Sportech PLC, a world leader in the highly-regulated global gaming technology sector, has selected FastClose for management reporting and consolidation over its Epicor ERP system.
FastClose is management and consolidation reporting software that operates over Epicor and SAP Business One software platforms. With a rapidly expanding customer base, the company has added LSE-listed Sportech PLC — a world leader in the highly-regulated global gaming technology sector — for management reporting and consolidation over its Epicor ERP system.
We are an extensive user of Epicor's ERP financial system and comprehensively use the multi-company feature, where we have over 20 companies using four main base currencies. The translation of these companies into sterling, plus consolidation, needs to be done monthly and reported on for management and statutory purposes. Before FastClose, we were copying trial balances into Excel reporting packs on a monthly basis which was time-consuming, inconsistent across companies, and lacking in drill down capability to analyse data. Initially, we looked at FastClose for basic management reporting but quickly realised the added bonus of automating our consolidation process in real-time. We could drill to the underlying transactions without any need for Excel.
Epicor has a fabulous ERP database as it is multi-company, multi-currency, and has multiple books where you can do eliminations; it's just an ideal system for doing management and statutory consolidations. Sportech started to use FastClose for basic management reporting, but when we saw what they were doing for consolidations, I was confident that we could do all of this in FastClose using the secure Epicor system. This would give Sportech real-time information, as FastClose uses the Epicor database concurrently — unlike common consolidation systems that have to duplicate the data. Indeed, this duplication takes time and loses the real-time insights that accountants need at month-end. As a proof of concept, we helped Nicola build the consolidation, set up the P&L and Balance sheet exchange rates in FastClose, and then used a feature in FastClose to translate Share capital and retained earnings at historical rates. Once the P&L hierarchy was defined, we built everything out in just two days and were able to reconcile the numbers to the existing model. With the system in place, it took just 11 minutes to run the whole consolidation process.
“One of the issues about moving from one system to another is gaining confidence in the figures that the new system is producing. We have currently got a half-way solution and use the Excel plugin from FastClose to capture all trial balances. Our plan is to move completely to the FastClose solution next, and we are in the process of putting in several audit checks to ensure the accuracy of the numbers.”
“I have seen several companies that use Hyperion or OutlookSoft for management and statutory consolidation, and they do not realise that they can do everything in the GL. FastClose is the stepping stone needed to complete the job, as the standard reporting tools just can't provide enough functionality and ease-of-use to do what is required." FastClose also allows you to try the software before you buy, which you don't get with many software companies.
“We began our FastClose project in the US, where we put FastClose through its paces with some tricky reporting requirements," Nicola continued. "Once we saw the potential of doing all of our management reporting, we examined whether FastClose could handle the main consolidation requirements, which it does.”
“We initially purchased a number of licences, but having realised its potential, we upgraded to an enterprise licence where all the accounts team have access to all of the FastClose modules which mirror our Epicor modules. FastClose has speeded up and improved the month-end process massively.”
Sportech is a world leader in the highly-regulated global gaming technology sector, holding a dominant position in parimutuel pools betting, a growing position in raffle and lottery products, and exclusive gaming licences in Connecticut, USA.