Unlock value

through your
Chart of Accounts
August
2012
Unlocking the value
inherent in your Chart
of Accounts (COA)
is not just an exercise
for technical accountants
to labour over. Many
leading finance functions
will attest, the COA can
drive real business benefits.

2
Introduction

A poorly designed COA can hamper your organisations

ability to drive value through performance insights
Many organisations start their COA redesign journey
with a very narrow focus and a lack of awareness of
the broader downstream implications. For those

considering, or already on the COA redesign

journey, this paper outlines eight key steps
organisations can take to create a COA that
delivers real value to the business.

The eight key steps are:

1. Understand how the COA
delivers performance insights
2. Get more out of your COA
3. Listen to the business not every
answer can be found in the COA
4. Leverage technology but put
the business first
5. Keep regulators happyand your
finance team engaged
6. Incorporate the needs of your global
businesses
7. Consider the governance model
8. Involve the business in designing the COA

In this paper, we highlight the experiences of

three large, multinational clients that undertook a
major general ledger replacement, including two
that redesigned their global COA. Structuring the
COA to measure the performance objectives of
the organisation is a priority that should be high
on the CFOs agenda.

Unlock the power of your Chart of

Accounts June 2012 1
Common COA-related challenges

Common COA-related issues

faced by organisations, and which
often drive extensive manual work
and Band-Aid solutions:
8 COA
processes and If these challenges
1 Business units within the company have policies are poorly sound familiar, it may be
different defined time for your
COAs and different reporting priorities 9 There is organisation to re-
2 Reports dont produce the information limited use of evaluate its COA. To
the organisation needs to properly run the sub-ledger ensure you maximise
business or meet tax and/or regulatory systems for the return on investment
needs low-level in any major systems
analysis upgrade or new
3 General ledger accounts arent used
consistently across the organisation, reducing 10 Ther implementation, keep in
e is no link mind the eight steps to a
the effectiveness of reporting and consolidation
between well-designed COA we
4 The COA has not kept up to date
key have outlined in the
with changes in business models and the following pages.
performanc
statutory and regulatory environment
e indicators
5 There is a lack of flexibility to and the
integrate mergers and acquisitions COA
6 It is not clear who owns the 11 There is a
COA or has responsibility for lack of training
maintaining it on the COA and
7 The COA has limited scalability to support poor
changing business models and organisational management of
restructures COA changes.

2
Our client case studies

In this paper, we refer to the experiences of three

organisations that redesigned their COA. The
following is a brief overview of each organisation.

Client 1
This global bank provides retail, corporate and investment banking services at
more than 2,000 offices worldwide. Services include personal savings and
checking accounts, brokerage and trust services. The company also offers
asset management (including mutual funds) and investment banking services
such as underwriting and mergers and acquisitions advice. The bank has been
expanding its Asian, Caribbean and Latin American businesses.

Client 2
This banking and financial services provider is based in Australia,
but operates globally. It employs more than 50,000 people. The bank offers
accounts, credit cards, home and personal loans and insurance services.

Client 3
This global technology company designs and develops visualisation
solutions for a variety of professional markets, including medical imaging,
media and entertainment, infrastructure and utilities, traffic and
transportation, defense and security, education and training and corporate
AV. It has its own facilities for sales and marketing, customer support, R&D
and manufacturing in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.

Unlock the power of your Chart of

Accounts June 2012 3
Eights steps to a well-
designed Chart of Accounts

1. Understand how the COA

delivers performance insights
With 40% of CFOs
Our point of view also indicating that
In a COA redesign, the CFO is often
reporting demands
not the first person the project team
have increased, the
thinks to consult.
need to understand
However, a COA redesign can create
the organisations
many issues for the CFO. Problems with 4
financial health and
data integrity and information consistency
performance is a top
can be driven by various issues, but are
priority. To enable this,
often attributable to deficiencies in the the COA needs to be
COA. The Finance organisation often has recognised as the hub
to extensively manipulate data to drive through which data is
insights into the organisations pulled, posted and
performance and deliver decision support calculated by any
to the business. number of groups
across the
Additionally, answering questions from external
organisation.
auditors and regulatory bodies continues to be a
top priority.
A well-designed COA
According to the Deloitte CFO Survey for supports all of the
Q4 2011, over half of CFOs reported an organisations
increase in the level of analysis requested information, reporting
from their boards as a result of economic and accounting needs,
uncertainty (see Figure 1 below). and is built on a
foundation of consistent
Figure 1 definitions for business
How have the general levels of economic attributes and data
uncertainty impacted the demands of your elements.
board and its committees on the CFO and The CFO needs to
finance function? be at the front and
Source: Deloitte CFO Survey, Q4 2011 centre of COA
redesign initiatives.

Client story
For two of our
More analysis requested
clients, involving the
40% CFO in global COA
Increased reporting redesigns was a
Deeper understanding critical success
of debt and financing 40% factor.
issues required The CFOs took

Deeper questioning on the opportunity

33% to shape the
the financial statements
information that
More frequent informal 22%
interaction with the the new COA

Audit Committee would deliver,

in tandem with a
No change 18% reporting strategy.
Their role was critical on two fronts: signing 3 Embed
off on the standard use and definition of Key takeaways the CFOs
each financial dimension 1 Ensure the strategic view
in the COA structure; and aligning the
CFO sponsors the and desired
business accountability model with the future redesign and is accountability
design. In both of these case studies, the visibly active in key model for the
CFO sponsored the COA redesign effort and design decisions organisation
demanded high accountability from the
CFOs of each business unit, including
2 Have the into the new
CFO and business COA design
the sign-off of the final design for their
respective business units. In each case, the
unit and/or country 4 Have the
CFOs iron out the CFO sign off on the
CFO was pivotal in aligning inconsistent final COA design.
key definitions and
views, challenging accountability and
use of the
embedding their strategic view of the
COA structure
business into the COA design.
2. Get more out of your COA
information three to five years
Our point of view needs of the to ensure it
COA redesign efforts business. remains relevant
are often seen as a way Although to the business.
to clean up and reducing the
rationalise the existing depth of the
chart. They are also chart is a primary
sometimes goal, the addition
misconstrued as a of more
mapping exercise that segments, driven
attempts to create a by information
single COA by linking requirements,
many source systems to can transform
a group ledger. While an
rationalising and organisations
deleting duplicate and ability to
unused values supports analyse its
the development of a data through
future state COA, it does a multi-
not expose all the pain
dimensional
points in the chart.
lens.

An example is when
In complex
a single COA code
organisations,
block such as cost
stakeholders
centre values, which
continuously
are used to define
seek more
organisation
information to
structures and
understand the
accountability is
story behind the
also used to capture
numbers.
customer segments
Redesigns
and product groups
should be
to support reporting.
viewed as an
Typically, this is an
opportunity to
indication that the
revisit the
COA is not meeting
organisations
business needs or
information needs.
that information gaps
A continuous
exist impacting
review cycle
decision making.
through a strong
governance
In addition to setting
structure can help
key design principles
maintain the health
for the future state
of the COA.
chart, organisations
Deloitte
should review the
recommends that
charts current state to
the COA is
understand the
reviewed every
Client story heavily amended 3 Uncover
Client #1 initially to support the
areas in the
viewed the burgeoning needs chart where a
rationalisation of of the single segment
hundreds of values in organisations
is used for
its account structure global footprint. multiple
as equivalent to Streamlining purposes. This
creating a new COA. duplicate and will reveal
While this was true in unused values information
a technical sense, the would have
requirements
organisation could provided that are not
have missed a additional clarity, being met in the
significant opportunity but this benefit
chart, and
to refresh the would have been ensure
COA to meet its short-lived as new adherence to a
changed information values leading practice
requirements. Although mushroomed to
of using single
streamlining and meet other purpose code
rationalising values in information gaps.
blocks, where
the account structure
each code block
would have enhanced Key takeaways has a single use
the clarity, ease of use
1 Start and
and simplicity of the
with a study a clear
COA, this approach did definition
of your
not consider that the
current COA 4
business had recently
but dont Review
moved to a segment
stop there new
and region matrix
structure.
2 Intervie value
w your s
The COA held
information requ
disparate
stakeholders ested
definitions of
(corporate tax, in the
segments, where
financial past
products and
planning and six
customer
analysis, mont
definitions were
treasury, hs to
comingled in a
business unit identi
single chart block.
managers) to fy
Furthermore,
understand emer
it ignored the growing
their pain ging
demands of local
points. Start by busin
regulatory and
asking who ess
statutory bodies. The
needs what requi
COA had lost its
information reme
relevance and was
and how? nts.
Chart of
Unlock the Accounts June
power of your 2012 5
3. Listen to the business not every
answer can be found in the COA
design? Thick ledger:
Our point of view The GL is the
A multi-dimensional COA that Answering these central
provides greater performance questions and repository for
and analytical insights needs considering the financial,
to be balanced with not following points management
overburdening the general will help you and, in some
ledger (GL). A thick GL can understand how cases,
extend the close process, with thick or thin the operational
a greater number of segments GL needs to be. reporting. Data
to post transactions to, or more is detailed in
reconciliation of variances the GL,
during period end. On the with several
other hand, pulling information dimensions of
from outside the ledger can information
make it inaccurate, inefficient
incorporated into
and hard to manage; cause
the COA to facilitate
system performance
most reporting
challenges; and result in high
needs.
maintenance costs. Sub-
ledgers should be used to
Thin ledger: The GL
track detailed transactional
holds summary-level
information, which can
financial data
facilitate in-depth analysis and
required for statutory
reconciliation.
reporting only. A
reporting and
Typically, these key
business analytics
questions need to be asked
solution (data mart)
when redesigning the COA:
provides focused
1. What is the management and
purpose of the GL? operational reporting.
Should it be used only for Data marts rely
statutory financial on sub-ledgers
reporting?
to gather
2. How much data will detailed data
be in the GL?
and additional
3. Do we develop a dimensions of
single global COA?
information.
4. What are the legal
requirements for the Management ledger:
organisation based on its This is a ledger that
countries of operation? reconciles back to
5. What are the the financial books

organisation structure and records but

contains data at a
complexities that have to be
more granular level
taken into account in the
than the GL.
It predominantly supports architecture financial reporting
management reporting and the and the financial
and some external underlying planning and
reporting. software analysis teams to
solution. identify the
It is important to remember that information that
the code block structure varies in Once the design needs to be
each organisation, based on questions have considered in the
drivers such as the scope of been answered, future state
information to be addressed ensure that you design.
the application involve the

6
Client story

The existing COA of a large bank supported its

statutory reporting requirements but did not meet all
management reporting requirements. The bank asked
two questions of its group and business unit CFOs:
What are we using the GL for; and what reporting will
the GL enable? The CFOs determined that the GL
would be the book of record and the bank decided
that the ledger would enable statutory, regulatory
(where it made sense to do so) and high-level
management reporting. With this vision established, the
bank took the opportunity to ensure its GL incorporated
a recent realignment in its segmentation accountability
from product to customer relationship. This was a major
consideration in the design of the code block and, in
particular, the creation of multi-dimensional values in its
COA segment structure, such as lines of business and
products.

Key takeaways
1 Establish key design guiding principles by
asking:
Do we design a thick or a thin general ledger?
Should the GL be used only for
statutory financial reporting?
2 In your interviews, dont just speak to the
financial accounting team. Make sure the financial
analysis and planning team is included to achieve
the
best outcomes
3 Incorporate a parallel reporting and business
analytics strategy and solution into the COA design
to provide focused management and operational
reporting, and extensively leverage sub-ledgers

4 Remember there is no right and use

of the code block will vary from institution to
institution depending on various drivers
5 While it is important to include tax resources
in the COA design, every tax decision cannot be
solved by the COA (e.g. transaction tax calculations
such as VAT, GST, Sales and Use). GL accounts are
not required to drive tax decisions. Other data
elements from sales or purchase order documents
are used to drive tax decisions.

Unlock the power of your

Chart of Accounts June 2012 7

4.
Leverage
technolog Client story

y but put In both our

global banking
the case studies,
while the
business vendor and

first application
was known to
the project
Our point of view
team during
A COA redesign is often
the design
triggered by an
phase, the
enterprise resource
banks took a
planning (ERP) system
business-
upgrade or a new
driven process
implementation. Best-of-
to develop the
breed vendors offer
final design.
sophisticated solutions
To best capture
that automate
the data
traditionally painful
required to
processes, such as
support
balancing intercompany
decision
transactions. While
making across
there may be an
the
attraction to design the organisation,
COA in a way that Deloitte has
caters for the typically used
application, our view is information and
that a system-agnostic accounting
approach needs to be models.
adopted. This is Information
illustrated below. models identify
the
organisations
dimension
(slice and dice)
needs and
accounting
App
models identify
licat
ionwhich
indedimensions are
penneeded by
den
each
t
component of
the financial
statements indicators.
and key
performanc
e
Application dependent
Identify information Develop dimension Develop accounting Define the system Implement C
requirements definitions model enabled COA of Accounts

Who needs How should How should How should data Implement d
what information relevant information information fields be organised? structure bas
and how? be organised? be presented? common com
business nee

Review existing Develop a set Summarise Align accounts to Address

COA structures of information information application functions organisatio
Develop COA vision requirements requirements or Take feeder communic
and future state goals by information models to define a transactional systems and knowle
Interview key business component proposed business into consideration requiremen
groups to identify (i.e. revenue, dimension coding Design and
reporting requirements. costs and expenses) block that provides implement business
and dimension a natural classification process controls and
(i.e. legal entity, of assets, liabilities, application security
business segment). equity, revenue and to facilitate
expenses. operational efficiency
while maintaining
compliance.

8
them, should happen
before determining how
the COA will be set up in
the system. Best-of-
breed applications are
configurable to
information requirements
and a clear
understanding of
business needs should
precede evaluation of
The models are
options to define and
used to
implement the COA in
communicate
the system. This
high-level,
approach will ensure that
business-defined
the initial phases of
requirements and
design are driven by
guide the
business reporting
management of
requirements,
that information.
establishment of
After the information and standard definitions for
accounting models are those requirements and

finalised, a rationalisation modelling how the

filter will be applied based

information will be
presented. The following
on established selection
example demonstrates
criteria. In our client case
this type of business
studies, once this view was
approach:
formed, application options
were developed to support
the desired future state
COA.

Often, the application is

already known before
redesigning the COA;
however, identifying the
reporting requirements,
and establishing
standard definitions for
Key takeaways
1 Focus on
gathering information
requirements first

2 Use
information
and
accounting
models to
understand
the
information
requirements

3 Establ
ish criteria to
rationalise
information
requirements
for a future
state COA

4 Consider the
application only after
the information
requirements have
been finalised.

Information model
(What/how/who)
 Information Who:
consumers Survey key
Information stakeholders

Businessdimensions
components Finance
Treasury
Capital markets.

What:
Information
components
How: Revenue
Business dimensions Costs & expenses
Legal entity Assets
Accounting basis Liabilities & equity
Reports. Statistical/KPI.

Accountin
g model
example
(COA by
dimension
s) (B/S,
P/L,
KPIs)
Accounts Business unit Operating unit Product Chart field 1 Chart field 2
Legal entity Responsibility centre Product Location Customer segment
customer
Processing Department
Branch Shared Cost Revenue
services centre centre
Profit and loss statement
Interest Income
Loans x x x x x x x
Securities x x x x x x x
Securities purchased x x x x x x x
under resale agreement
Deposits with financial x x x x x x x
institutions
Interest expense
Deposits x x x x x x x
Subordinated debentures x x x x x
Capital instrument liabilities x x x x x
Other x x x x x x
Provision for credit losses x x x x x
Net interest income x x x x x x x x
Unlock the power of your 2012 9
Chart of Accounts June
5. Keep regulators happy and
your finance talent engaged bank) the COA
Our point of view Typically, regulatory incorporated
While this lesson will not resonate reports need to be counterparties in its
for all organisations, for our reconciled back to customer segment
banking clients, regulatory externally published code block.
reporting is a figures. Often, Counterparties are
major task. Finance staff regulatory reporting other national
members spend significant is subject to banks, monetary
amounts of time extracting data significant follow up authorities or
from legacy systems and questioning from the governments that
reconciling it with externally regulators and act as the ultimate
published reports. organisations need guarantee for loans
With increased regulatory to show how the and indemnities.
pressure and an ongoing need specific roll-up of Managing
to respond to regulatory information ties counterparty risk
changes and requests for back to what has has been a key
information, the GL can ease been reported to the focus since the
the reconciliation workload and market. While some global financial
the need to manipulate data. To regulatory reporting crisis. The ability to
reduce the potential risk of cannot be report against this
reputation loss or financial costs completely sourced dimension sheds
associated with inadequate from the GL, much insight into the
regulatory reporting, finance of it is driven by banks risk and
teams require consistent data reporting from an supports more
sets that serve multiple income and balance accurate filings to
purposes. sheet perspective. regulatory bodies.

Although it is not possible for the Exploring At Client 3 (a global

COA to enable all the reporting opportunities such as bank) the use of a
roll-ups and dimensions required leveraging existing location code block
by regulatory bodies, the COA COA segments to segment provided
contains opportunities to store house regulatory insights into
commonly requested regulatory values can help residency and non-
dimensions. strengthen financial residency splits in
integrity and eliminate the organisations
the need to gather balance sheet. This
and manually was a key
manipulate data. The requirement
client story below demanded by the
shows how global national regulatory
banks are focusing on bodies to which it
updating their COAs reports.
based on regulatory
changes. Key takeaways
1 Don
Client story
t ignore
At Client 1 (a global
regulatory
 requirements when dimensions that as well as local
considering information are prevalent regulatory
requirements across the groups reporting
2 Focus on regulatory local environment, requirements.
1
0
6. Incorporate the needs of your global businesses
Creating second ledgers stringent statutory
for individual countries reporting
Our point of view
With a vision of a common global COA, addressing local
to meet local GAAP requirements of
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and
reporting requirements emerging countries.
and using sub-accounts
reporting requirements in various countries
within group legal Key takeaways
is daunting, especially in environments where
entities are good 1 Gather local
regulations are immature and changing. One of the
options to consider. reporting
hallmarks of a localised COA is the proliferation of
Sub-accounts or local requirements
natural accounts and cost centres to track dimensions
such as residency status and counterparties.
accounts reserved for 2 Und
local GAAP entries are erstand the
options for allowing the art of the
Another is the amount of detail in accounts to
organisation to meet possible
meet demands for more information by local
country-specific needs after
statutory and regulatory bodies.
without thickening the requiremen
group COA. ts have
In designing a global COA, the organisation must
interview and gather local requirements before been
Client story gathered
determining what can or cannot be enabled in the
At Client 2, a six-month
GL. In best-of-breed applications such as SAP,
study of newly created
3 Validate the
Oracle and PeopleSoft, there are functions group set of
values suggested that the
to meet global and local requirements. values with local
expanding global footprint
offices to gauge
and the inability of group
the gaps that may
accounts to meet local
arise after the
reporting needs were
initial COA design
becoming issues. In the
has been set.
redesign process, the
bank used local accounts
where
GAAP differences
were minimal and a
secondary ledger
where GAAP
differences were
significant.
Furthermore, the
inclusion of other
optional code blocks
such as residency
and the use of a
customer segment
to track
counterparties
supported the more
7. Consider the governance model
The typical unclear
Our point of view governance areas executive
Its important to keep in mind includes: sponsorship. A
that the COA is a living chart establishing key lack of central
and will continue to evolve data element ownership over
with business growth and standards to ensure COA segments
external changes. In our integrity of made it
experience, definitions is challenging to
a new COA often suffers maintained through define new
from poor governance and the life of the COA; segment values
a lack of clear policies and well defined COA and usage in a
procedures to maintain its maintenance consistent
status as a living chart. protocols to prevent manner.
This causes common proliferation of GL Consequently,
issues such as multiple accounts and other the chart became
uses for single code segments; defining polluted with
blocks, proliferation of and implementing a values that were
duplicate values and standard process to already blocked
inconsistent use of those help integrate for future use or
values. To ensure the new changes to the COA which could be
COA maintains its design structure or easily eliminated
principles and integrity, its processes and keep or captured in
critical that the project all COA users and other dimensions
team also designs a systems up-to-date. or sub-systems
governance model, as well (e.g. currencies,
as a robust During a COA intercompanies,
communication and redesign, loans, inventory,
change management plan. corporate staffing costs,
accounting VAT and legal
To maintain the benefits, policies should be accounts,
integrity and relevance of a updated. This is statutory
new COA, we recommend a further requirements).
periodic review of the COA exemplified in the
and embedding COA client case study
maintenance frameworks into below.
standard business
processes. A COA should be Client story
supported by a Client 3
comprehensive governance commenced
structure, drawing upon the initiatives to
principles in the COA document data
Governance elements;
Model outlined below, however, it had
that includes documented limited success
policies, processes, and implementing
accountabilities related to these data
the use and maintenance standards due
of the COA. to a lack of
resources and
COA Governance Model
 Key data element standards
Establish a centralised location
that is easily accessible by
all COA users and which
consolidates all new COA
policies, segment definitions
and documented processes.
12
As new requirements were
implemented, the chart became
increasingly inflexible, non-
transparent and difficult to use.
During the redesign phase, the
company took the opportunity to
develop a centralised Chart of
Account Policy, owned by a
Governance Committee. The
Committee evaluated each
change request and assessed the
request with Chart of Account
best practices and the Chart of
Account Policy. This was strictly
enforced and changes centrally
overseen by the Committee,
ensuring the integrity of the
redesigned COA
was maintained.
Policy and process standards Communication and training
Develop a robust Promote COA education
communication plan that keep across the organisation
users informed of the status of Review and approve
COA-related initiatives, changes training curriculums
and updated definitions Provide oversight to
Select and prioritise process guide training and
standardisation and communication initiatives.
improvement opportunities
Define follow-up actions
for non-compliance with
COA policies
Assign ownership for
enforcing consequences
of non-compliance.
Key takeaways
1 Ensure the COA is not
a one-time event,
but is reviewed in depth every
three to five years, complemented
with regular reviews and
maintenance
2 Governance is
as important as the
redesign itself and
needs to encompass
key data element
standards, policy and
procedures, and
communication and
training
3 The importance and
extensiveness of the
governance model is influenced
by the level of detail in the new
COA. The more detail the COA
includes, the higher the
maintenance cost and risk
4 Implement robust
training and communication
programs to manage the impact
of future changes
5 Conduct a review of
Corporate Accounting
Policy manuals to ensure
they are consistent with the new COA design.

Unlock the power of your

Chart of Accounts June
2012 13
8. Involve the business
in designing thethis,
COA
different
we
Our point of perspectives recommend
view can be the project
The main included, team is
objective of the both in complemen
COA is to defining ted with a
track, in an requirements cross-
accurate and and organisatio
timely manner, determining nal team
every single any impacts that best
business event the change represents
that has an will have on information
accounting the business. and
impact. operational
However, the A natural place requirement
COAs design to initiate design s.
is not just the is in the
finance teams Controllers It is also
concern. To group, as the important to
make the COA COA must meet include tax
effective and statutory and stakeholders as
relevant, a key regulatory part of the
success factor requirements. cross-
is ensuring that However, limiting organisational
a broad range the input to this and functional
of stakeholders group may affect design team. In
are involved, the COAs ability a complex
both at the to address the global tax
corporate and organisations environment,
operational existing and the risk of
levels. future financial
information reporting errors
Based on our needs, or worse, increases. A
experience, create future lack of
COA redesign issues due to a standard
projects often limited scope processes
fail due to a and narrow and/or limited
lack of perspectives. It access to the
understanding can be
required level
of the impact challenging to
of accounting
on stakeholder balance both
detail to meet
needs. By statutory and
reporting
extending the management
requirements
project team reporting
can add to the
beyond the requirements
risk of
finance and operational
misstatements.
considerations.
function,
To mitigate
Establishing a shaped by its
1 Let
separate, unique own
the finance
general ledger requirements. As
group lead
account is often a result, the
the
the most cost- COA became
initiative,
effective way to less relevant for
but dont let
accumulate other information
it be the
segregated stakeholders
sole driver
information such as human
required by tax resources and 2 St
rengthen
departments and procurement,
who relied on the
enables book-
general ledger partners
tax differences
information to hip
to be
support between
automatically
reporting and finance,
calculated.
decision making. tax and
Specific needs
This resulted in IT to
for geographic
shadow leverage
and
reporting across financial
intercompany
the organisation and IT
reporting, if not
as the COA lost expertise
addressed by
its relevance. A to the
the COA design,
redesign effort maximu
should be made
was initiated and m extent
readily available
from other
the organisation 3 Appl
sources. The
made sure to y a broad
involve all requireme
need for tax-
relevant nts
specific
stakeholders in approach
accounts should
the project. then apply
never be
While this a thorough
overlooked in an
lengthened the and robust
effort to
design process, filtering
streamline the
the result was a process
COA.
code block that based on
addressed the
design
Client story
principles
Client 3s current organisations
and
global COA was requirements
leading
defined over the more effectively.
practices,
years by the
to design
finance Key
takeaways the COA.
department and

1
4
Where to next?

As your organisation considers the need to redesign

its COA, reflect on how these best practice principles
could be incorporated in your approach. Redesigning
a global COA for your organisation is complex

but critical if you want better insights into your

organisations performance and desire alignment
through a common information foundation.

If your organisation is considering

redesigning its COA, or has already started
on the redesign journey, and would like to
discuss possible approaches, please contact
us for more information.

Authors
Sue Yen
Deloitte Canada
Manager, Finance & Performance Management

Key Deloitte contributors

Michiel van den Nieuwenhuijzen
Deloitte Beligum
Manager, Enterprise Risk Services

Charlotte Desot
Deloitte Belgium
Director, Enterprise Risk Services

Jonetta Love
Deloitte USA
Manager, Tax Management Consulting

Unlock the power of your Chart of

Accounts June 2012 15
Contact us

Paul Wensor

Partner Consulting
Melbourne
Tel: +61 3 9671 7067
pwensor@deloitte.com.au

Geoff Lamont

Partner Assurance &

Advisory Sydney
Tel: +61 2 9322 7296
glamont@deloitte.com.au

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