Consolidate online and Financial reporting – utilize both for consolidations

Over the years there is always the question on what do we recommend for consolidations, using the Consolidate online functionality or Financial reporting? The answer is we don’t have a recommendation. We can tell you how each work and you can decide what is the best process for your business. But why use one? They are simply tools to help you produce your financials results. I’d recommend considering to use both. I sometimes refer to this as a hybrid approach that can allow you to optimize your period end activities.

So how would that work? It’s not complicated really. Here are some ideas to consider:

• Setup your financial reporting to mimic your organization. Do this with a reporting tree. You could do it with an organization hierarchy, but as soon as you actually run a Consolidate online and there is data in that company, it will be overstated.
• Be sure to set up your main accounts properly if currency translation is required. Remember, this is where you define how the exchange rate is calculated and what exchange rate table is used. If you are utilizing Dual currency post version 8.1, then you could instead rely on just pulling the secondary currency amount.
• When period end is occurring, and you are in the cycle of posting adjustments and verifying results and then repeating that process frequently, rely on financial reports to give the output. This saves time by not constantly having to run the consolidation process.
• Set up your financial reports with the same set of rules you would for eliminations, such as using a financial dimension or set of accounts to get an idea what the impact of the eliminations would be.
• When you are close to being done, for example 85-99%, then run the Consolidate online if you want those results in their own LE.
• You may want a final validation report for just the consolidated company or a comparison.

This approach can help you take advantage of your different needs. You can choose to use one or the other, or try and utilize both for your organization.

Resources:

• Consolidations and currency translation
• Dual currency
• Consolidation recording