Ting Guides · For the CFO
How do you stop building the executive report by hand from every entity and branch?
The short answer
Agree one definition for each figure the report shows, then let each entity's systems feed those definitions directly instead of sending spreadsheets. Map every entity's accounts and branch codes to the group's definitions once, check the totals automatically, and let people explain the exceptions. AI drafts the commentary; the finance team signs off.
Reviewed by Badr Al-RashedUpdated
What it depends on
Whether a figure means the same thing everywhere
If one entity counts a sale when the order is confirmed and another when it delivers, no tool can add the two correctly. Write one definition per figure: what counts, from which system, at what moment, and who owns it.
How different the entities' systems are
Companies in a group may run different ERPs, different versions of the same one, or their own charts of accounts. A mapping from each entity's accounts, cost centres and branch codes to the group's report lines does more for the report than any dashboard.
Where the numbers are corrected today
The adjustments someone makes by hand in the consolidation spreadsheet are the real business rules. Find them and write them down before anything is automated, or the automated report will be wrong in exactly the places people used to fix.
Who explains a variance
A figure that moved needs a person who can say why. Name, for each entity, who answers for each line and by when, so the report doesn't wait on a chain of messages.
How do you move from emailed spreadsheets to an automated report?
Pick the report people wait for
Start with the one report leadership waits for, the weekly or monthly pack, not every report at once.
Write one definition per line
Use the definition below for every figure on that report, and get each owner to agree it in writing.
Map each entity once
Build a mapping from each entity's accounts, cost centres and branch codes to the report lines. Keep it in one owned, dated table, not inside spreadsheet formulas.
Pull from the systems, not from emailed files
Read the figures from each entity's system through its existing interface or a scheduled export, on a fixed timetable. An emailed spreadsheet is a copy anyone can change.
Check before anyone reads it
Run checks automatically: every entity has reported, totals match the source systems, sales and charges between group companies cancel out, and no line moved beyond its tolerance without a note.
Let AI draft, people decide
Once the figures pass the checks, AI can draft the commentary: what moved, by how much, and which entity drove it. The finance owner edits it and signs it off before it goes to leadership.
What does one report line definition contain?
Report line definition, one per figureReport line: for example, net sales Definition: what counts and what doesn't, for example gross sales minus returns and discounts Source system, per entity: the ERP, point-of-sale or accounting system, and the exact report or table Cut-off: the moment a transaction counts, for example the delivery date or the posting date Owner, per entity: name and role Group owner: name and role Tolerance before a change needs an explanation: Last agreed: date · Next review: date
Keep the definitions in one place everyone can read, and date every change.
Which check should you automate first?
What changes for groups in Saudi Arabia
Two calendars
Some contracts and schedules in a Saudi group run on Hijri dates while the books close on Gregorian months. Fix one calendar for the report, and convert dates where the data comes from, not by hand in the pack.
Names in Arabic and English
The same branch, customer or product can be written in Arabic in one entity's system and in English in another's. Map each one to a single code; never match them by name.
Group structures change
Groups add, merge and sell companies. Date the mapping table, so that last year's report can still be rebuilt with last year's structure.
Rasikh Holding's group pack: one month, before and after
ExhibitWorked example
The month-end pack of the fictional Rasikh Holding, from three of its companies: Rasikh Trading, Rasikh Motors and Rasikh Logistics, each on its own system. This is how the pack changes when it is built from the systems.
BeforeThree emailed spreadsheets; the last one arrives days after month-end and is re-keyed by hand
AfterEach company's own system
- Rasikh TradingERP sales module, its own chart of accounts
- Rasikh MotorsDealer management system
- Rasikh LogisticsTransport management system
Read on a fixed date, every month
Mapping table
Every account, cost centre and branch code → one group report line
Dated · ownedChecks
- All three companies present
- Totals tie to the source systems
- Intercompany balances cancel out
Executive pack
Commentary drafted by AI from the checked figures
Edited and signed by group finance| Step | After, from the systems |
|---|---|
| Collect the figures | Figures are read from each company's ERP or accounting system on a fixed date |
| Make them comparable | A dated mapping table converts every account and branch code |
| Check them | Automatic checks: all three companies present, totals tie to the source, intercompany balances cancel out |
| Explain the variances | Each variance above tolerance goes to its named owner, with the figures attached |
| Write the commentary | AI drafts it from the checked figures; the group finance manager edits and signs it |
The decisionThe gain in this example is not a dashboard. The figures arrive on the same day, mean the same thing in all three companies, and every exception has a name next to it.
Questions people ask
Do we need one ERP across the group first?
Can AI write the board commentary?
What should we automate first?
What Ting does and doesn't do here
What we do
- In the Combined Transformation Engagement we map how the report is really built across your entities, find where it waits and gets corrected, and specify the improvements you select as AI Solution Blueprints.
- We start from your definitions and the entity mapping, not from a dashboard tool.
Where Ting helps: Combined Transformation Engagement
What we don't do
- We don't replace your entities' ERPs or your group's finance owner.
- We don't automate a report line that has no agreed definition.
