Overview Of The Company
The case study centers around the Global Finance Unit of a prominent technology conglomerate operating worldwide. This unit is responsible for processing monthly employee payroll, which previously involved a team of analysts manually reconciling data between the Working File and the Gross to Net File provided by the payroll vendor. The complex nature of the process, involving multiple entities and extensive line-by-line comparisons, prompted the need for payroll automation.
Challenges
The manual reconciliation process proved highly time-consuming, with the effort varying from 45-60 minutes for medium-sized entities to up to three hours for larger entities. With 27 entities requiring reconciliation each month, the task became resource-intensive and prone to human error. The challenges included managing the nuances of different tax laws and market variations across global entities.
Solutions
Accelirate developed an automated solution to streamline the gross-to-net payroll reconciliation process, alleviating the burden on analysts and mitigating the risk of errors. The key steps of the solution are as follows:
- File Download: The scheduled bot retrieves the monthly Working File and Gross to Net (GTN) File from the designated folder, generated by the business and provided by the payroll vendor, respectively.
- Line-by-Line Comparison: The bot meticulously compares each line item of the Working File with the GTN File for every entity, accounting for over 20 tabs per entity. A modular approach was adopted to accommodate varying tax laws and market nuances across different entities.
- Discrepancy Logging: When a mismatch is detected, the bot records the tab and column of the variance in the Output Report. This method enhances efficiency by providing analysts with precise locations of the discrepancies, eliminating time spent on manual searching within the large file.
- Rebalancing and Finalization: The bot continues the process until all variances are resolved. Once rebalancing is complete, payroll is finalized and approved.
Results
The payroll automation implementation delivered significant improvements in efficiency, accuracy, and processing time:
- Entities Processed: Successfully processed reconciliation for 27 entities each month.
- Processing Time Reduction: Achieved a remarkable 78% reduction in processing time, saving valuable resources and enabling analysts to focus on higher-value tasks.
- Data Management Accuracy: The payroll automated solution demonstrated exceptional accuracy, achieving a 99% accuracy rate in data reconciliation.