Large Steel Producer: Finance and Accounting Shared Services Center

In the wake of numerous acquisitions across Eastern Europe, Accenture helped this large steel producer consolidate its back-office functions in a single shared services center.

The new center has delivered efficiencies and cost reductions, positioning the company to benefit from synergies and ultimately attain high performance.

This large steel producer had a net income of $2.9 billion in 2010. The company is the owner of the largest steelworks and coke plants in Central and Eastern Europe, located in Poland, Czech Republic and Romania.

After a string of acquisitions across Eastern Europe, the company wanted to consolidate and standardize its back-office functions into a single, shared services center. Its aim was to improve the productivity of accounting staff within a relatively short period, and standardize financial and accounting processes. The company chose to work with Accenture based on its experience in the shared services area, as well as its tried-and-tested methodologies and frameworks.

After analyzing the current situation, Accenture helped to define the new organizational structure and processes, along with the key performance indicators. Accenture also assisted in identifying the changes that needed to be made in the existing SAP system, and in preparing the implementation plan. In addition, Accenture provided support during the establishment of the center.

The new shared services center has delivered significant productivity increases based on the standardized and optimized processes defined by Accenture. At the same time, operations costs have been reduced.