US Electric and Gas Utility: Treasury Transformation

Accenture helped this large US electric and gas utility to transform its treasury function and implement a modern, automated software solution.

The results: Better financial and risk managed plus savings of around $300,000—a real contribution to helping the company achieve high performance.

This client is a large US multi-jurisdictional electric and gas utility, serving more than 4 million customers. Its operations include electric generation, electric transmission, electric and natural gas distribution and international operations.

With support for its treasury workstation software set to terminate, this client saw an opportunity to evaluate its treasury organization, processes and technology in order to improve efficiency and reduce risk and operation costs. Accenture was retained to introduce leading practices to help redesign the client’s processes, select a new technology and implement a new solution.

A team from Accenture Finance & Enterprise Performance used interviews and workshops to understand the client’s current challenges and leveraged leading practices to help the client define a future state vision for the treasury. Accenture worked with client executives to build a business case.

The scope of this effort included cash management, debt management, risk management, bank administration and cash forecasting. Accenture then researched the software selection process, along with planning and managing the implementation of new business processes, enabled by leading technology.

The transformation of its treasury function allowed the client to grow at scale, providing the tools required to manage financial risk and reduce cost of capital effectively. The new solution has also reduced operating expenses by approximately $300,000 annually, while accounting and treasury processes are more automated with enhanced controls.

Accenture was able to apply its deep functional experience and industry acumen to help the client understand the issues and develop a compelling business value proposition that helped reduce operational costs, allow for growth at scale and lower the cost of capital. By working closely with selected client resources, Accenture also ensured a transfer of knowledge that should play a role in ongoing success.