa push-down postings into the legal entity
Setup of validation reports, audit rules, and standardized reporting process

Added Value

Complete automation of consolidation for different hierarchy levels and subgroups. This also created transparency for auditors and shareholders regarding the level and GAAP according to which the corresponding postings are made and the effects this has on which segment.

Digital business model development

Bigger Picture

The digital, customer-centric services offered by FinTechs represent a new type of competition for established financial institutions. In order to remain competitive in the future, traditional institutions see the digital development of their business model as the next logical step. However, experience shows that the difficulty of intelligently “connecting” existing products with new services and addressing additional customer groups is significantly underestimated.

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Industrie: Banking

Region: Germany & Austria

Mitarbeitende: 9.000

4C Consulting approach

Analysis and recording of existing reports to derive essential information requirements from the business model.
Conceptual definition of design, content outline, and basic functionalities in report mockups.
Consolidation of various data sources in a central data warehouse (DWH).
Testing by selected end users, rollout first in top management and then in all operational units.

Added Value

By taking a cross-industry perspective and regularly validating with the customer, we ensure that customer wishes and issues are specifically addressed and integrated into the roadmap (MVP planning). In addition, the customer benefits from the inclusion of related interfaces, from service design to market launch and establishment.

Digital Roadmap

Bigger Picture

Until then, the group had been organized in a decentralized manner and managed on a regional basis. In the course of digitalization, the focus was on identifying potential opportunities in the finance department that would enable a clear vision and roadmap to be communicated internally in the regions and to the executive board.

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Industrie: Connection technology

Region: Germany

Mitarbeitende: 6.000

4C Consulting approach

Vision: External requirements of stakeholders and internal requirements of finance
Creation of a decision template with prioritization of project clusters
Subsequent coordination of all results with finance, IT, sales controlling, procurement, and logistics
Clustering of measures into project packages and creation of a roadmap

Added Value

The transparent presentation of the options made it clear which basic tasks needed to be tackled first. This reduced the pressure from internal discussions about digitization. At the same time, a clear vision and a concrete procedural model could be presented.

Target Operating Model and Digital Roadmap

Bigger Picture

The financial organization was structured similarly across the group: in plants, sales companies, divisions, and the holding company. The decentralized structure led to high complexity and inconsistent reporting data. Therefore, the overall structure was to be reviewed from a financial perspective with regard to effectiveness and efficiency. The goal was to define key areas of action for alignment with growth targets. The opportunities offered by digitalization and a suitable target operating model were to be taken into account.

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Industrie: Heating engineering

Region: Germany

Mitarbeitende: 14.500

4C Consulting approach

Conducting a highspot analysis in the areas of accounting, group reporting, controlling, sales management, and finance IT.
Analyzing efficiency potential, particularly in the record-to-report process, through process optimization, digitization, and organizational restructuring.
Deriving options for action and drawing up a comprehensive roadmap, including initiatives already in progress.

Added Value

Complete transparency regarding the causes of the current challenges, including the individual options for action. By highlighting the interdependencies between the options, a roadmap could be developed. With the help of the roadmap, the organization was able to develop further in line with the defined corporate vision (organization, processes, content, systems).

Traffic-based planning

Bigger Picture

Decentralized planning made it almost impossible to conduct analyses and provide detailed information at the corporate level. Due to differing business models, it was difficult to compare content, yet the process involved was very time-consuming.

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Industrie: Methanol production

Region: Switzerland

Mitarbeitende: 1.600

4C Consulting approach

Definition of a uniform group-wide planning model for core financial planning and for all business models
Integration of specific local requirements of an American subgroup
Implementation of all planning modules in two phases (core/segments)
Support for testing centrally and in overseas units
User training and hypercare
System expansion to include financial planning and liquidity management as well as complex simulations

Added Value

Integrated corporate performance management system with the ability to perform ad hoc analyses of actual figures as well as meaningful analyses of planned/actual variances. This enabled Proman to derive significant added value from its processes and figures. In addition, Group Controlling was able to administer and further develop the processes and systems itself.

Implementation of a reporting factory

Bigger Picture

The ongoing centralization of transactional tasks in particular in controlling requires a reporting factory as a central organizational unit. The question was how this could be embedded in the process. Responsibility is assumed both in depth—from posting to the group report—and at the interfaces between the departments, for example for the accuracy of the data content.

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Industrie: Heating technology

Region: Germany

Mitarbeitende: 14.500

4C Consulting approach

Elaboration of the various task areas and role definition
Definition of internal processes and team clusters (requirements management, interface management, data quality, reporting excellence) for the reporting factory
Determination of interfaces and demarcation of tasks with regard to the specialist areas
Definition of a transfer matrix for employees
Elaboration of a roadmap for organizational and procedural implementation

Added Value

By combining areas of responsibility, the degree of automation was gradually increased. This led to better data quality and fewer transmission errors, as well as a more efficient process flow. In addition, this created a single point of truth, which eliminated discussions about the accuracy of the data.

‘‘

The 4C GROUP quickly understood our initial situation and developed solutions that were tailored precisely to our needs. No off-the-shelf concepts, but rather consulting that aligns with our business – and thinks together with us.

Business Innovation Manager | Financial Service Providers

’’

Analysis of the Finance Business Partner Model

Bigger Picture

About five years ago, a global shared service center was established for central functions such as accounting, controlling, HR, IT, legal, and procurement. Topic-specific business partners were used as an interface to the local units. Despite clearly defined roles, a recent survey shows low satisfaction among business units with global services – in line with the assessment of the Head of Global Finance and Procurement. The aim was to evaluate the maturity of the business partner model in the finance area, identify implementation deficits, and derive concrete improvement measures.

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Industrie: Seed producer

Region: Germany, Austria, Switzerland

Mitarbeitende: 5.000

4C Consulting approach

Assessment of the basic setup and defined services
Detailed analysis of selected result types in terms of methodology, data quality, system support, and efficiency
Supplementing the analysis with interviews with BP Finance, central functions, and business units
Structuring all findings using the 7S model

Added Value

The structured analysis revealed discrepancies between the defined and actual Business Partner Finance role, as well as methodological weaknesses in the result types. The results were discussed and approved jointly with management and Business Partner Finance. This formed the basis for further developing the Business Partner model and effectively supporting the business units.

Technology-Driven Customer Journey

Bigger Picture

Baggage handling and the Ground Services division face numerous challenges, particularly high cost pressure. Innovative approaches must be found to address these challenges. The integration of new technologies and processes can be one solution.

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Industrie: Airport operator

Region: Germany, Austria, Switzerland

Mitarbeitende: 63.000

4C Consulting approach

An MVP is implemented in close cooperation with the specialist departments during the analysis, design, and development phases.
At the kick-off, goals, responsibilities, and milestones are defined jointly and recorded in a roadmap.
Technologies such as XR are specifically tested and integrated with regard to their usefulness for real customer processes.
XR applications support more efficient sorting, optimized loading, and a safer working environment.

Added Value

By quickly validating the innovation using an MVP, an assessment can then be carried out for further implementation. The development process enables the customer to build up important know-how in a future technology. Regardless of the specific product, the customer benefits from the expertise of the 4C Group and the opportunity to integrate innovative solutions into their own processes.

Innovation Performance Tracking

Bigger Picture

The young innovation lab has to tackle complex tasks, but only has limited resources for disruptive developments. In the future, performance tracking will help prioritize innovation projects in line with the lab's goals. A key challenge is measuring the success of innovations—as automatically and resource-efficiently as possible.

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Industrie: Insurance

Region: Germany

Mitarbeitende: 26.800

4C Consulting approach

Development of assignments for the Innovation Lab based on a clear innovation strategy with vision and goals
Analysis of identified key figures with 4C KPI profiles, including actual/target values
Evaluation of key figures in terms of control objectives, data collection, and implementation priority
Use of top key figures as a basis for creating regular reports

Added Value

Thanks to 4C's structured approach and comprehensive support, customers can quickly get started with performance tracking. This ensures that the innovation process is continuously developed and improved. The customer benefits from 4C's extensive experience in developing and implementing effective performance indicators and creating automated reports, which contributes to efficient and targeted innovation development.

Development of digital and innovative insurance products

Bigger Picture

Amidst advancing digitalization and constantly changing customer needs, our client founded a new company—a purely digital insurer. The aim of the digital insurance business is to offer suitable products and services for digital natives. The challenge lay in developing purely digital and innovative insurance products and services for the target audience.

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Industrie: Financial services provider

Region: Germany, Austria, Switzerland

Mitarbeitende: 26.800

4C Consulting approach

Target group analysis & personas
Creative workshop with idea development
Stimulation through trigger questions
Development of business models (Business Model Canvas)
Decision-making aids such as SWOT analysis
Early validation with target group & UX design
Prototyping and visualization of ideas

Added Value

Two verified and marketable product ideas were successfully developed, including calculated business cases and well-founded potential assessments. This enabled the digital product and service offering to be expanded in a target group-specific manner and the existing business model to be strategically expanded. At the same time, the application of the lean service creation approach and agile methods was consolidated within the company and integrated into its ongoing innovation work.

New Management Reporting

Bigger Picture

The customer's reporting was created in Excel based on various data sources and distributed in different formats and via different reporting channels. Monthly reporting required a great deal of manpower in group controlling. The complexity was further increased by the individual requirements of each report recipient for the report package. More in-depth analyses required renewed coordination between report recipients and group controlling.

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Industrie: Market leader in building materials and timber trade

Region: over 100 locations in Germany

Mitarbeitende: 3.700

4C Consulting approach

Creation of conceptual report mockups (design, content, functionalities).
Consolidation of all relevant data sources in a central data warehouse (DWH).
Optimization of the data model for use in MS Power BI (e.g., filters, drill-downs).
Implementation of an initial report to validate functionality and report notation.
Testing by selected end users.
Rollout of reports to top management and then to operational units.

Added Value

With centrally administered reporting that can be accessed online, everyone is talking about the same figures. When coordinating content, there is no need for discussions about which figure is correct. Drill-downs and filter options enable more in-depth analyses. Overall, this leads to high effectiveness and increased efficiency.

Comprehensive reporting for improved control

Bigger Picture

The client's reporting system focused almost exclusively on legal financial statements. A uniform and centralized internal reporting system across all national subsidiaries, which discloses profitability (income - expenses) across various control-relevant dimensions, had not yet been introduced. Due to the lack of transparency, the client was therefore unable to manage resources across the entire company in a targeted, coordinated, and efficient manner.

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Industrie: Market leader in connection technology

Region: Germany, Austria, Switzerland

Mitarbeitende: -

4C Consulting approach

Development of a group-wide uniform analysis model for contribution margin and product profitability
Proof of concept at an individual company, followed by pilot rollout
Fit-gap analyses to harmonize central requirements with local accounting standards
Connection of local ERP systems and integration into a central data warehouse
Development and testing of the analysis model and creation of central Power BI reports
Go-live, handover to customers, and support during the hypercare phase

Added Value

Global analysis of profitability from the group level down to the individual product level via standardized, centralized reporting with harmonized KPIs across all individual companies. Business decisions can be made centrally on the basis of sound analyses with regard to the overall corporate strategy in order to use resources as effectively and efficiently as possible.

One Consolidation/ Target Operating Model

Bigger Picture

The monthly financial statements are currently prepared outside the integrated systems by Controlling alone; there is no legal group consolidation. There are knowledge gaps between internal and external accounting regarding methods and processes. Initial approaches for closer cooperation in the course of the planned S/4 HANA migration and the introduction of group reporting exist, but have not yet been consolidated into an overall picture.

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Industrie: Electrical engineering

Region: Germany, Austria, Switzerland

Mitarbeitende: -

4C Consulting approach

Onsite and remote workshops divided into five modules:
Reporting requirements & data structures, closing processes, systems, organization & employees, and roadmap to go-live
Stakeholder interviews on expectations and framework conditions

Added Value

The structured approach in the workshops created transparency about activities and methods in other areas at an early stage. Open cooperation enabled viable solutions for the future closing process. The documented processes and responsibilities provide a good basis for efficient workflows and high-quality closing data. This also creates the conditions for improved consolidation and monthly closings in external accounting.

PFM as the key to digital customer relations

Bigger Picture

Digitalization is opening up new opportunities for the financial industry to expand its offerings. The company plans to add a personal financial management (PFM) application to its portfolio. The aim is to strengthen customer loyalty through digital added value and generate additional revenue. The app helps users manage their liquidity and provides forecasts of future account balances—for greater transparency and financial control.

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Industrie: Financial services provider

Region: Germany, Austria, Switzerland

Mitarbeitende: -

4C Consulting approach

Comprehensive support and collaboration
Target group analysis and customer personas
Feature design based on customer needs
Gamification of liquidity management
Market position and value proposition
Prototype development and validation

Added Value

The collaboration with 4C GROUP enables customers to take a holistic and structured approach to developing the PFM application. This strengthens customer loyalty and opens up new revenue potential. The app offers improved liquidity management and greater financial transparency, and impresses with its high user-friendliness thanks to gamification elements.