Case study
Cabonline: modernising financial reporting in a fast-moving transport group
More structured group consolidation, capable of supporting evolving reporting needs. Otisco listened then designed and implemented the optimal solution for unified legal and operational reporting.
Overview
The Challenge
Cabonline’s previous financial reporting system lacked transparency and functionality for end-to-end legal reporting. There was no clear audit trail, intercompany matching was time-consuming, and legal and operational reporting lived in silos. The result was a slow and error-prone month-end process, with data scattered and difficult to reconcile.
The Solution
Otisco led the implementation of AARO as the central reporting platform. We used AARO’s built-in tools for intercompany reconciliation and integrated operational eliminations directly into legal reporting. The system was configured to support budgeting, forecasting, and multi-dimensional reporting in one environment, eliminating the need to manage separate tools for financial data.
The Result
The month-end reporting cycle was reduced and reporting quality increased dramatically, with a clear audit trail available in the system. Proper handling of operational eliminations and operational changes over time provided new insights into the business, including the ability to analyse organic growth, excluding the effect of acquisitions and FX. Business controllers spend their time analysing results against budget and forecast in a common system, instead of fixing formulas in a maze of Excel workbooks.
“Otisco knows group consolidation, and I share their enthusiasm for AARO as the system of choice.”
Peter Jensen, System Owner & Architect, Cabonline
Features not many consolidation systems offer
Cabonline leveraged many sophisticated features of AARO that not many consolidation systems offer. Where simplifications or overly-complex adjustments were used previously, AARO provided a systematic way to handle such things as operational eliminations and organic growth analysis. Managers at all levels of the organization can rely on accurate reporting of actuals, as well as variance to budget and forecast.
Budgets and forecasts with the click of a button
Budgets and forecasts historically took a long time to produce. Much of this time was spent in Excel, consolidating figures between several workbooks, with the final product being results only available in pre-defined Excel reports and upon request. Otisco developed an AARO-integrated Excel template that allowed cost center managers an easy input method. The templates fetch actuals from AARO, and the budget or forecast is submitted with the click of a button. The final product is detailed budget and forecast data (including intercompany eliminations) available for variance reporting on a monthly basis. The increased quality and availability of the variance reporting has increased accountability throughout the organization and facilitated management's ability to react.
Faster intercompany matching
AARO’s built-in functionality for intercompany matching and eliminations made a considerable impact on the quality and consistency of reporting within the group. Previously, intercompany matching was very problematic and required several days to reconcile superficially. AARO provided an interface where intercompany differences can be quickly identified and resolved, which shortened the overall reporting cycle. Likewise with the several legal/statutory calculations that are now handled systematically instead of through time-consuming manual adjustments that are prone to error.
“The beginning of a financial reporting transformation”
Scott Reed, CEO at Otisco, explains that “This wasn't just a typical AARO implementation, this was the beginning of a financial reporting transformation. It was an exciting project to work on given the ambitious operational reporting needs of the evolving organization. As my Cabonline colleagues became more familiar with the possibilities in AARO, we transformed the financial reporting of Cabonline around the needs of the organization and not around the needs of the system. Not every customer dares to undertake this journey. Many are thrilled just to implement AARO’s base package and gain the many out-of-the box benefits of the system. Strong leadership and a talented Cabonline project team were able to identify the substantial opportunities that the AARO system, together with consulting from Otisco, offers.
Cabonline placed a lot of trust in Otisco to deliver on the vision we had and I'm very proud of what we accomplished in this project. In terms of analyzing and managing their business, I think they have the infrastructure in place to meet their needs well into the future.”
What the Cabonline team says
“AARO’s sophisticated acquisition register has been a huge benefit as we’ve acquired and merged companies internally. Having previously worked with an earlier version of AARO, it was exciting to see Otisco demonstrate the new features that are available.”
Anders Eriksson, Group Accounting Manager, Cabonline
“AARO’s operational reporting features, which Otisco helped us take advantage of, are impressive. We have multiple levels of operational units and AARO is configured to eliminate intercompany transactions at each level, something that was not manageable before. We can analyze the group’s organic growth, excluding currency fluctuations and acquisitions/divestitures. We’re able to see forecast, budget and actuals side-by-side in AARO for monthly variance reporting. On top of that, the operational reporting is fully integrated with the legal reporting, which saves the effort of reporting figures twice and the need for reconciliations.”
Petter Lindkvist, Head of Group Business Control, Cabonline
“Often there are multiple solutions to a problem, and it was great having Otisco’s expertise in helping to find the optimal path forward. Otisco was not only able to discuss the pros/cons conceptually, but they often demonstrated examples directly in the system.”
Peter Jensen, System Owner & Architect, Cabonline
About Cabonline
At the time of the case study, Cabonline was the leading taxi company in the Nordic region, with 3,000 connected taxi firms and approximately 5,700 vehicles in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. Cabonline comprises a series of well-known brands, such as Flygtaxi, TaxiKurir, Norgestaxi, TOPCAB, Kovanen, Taxi Skåne, Taxi Väst, Umeå Taxi, Sverigetaxi and Taxi 4x27. The group had revenue of approximately SEK 6.2 billion and performed about 50,000 journeys per day.
Prefer to download? Get the full Cabonline case study in English or Swedish. Photos: Cabonline.
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