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Intel Corporation Increases Automation and Control of Key Accounting Activities with Trintech’s AssureNET GL Solution
Overview
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC), the world leader in silicon innovation, develops technologies, products and initiatives to continually advance how people work and live. Intel is the world’s largest semiconductor company and the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most personal computers. Intel makes motherboards, chipsets, wired and wireless connectivity products, flash memory, graphic chips, embedded processors, and other devices related to communications and computing. Intel combines advanced chip design capability with a leading-edge manufacturing capability.
Challenges
Intel reconciles more than 9,000 accounts on a quarterly basis. This vast majority of this work is performed in two shared service locations in Costa Rica and Malaysia with the remainder being performed in sites spanning the Americas, Asia, and EMEA. In addition to reconciliations, supplemental analytics are performed to provide visibility to any identified errors and assurance that the Balance Sheet and Income Statement are appropriately stated. These activities are performed by >400 unique global users today.
Intel currently utilizes a mature reconciliation standard, globally standard reconciliation templates in Excel, and monthly sample audits to maintain reconciliation quality. An internally-developed web application currently manages the global reconciliation process. This includes maintaining account ownership, assigning reconciliation timing and frequency via dynamic risk rating, tracking completion of required reconciliations, logging preparer self-assessment results for reconciliation quality, and providing reconciling/aged item and other reporting. Supplemental analytics, similar to reconciliations, follow mature standards, but are typically performed manually in Excel.
While Intel’s processes for completing reconciliations and performing account analyses were already well-defined, the company sought to centralize and automate their reconciliation and analytics processes in a single web application. This included unifying the entire reconciliation workflow (execution, review, and oversight), automating general ledger and sub-ledger data feeds, archiving completed reconciliations (including all relevant support documents), and providing a workflow for required analytics in Close. This was intended to provide greater control through system-driven standardization and automation.
Intel considered adding to the functionality of their in-house application to perform reconciliations, but after analyzing the cost, scope, and technical challenges of upgrading their tool to accomplish this, they decided it would be best to replace their existing technology with an external software solution.
While either approach would provide a stronger level of control and transparency, as well as provide greater assurance to management for Intel’s foundational financial statement controls, this approach would leverage industry technologies / best practices and reduce the level of support required by IT to maintain and enhance an internally-developed tool. Intel believed that leveraging automation and enhancing best practices would address job satisfaction concerns communicated by global reconcilers and provide more time to focus on higher-value-added activities of increasing the knowledge of processes affecting the balance sheet and leveraging this knowledge to create more robust account analytics.
Objectives
When considering various automated reconciliation software solutions, Intel identified reconciliation and analytic automation and replacement of existing functionality in their current web application as being key areas / functions that the solution must address, including:
• Reconciliation automation and integration with Intel’s GL and sub-ledger sources
• Rule-based scoping and dynamic risk rating of reconciliations to manage priorities and performance
• A central repository for global reconciliations and provide a single
point of entry to submit reconciliations and perform management reviews
• Useful dashboards and generation of reports for performer, reviewer, and executive levels
• Flexibility to keep pace with ever-evolving environmental and business changes that affect reconciliations and analytics.
Intel conducted an extensive needs assessment and a comprehensive vendor evaluation process over several months. After considering several vendors against the capabilities of an internally-developed solution, Intel chose Trintech and their AssureNET GL software as the solution best able to meet their requirements.
Capabilities Provided
Trintech’s AssureNET GL solution will enable over 400 global users at Intel to manage more than 9,000 reconciliations per quarter. The Trintech technology provides the company with the ability to improve current financial operational processes, address reconciler concerns regarding job satisfaction, enhance risk assessment processes to enable efficiencies and savings, and automate the identification of accounts requiring additional analysis based upon specific business rules via a user-friendly interface. Additionally, the solution will facilitate expansion to broader application capabilities as requirements evolve (e.g., integration with the financial close process).
Testimonial
Intel is impressed with Trintech’s expertise and AssureNET GL solution. Their application allows for a stronger level of control and transparency, maximization of personnel efficiency, and provides a single system of record for all of our reconciliation activities. By automating our current financial operational processes and leveraging best practices, we continue to demonstrate our dedication to operational excellence in the area of finance.
Pat Mullen
Global General Accounting Operations Manager
Intel Corporation
Other Information
Trintech Group Plc (NASDAQ: TTPA) is a leading global provider of integrated financial governance, transaction risk management, and compliance software solutions to over 600 organizations. Trintech’s configurable and scalable technology enables customers to gain greater visibility and control of their critical financial processes leading to improved overall business performance.
For more information on how Trintech can help you increase confidence in business performance and reduce financial risk, please contact Trintech or visit www.trintech.com.
