Clarity in the Annual Financial Statements Despite Two Accounting Systems

Our client is part of an inter­na­tion­al group of com­pa­nies and main­tains its account­ing records in two sep­a­rate sys­tems: ongo­ing busi­ness trans­ac­tions are record­ed in the group’s SAP sys­tem, while the Aus­tri­an annu­al finan­cial state­ments are pre­pared in BMD.

Our Client’s Challenge

How can data from SAP be accu­rate­ly trans­ferred to BMD, reviewed and pre­pared for the Aus­tri­an annu­al finan­cial state­ments with­out record­ing trans­ac­tions twice or over­look­ing impor­tant adjust­ments? In addi­tion, inter­com­pa­ny trans­ac­tions, tax accounts, VAT posi­tions and out­stand­ing bal­ance sheet bal­ances need­ed to be rec­on­ciled in a trans­par­ent and trace­able man­ner.

Our Advisory Services

Kobled­er TAX Advi­sors pre­pared the annu­al finan­cial state­ments using a struc­tured, line-by-line approach. In par­tic­u­lar, we:

• sep­a­rat­ed the trans­fer of bal­ances from the SAP sys­tem from sub­se­quent entries made in BMD
• rec­on­ciled account bal­ances, account ledgers and jour­nal data
• reviewed inter­com­pa­ny trans­ac­tions and per­son­nel expens­es
• iden­ti­fied and doc­u­ment­ed the nec­es­sary adjust­ing and reclas­si­fi­ca­tion entries in BMD
• con­sid­ered the impli­ca­tions for VAT and cor­po­rate income tax
• sys­tem­at­i­cal­ly fol­lowed up on out­stand­ing sup­port­ing doc­u­men­ta­tion and receipts
• rec­on­ciled the com­plet­ed Aus­tri­an annu­al finan­cial state­ments with the under­ly­ing account­ing entries
• pre­pared an Eng­lish ver­sion for sub­mis­sion to the inter­na­tion­al group

Par­tic­u­lar empha­sis was placed on trans­par­ent and trace­able doc­u­men­ta­tion. For each rel­e­vant reclas­si­fi­ca­tion or adjust­ment, we doc­u­ment­ed the account affect­ed, the under­ly­ing trans­ac­tion or cir­cum­stances, and the rea­son why the adjust­ment was required.

The Benefits for Our Client

The key ben­e­fit was the abil­i­ty to cre­ate a con­sis­tent and ful­ly trace­able set of Aus­tri­an annu­al finan­cial state­ments based on data from two dif­fer­ent account­ing sys­tems.

Through our advi­so­ry ser­vices, the client received:

• trans­par­ent and con­sis­tent annu­al finan­cial state­ments
• a clear dis­tinc­tion between data orig­i­nat­ing from the group’s account­ing sys­tem and adjust­ments made in BMD
• assur­ance that adjust­ments were not record­ed twice
• a trans­par­ent overview of all rel­e­vant adjust­ing and reclas­si­fi­ca­tion entries
• improved trans­paren­cy and trace­abil­i­ty for the inter­na­tion­al group head­quar­ters
• a reli­able basis for tax fil­ings and the prepa­ra­tion of the annu­al finan­cial state­ments
• Eng­lish-lan­guage doc­u­men­ta­tion to facil­i­tate fur­ther coor­di­na­tion with­in the inter­na­tion­al group