Sophion gains a transparent and simple process with Konsolidator.
2 hours saved
ON MONTHLY CONSOLIDATION
A transparent process
WHICH CREATES TRACEABLE DOCUMENTATION AND DATA
Credit: © Sophion Bioscience
The short story of the sophion bioscience
Sophion was founded almost twenty years ago by a group of passionate electrophysiologists, all having the shared purpose of making patch clamping objective and independent of user skills to provide faster, more accurate and objective patch clamping results. The company today has its headquarters in Denmark with two subsidiaries in Japan and the USA, and it trades its patch clamping products to most of the world.
Going solo required changes also in the financial department
Until 2017, Sophion was a part of a Swedish corporate group. As the company split from the Swedish group, the financial team had some wishes of their own regarding the software they would be using to collect and process financial data in the future. They wanted to make some changes and it was soon clear that the financial team had to find a tool that could automate some of their processes and save time as well. Additionally, they faced difficulties regarding the ability to make changes in their existing software. They were unsure if and how making certain changes would affect the financial figures and if this would mean a less accurate consolidation and account for the whole group.
After converting to Konsolidator, Sophion now saves time and has a more transparent work process. According to Finance Manager Michelle Qvotrup, this is a huge advantage for the finance team at Sophion. Because the process has become more visible and more transparent, it is relatively easy for the financial team and auditors to dive into the data and to figure out how everything is connected and why certain numbers look the way they do.
“We are able to look at it and say: okay, this figure is connected to these accounts, this part here is coming from this subsidiary and this over here is due to the exchange rates. It is really easy, and it is amazing.” – Michelle Qvotrup
Simplicity is the essence of Konsolidator
Transparency is all a part of Konsolidator’s attempt to be a simple tool to manage the entire financial team. Michelle Qvotrup repeatedly highlights one word in her description of her experience with Konsolidator. Simplicity.
“I like the simplicity of the system. It has not been attempted more complicated than it is. I can always go back very easily and see where the numbers come from. It is just really simple. And I think that’s definitely one of the biggest strengths of Konsolidator.” – Michelle Qvotrup
In addition to simplicity, Konsolidator has other advantages that make it better than Sophion’s previous consolidation system for Qvotrup and her team. First of all, it is very user-friendly.
Second, the easily navigable layout of Konsolidator means that it can be managed fast and that Sophion’s financial team also saves working time each month. Being able to manage the data fast is a benefit for the financial team to present numbers to management.
Thirdly it is easy for Sophion’s financial team to make changes and post entries right away in the monthly account with Konsolidator. The post entries are also making it easy for the financial team at Sophion to see where the numbers are originating from each company across the group. This feature eliminates the need for checking and asking the subsidiaries a lot of additional questions regarding the data. It also eliminates any skepticism about the result of the consolidation.
Before Konsolidator, Michelle Qvotrup would always have some skepticism regarding the accuracy of their financial figures. That is now gone and the time she spends on checking up on the numbers is reduced. The time she and the rest of the financial team have saved can be used for deeper financial analysis.
“When we talk about the consolidation process alone then I save at least a couple of hours as to before. On top of that you also a clear get the background of why you got these figures from the consolidation, and you can always go back and see where they come from.” – Michelle Qvotrup.
Cloud-based systems are the future
Michelle Qvotrup, Finance Manager
For Michelle Qvotrup there were no doubts when it came to converting to a truly cloud-based system like Konsolidator. For her, it was natural to change to a cloud-based system because of the many benefits they provide such as flexibility and independence. According to Michelle Qvotrup, it is a great advantage that several employees can access the system from different computers at the same time and simultaneously work on different assignments within the system. The easy accessibility increases the efficiency of the financial team at Sophion.
“Looking back, the cloud-based solution just makes the product even better. It is natural to go with the cloud-based solution because it is so easy to access anywhere at any time. I believe more and more of our systems will be cloud-based in time. I believe this is the future.” – Michelle Qvotrup.