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7 Common Pitfalls in Failed NetSuite Implementations

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A NetSuite implementation can be complex, and NetSuite estimates that 50% of ERP implementations fail the first time around. These failures are not because the software isn’t functional, but rather because the implementation projects themselves failed.

Let’s go over a few common mistakes that lead to failed implementations. If you can avoid these mistakes, you can improve the odds that your company’s NetSuite implementation falls in the successful half.

Pitfall #1: Ignoring Employee Fear of Change

Change is often met with fear from some employees, who can prefer the way things have always been done. This is common in many organizations, but this fear can be mitigated with a few considerations. It’s vital that:

  • All stakeholders, meaning each department that will utilize the system, should have a representative sitting at the table during the requirements phase.
  • All key employees need to have buy-in when implementing NetSuite and be given an opportunity for training.
  • The reason for the changes must be clearly communicated to employees, as well as how they will ultimately improve efficiency at their jobs.
  • Users of the system at all levels should be invited to provide input on their daily activities. (Investing in the Sandbox module, which is the testing environment that will have your data uploaded, will provide a safe place for the employees to use the system without compromising your live data.)

Learn more about preparing teams for change in our related article: “Change Management: Preparing Your Team.”

Pitfall #2: Failure to Dedicate Appropriate Resources

Implementing an ERP system effectively takes time. Depending on how large your company is and the intricacies of the business, your company will need at least one person with NetSuite experience, if not an entire team. You may consider backfilling of key positions, so that the process owners can dedicate their time on the implementation without the burden of keeping up with their day-to-day work.

Key users should cover all relevant business areas, including purchasing, marketing, logistics, sales, production, finance or customer service – any department that would touch the system. Failure to include all key departments or failure to backfill key positions may result in unforeseen issues that can derail the project and delay the Go-Live date, which can be costly and possibly force your company to go over budget.

Pitfall #3: Choosing the Wrong Implementation Partner

Many consulting firms purport expertise in ERP implementations, but what is the depth of knowledge of NetSuite in particular? Does your partner have experience in your company’s industry?

For example, implementing NetSuite in a manufacturing company versus a SaaS company is very different. If your company is a manufacturing/distribution company, you will need an implementation partner with a deep understanding of the robust features and NetSuite modules around inventory management, the item matrix, demand-based inventory replenishment and standard costing versus weighted-average costing. An implementation partner that has that experience can help guide you and your team of the best ways to set up NetSuite to accommodate your needs by reviewing your current processes and reviewing NetSuite features and capabilities with you.

If your company is a SaaS company, you’ll need a partner with a deep understanding of SuiteBilling and the Contract Renewals SuiteApp. The expertise within these modules and apps will put your company in a better position to recognize revenue to comply with regulations as well as ensuring your customers are billed on time and accurately.

Get references, and ask them for specifics on how their implementations went. A good implementation partner that understands your business will also help your company choose the right modules your business needs and keep you from buying the ones you don’t need.

Learn more about NetSuite in these articles from our team:

Pitfall #4: Lack of Preplanning

Do you have your current business practices documented? If not, prior to embarking on the implementation, it is important to document what you currently do and discuss with your partner what NetSuite capabilities are appropriate for certain processes. NetSuite may handle your processes better than your legacy system. Lack of detailed preplanning can lead to unforeseen customization issues, as it’s common that current business processes only need a slight change rather than extensive customization in NetSuite to accommodate them.

For instance, when setting up an invoice form in NetSuite, include the logistics person who will know what needs to be included on the invoice, so that s/he doesn’t have to manually create the commercial invoice that must include carton details, materials of the goods and so on.

Pitfall #5: Data Migration Issues

All of the master data in your current system should be scrubbed prior to migrating it to the new system. It’s important to review this data meticulously for the following:

  • Duplicate Vendor or Customer Records
  • Spelling Errors
  • Inactive Vendors or Customers That Might Bog Down Your System
  • Inactive Products
  • Missing or Wrong Item Costs or Prices
  • Historical Data – How Many Years of Data Should Be Uploaded Versus Archived?
  • Duplicate GL Accounts

If you and management have always wanted to see things differently, this is the perfect opportunity to revamp the chart of accounts and/or data structure. For example, if you’re currently using QuickBooks or another system that doesn’t have an inventory module, your company’s item description and reporting fields may not be built out for complex reporting.

How does management want to look at sales – sales by category (which categories?), sales by territory or region? Sit with the head of operations, sales and any other department head that would want reports that slice and dice sales or inventory information in multiple ways. Whether there are fundamental changes to your data structure or not, be sure to create a map between the legacy system and the new data structure.

Learn more about data migration in our related blog: “Follow These Data Best Practices When Switching to NetSuite.”

Pitfall #6: Not Having a Project Manager With Full Oversight

A good implementation partner will have a project manager assigned to your project to oversee all aspects of the implementation. However, it’s equally important for your company to also have a project manager overseeing the implementation.

That project manager is critical to keeping the team on track when the implementation partner is not on site. This person would be someone with solid and deep knowledge of the business, who can help connect the dots between the departments and the flow of a transaction throughout the system.

For example, a shoe manufacturing company implementing NetSuite would want a project manager that understands the flow of order processing from the customer to the factory, the receipt of the goods from the factory, the bill from the factory and payment to the factory, the invoice to the customer and the receipt of payment from the customer and everything in between. This person should have a strong understanding of the operations as well as accounting and how each transaction affects the financial statements because every transaction ends up affecting the financial statements which is why you want NetSuite set up correctly from the beginning preventing costly Go-Live delays or costly clean up in the aftermath.

Learn More

If you want to increase your company’s chances of having a successful ERP implementation, then you should consider bringing in external support to supplement your existing in-house team. Our team can help. To learn more about how 8020 Consulting works with our clients and the types of financial systems projects that we’ve supported, then visit our financial systems consulting page. You can also download our free guide to learn about ERP Implementation stages and avoid common issues:

erp implementation steps guide

Avoiding Surprises in Intercompany Account Reconciliation Prior to ERP Implementation

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The cleanup process for intercompany accounts can be labor-intensive and overwhelming, which many companies do not fully calculate when planning new ERP implementations. They are normally aware of their intercompany accounting issues if they exist, but often, they don’t have enough resources to address them. Naturally, these issues don’t become a priority until they must be addressed – usually prior to new ERP implementation.

I have seen companies estimate a few weeks to clean up their intercompany accounts, only to spend several months or longer working on unreconciled intercompany account balances prior to data migration. In these cases, data migration in new ERP implementations must be put on hold until their intercompany accounts are untangled.

The Problem of Compounding Discrepancies

Auditors question balances in intercompany accounts when they become significant. It’s often at this point companies discover their accounts out of control and fail to substantiate if those accounts have never been previously fully reconciled.

If discrepancies are insignificant, they can be written off – no sweat! If not, accounting teams can plan on sorting them out in the next period. If they make an attempt, they can find it a bigger issue than initially estimated, resulting in no resolutions. Or they may be so busy with book close each period that they have no extra time for ad-hoc time-consuming projects. And then the discrepancies grow bigger and bigger over time.

ERP Implementations Force Substantiation

When companies plan new ERP implementations, large-discrepancy and unreconciled balances in intercompany GL accounts should not be migrated to their new ERP systems as-is. So, companies have no choice but to resolve those discrepancy issues. Companies must then take a close look at each transaction in their multiple yearlong books – sometimes all the way back to inception – and try to come up with fixing entries.

And unfortunately, those discrepancies have often been compounding for such long periods that a few aggregate entries may not fix them all at once.

Root Causes and Complexities

The complexity of the cleanup projects depends on the number of currencies, entities, locations and the training level of their accounting teams. Cleanup projects are often multi-faceted even if the root cause is simple enough.

Let’s say the root cause is that the staff is inadequately trained. However, that lack of training might have led to the staff making mistakes in the preparation of intercompany entries. Perhaps they did not think about how the other side of the entry needed to match when multiple currencies were involved, or perhaps they did not fully understand the nature of transactions to begin with.

Or let’s say the root cause is a system setting or limitation issue. Perhaps the staff did not know how to configure settings in their ERP systems, or perhaps they were unaware of the limitations or capabilities of their ERP systems. (For example, it’s common that some old systems don’t offer functionality to disallow a single-side entry hitting intercompany GL accounts.) Though the resolution for moving forward might be as simple as adjusting settings, the complications of reconciling the past impacts can be vast.

Even in new ERP systems, foreign exchange functionalities are sometimes not utilized to full capacity, which results in fluctuating discrepancies each month when two or more currencies are involved in transactions.

Preventing Issues Sooner

As a preventive measure, companies should check periodically whether intercompany accounts are reconciled. It is important particularly when you’re exploring an IPO or a new ERP implementation in the near term. If intercompany accounts are not reconciled, identify issues and figure out their root causes.

In my experience as an accountant at big and small companies, I find intercompany account issues often remain on long-lasting to-do lists, and teams only end up executing reconciliations when they become obligated to do so.

In line with a useful article from PwC, I believe that there are two critical points to keep financials clean and organized:

  1. Intercompany transactions should reconcile. It is not about whether the books of each entity are in balance.
  2. Automate processes. ERP systems can support intercompany in many ways but often don’t to.

Most intercompany problems result from disorganization in system and process. Data migration of the balances of intercompany accounts from your old system to your new system needs to be thoroughly planned and carefully executed. 

If your intercompany accounts are out of control by the time you try to reconcile, it is wise to have your accounting team continue to focus on book close. Unless you have extra resources who can focus on intercompany cleanup project alone, you should also recruit external assistance well before you need to have the issues addressed. Surprisingly, it takes much longer to completely clear discrepancies in intercompany accounts than many people realize – as each transaction often need to be looked at and gets more complex based on how many currencies, entities, locations and so on.

Learn More

It’s common that accounting departments are overburdened, which can lead to projects like intercompany account reconciliation to be put on the backburner. If your company plans on implementing a new ERP, recruiting supplemental support early – ideally prior to system selection – can be the difference between success and failure. Experienced professionals can help you manage the implementation project, and they can help you identify and mitigate risks early to avoid costs later. You can learn more about how we help our Clients through such engagements on our Financial Systems services page.

You can also learn more about process improvement, accounting department health and project management in the related resources below. They offer extensive insight from our diverse team of consultants:

About the Author

Sunny has more than 15 years of hands-on financial experience in diverse industries, such as investment banking, global asset management, hospitality and entertainment. Her roles involved Controllership and Financial Reporting manager positions at various organizations ranging from startup to multi-billion-dollar public companies. She has strong international experience, including cross-border operations and taxation, with time spent in Europe, Asia and South America. Her experience and expertise encompass managing internal and external (including SEC) financial reporting, streamlining the financial close process, supporting a successful IPO, implementing new ERP systems, leading finance and accounting teams and building up an offshore team in India. She holds a B.A. in Business Administration from Ewha Woman’s University in Seoul, Korea and an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management. She is a CPA licensed in California.

Real Estate and Construction Finance Whitepaper

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Our whitepaper offers insights on diagnosing common finance and accounting pain points in real estate and construction businesses. Learn about software solutions, read case studies and discover signs you might need external support.

real estate and construction finance and accounting paper mockup call to action

3 Caution Areas for System Implementations: a Leadership Perspective

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I have been a part of several system implementation projects – from Sage X3 to SAP. Software implementations can be the most impactful projects that a team can deliver an organization. Even smaller IT projects can have significant impacts, such as delivering a detailed income statement in a minute when it used to take a full day of manual labor.

As you start a system implementation process, many items can arise for consideration. The technical details can sometimes feel overwhelming, but as I look back on several implementations, common themes emerge. Customization, clear necessities and employee bandwidth and capabilities come to mind as areas for additional caution and focus.

Customization is a slippery slope for any system implementation.

The common mindset in the first pass is that we are in charge, and the software should do what we tell it to do. However, that perspective can become an Achilles’ heel very quickly. The best approach is to find common ground with the software and adjust business processes more frequently than the software.

In my last implementation, the structure for taking order deposits was overly complex for the ERP system. Internally, the team was overly focused on matching the present structure without enough thought on the true business need. The company spent a lot of time and money building out the structure with exceptions for so many different rationales. The product type, payment type of the customer, the inventory status, freight, partially available inventory and the timing of the inventory availability were all considered and built into the software.

But the deposit customization triggered all kinds of issues within the ERP system that were not easy to fix.

Too much customization – particularly adjustments to the core software – can create three major long-term issues:

  1. Significant customization requires great initial expense in money and time. The effort will eat away time that could be better used on testing and other support for the project.
  2. Customization often causes unforeseen issues and impacts. Despite best efforts, it’s common that customization causes issues – even once you are live – that are again costly to fix.
  3. When you upgrade the software in the longer term, the customizations will likely return as problematic again, in that they cause additional issues and expense.

My advice here is to proceed carefully and consider what customization is truly necessary for the business. The value of any customization must outweigh the longer-term effort to maintain the customization in the ERP.

Be clear about necessities for a successful system implementation.

It’s important to recognize when you have undeniable requirements that are needed in the backbone of your business and its systems. Successful implementations require a lot of analysis to determine requirements and then proactive project scope management. Various requirements and improvements create the foundation and rationale for the project, and these items must be scoped out with a proper team that holds roles across the organization. This approach will allow the system to meet the organization’s needs over the life of the software. 

One of the implementations that I worked on came to an impasse over automation of revenue recognition for annual software maintenance contracts. The company was moving systems to the corporate enterprise resource planning (ERP) tool of SAP. Our SAP structure from corporate didn’t have the capability to automatically allocate the revenue. The contracts all had different start dates, and we needed the consistency and accuracy of an automated system.

There was a lot of debate on the need. However, we had the capability in the company’s prior ERP software, and our moving to a manual process in Excel would have been a major downgrade in accounting controls. This was a time when we had to lay on the tracks and say it was a requirement, and we couldn’t move forward without it. It allowed the team to step back and find a way to use Project Systems to build an automated structure. Without the pressure, we would have lost an important automated process that the division needed for accurate accounting of revenue.

Related Posts

Consider the impact of the system implementation on your employees.

Every implementation I have been a part of has had significant impact on the employees – even to the point of medical leave for stress. In many ways, implementations give capability, speed and accuracy to your employees. However, the road there sometimes has challenges. A large part of an implementation is to determine what your employees can and can’t do as part of an implementation and where experts need to be called in. Even many highly trained personnel only have limited experience with implementations. Keep in mind that the implementation is also a full-time job on top of the full-time jobs operating the business. The right experiences, capabilities and capacities should always be considered during an implementation to maximize results and minimize employee impact.

For a specific example, one of the implementations that I worked on caused significant distress to our division’s Accounting Manager. In addition to changes including a new division President, the added weight of the implementation was too much. For most employees, including the Accounting Manager, days, weeks and months were already filled with work. The added analysis and support for an implementation was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and she eventually left the company.

The environment of added stress and different types of work are too much to overcome in many implementations. It is better to bring in resources trained, ready and capable of supporting the workload. It will also help you avoid the challenges inherent in managing time commitments between the implementation and the ongoing activities.

Set the stage through thoughtful implementation.

I hope these insights provide useful in evaluating the best approach for an implementation at your company. It’s important to recognize not only the technical fit of an ERP system, but also the impact that choices may have on your company’s ability to grow. Getting these items right can help you build the structures that will allow your company to grow and optimize processes for several years. And who knows? By then, your company may have outgrown its ERP solution and warrant another implementation. And you’ll be ready!

You can visit the services area of our site to learn more about our financial systems consulting services. And we invite you to contact us if you need dedicated external support resources for your system implementation or optimizations efforts. You can also learn more about the phases of ERP implementations in our free guide below:

erp implementation steps guide

About the Author

Bob has 25 years of finance and accounting leadership experience serving companies from the Fortune 500 to the middle market. Prior to 8020 Consulting, Bob led finance and accounting as the Vice President of Finance for Ardmore Home Design, a high growth wholesale luxury furniture company. He has leadership experience with TechnipFMC (oil and gas equipment and technology), Panasonic (in-flight entertainment and communication), Hawker Beechcraft (general aviation) and Ford Motor Company. Bob also worked with the CapAnalysis Group as a litigation consultant supporting attorneys and clients with finance, accounting and economic analysis. Bob holds an MBA in Finance and Accounting from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and a B.S. in Economics from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.

Improve Your BI Implementation Strategy with These Steps

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Good data is a critical component for any business looking to grow and become more successful in the long term. One of the most common drains on an FP&A team’s time is wrestling with various data to extract the main drivers and actionable insights to improve decision making. Having the right systems in place will significantly help with analysis and delivering reporting that is consistent, accurate and timely. This is where investing in a Business Intelligence (BI) system can readily add value. And once you’ve selected a BI system, solid BI implementation strategy is imperative to the success of its implementation and the value you derive from the system.

First things first, let’s take a moment to explain what a BI system is designed to do.

BI systems interface with various systems that an organization uses to manage their critical processes. These processes include its financial activities – which are usually managed in an accounting or ERP system, manufacturing systems, customer resource management (CRM) system and various others. All the data generated by these source systems is then able to be integrated into a database that is a central part of the BI tool.

As the data is integrated, it is organized, and new relationships can be defined that will help drive analytical reporting capabilities for a range of customers – from daily detailed reporting for analysts to summarized reports for senior executives.

Evaluating and implementing a BI system is a key milestone for any organization seeking to become strategic and deliberate about how it operates and responds to competition. Now, let’s review some key considerations to include in your BI implementation strategy.

Secure executive support for your BI implementation strategy to improve results.

Often, people in the workplace, regardless of position and motivations, are inherently resistant to change. Like all major initiatives, successful BI implementation relies on buy-in from all the departments that are connected to the data that will be available in the new system.

As a company starts on the journey to connect all the key functions through analytics, the resulting data may highlight issues with processes, accuracy, relevance and functional responsibilities. Some of these questions will lead to deeper reflection while others will be easier to explain. In either case, having a strong top-down support system will help as you navigate through some of these dilemmas. Without this support, building the robust, questioning culture needed for an effective BI system will not be possible.

Ensure a clear definition of scope.

One of the biggest challenges that lead to a failed implementation is the Finance and management teams expecting BI to solve all the problems in Finance and across the Operational teams. This “boil the ocean” approach typically results in mismatches between expectation and delivery as stakeholder have inconsistent understandings of:  

  • The benefits and improvements that the new system will bring,
  • The real-world capabilities of the system and
  • The bandwidth of the project team.

Being too ambitious about what will be accomplished is a common issue and results in a breakdown of trust between the Executive team and project sponsors. One successful approach to defining and project scope management is to form a small, cross-functional project committee. This committee should have enough exposure around the business and industry, and it should be able to articulate three to six reports that can address the most common questions from the business operators.

The FP&A team is well positioned to take a central role in coordinating the data needs through collaborating with each of the functions involved. All meaningful data should ultimately have a cost or efficiency perspective – and measuring this performance systemically is the only way to affect change and improve performance. With this perspective, the Finance team should guide the objectives to accomplish this level of reporting – first through basic reporting and ultimately visualization in the form of real time dashboards and charts. Most enterprise-level BI tools connect to a wide range of sources – you can start with one function, develop focus and proficiency and repeat the process. This helps build credibility and develop a culture of curiosity and innovative analyses.

Build your BI before implementing the BI system.

One of the main lessons I have learned about BI implementation strategy through previous successful projects is to have a working model of the ideal system in place. Obviously, this will be at a significantly smaller scale. That noted, building a pipeline of data tables that are either manually updated and a prototype of some of the reporting already being used by the business helps significantly define the scope of an implementation. It can also identify areas where a process can be improved through implementing an enterprise-level system.

Building this model in Excel is a good starting point. It will require some investment in time at the beginning, but the effort will really help stakeholders and the internal and external implementation team visualize how an ideal system needs to look and operate. Developing such a model in Microsoft Access will be considerably better than Excel since Access fundamentally operates like a BI system with its relational database structure.

Self-service BI is the most impactful.

A central premise of BI systems is to democratize the analytical process. Modern BI systems empower business users to access financial and operational reporting and executive dashboards, as well as memorialize and share managerial narratives in a central archive for future reference on demand. There is no need to be at the mercy of the FP&A, IT or any other analytical team.

Getting to this point involves some training, but the benefits to coworkers and the company will be significant over time. Rather than FP&A being the only eyes and ears of the businesses when it comes to identifying areas of concern or further investigation, the people in operations can see the impacts of their day-to-day decisions for themselves. This also means much of the data cleaning and analysis must be automated, leaving FP&A to focus on supporting the business with more intelligent insights, deeper questions and help with formulating plans to address future direction. This is where the real value-added work begins.

Good BI implementation strategy starts with knowing business teams need to own BI (not IT).

A well-defined and effective BI system integrates data from many departmental source systems across the organization. It operates as a one-stop shop for anyone in the company looking to analyze information in ways that were not previously possible given the compressed timeframes in most businesses.

Over time, it’s natural for source systems to need maintenance, interrupting daily transmissions. It is also common to find the source system data is being captured incorrectly or is otherwise inaccurate. To ensure the continuity of the BI system, Finance/FP&A or the relevant business teams need to take ownership of the tool, identify when there are issues and work rapidly to resolve them.

Internal IT teams are already occupied with maintaining many technologies and financial systems in addition to the myriad of ongoing projects in their department. That means IT teams are often spread too thin to monitor and resolve issues with real data, and they may not be able to provide the resources for a few weeks – and in the meantime, precious opportunities to analyze data are lost. Many BI tools are designed to be administered by superusers (and not technical IT folks) for this very reason. Ideally, there should be a resource in Finance (given their skillset in analyzing data even prior to implementing a BI system) or within the operational teams that are using the tool daily. This will ensure issues are resolved in a timely fashion and reporting is as accurate as possible.

Set your BI implementation strategy up for success.

The considerations discussed above are just some of the learnings I have found helpful through by own experiences. They will help your implementation strategy set the company up for success by deploying and expanding their analytical capabilities. If you’d like to learn more about business intelligence tools or get support from 8020 Consulting, visit our financial systems services page, or contact us directly. You can also learn more about systems best practices in our downloadable ebook, which covers translatable selection and implementation principles:

revenue management software for ASC 606 whitepaper

About the Author

Ebrahim has 17+ years of experience in finance across diverse industries including a global shipping terminal conglomerate, logistics, manufacturing, retail and consumer product companies. His experience spans mid-sized, Fortune 500 and private-equity-owned companies in England and USA. He has established FP&A processes from the ground up, spending most of his time in the trenches working with Operational and Financial Executives to understand performance through a range of analytical tools and by leveraging his deep experience in leading Operational Finance. His experience encompasses strategic planning, budgeting, forecasting, management and Board commentaries/reporting, financial/operational modeling, FP&A, P&L review/management, system design and process re-engineering. He has led the implementation of a company-wide BI system for an international terminal operator. He holds an MBA in Supply Chain from CSU Long Beach, an MS in Finance from Henley Business School. He is a Chartered Accountant (UK) and Certified Management Accountant.

Best Practices for Implementing a Financial System for a Small Business or Target Company

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As smaller companies grow and expand their businesses, an area which is typically overlooked or neglected is implementing a new ERP system. A financial system for a small business is often put on the backburner behind day-to-day business and strategizing growth opportunities. If an ERP system is considered a low priority, gaps or holes in the current system will tend to be patched with band-aids or workarounds. While these gaps or holes may be workable in the short term, as a company grows, they will develop into areas of risk, which may include errors in data input, data migration issues or accuracy.

In this article, we’ll focus on two common scenarios:

  1. The first is a smaller company (Company A) that is about to be acquired, and as such should plan and organize for the impending implementation of the acquiring company’s ERP.
  2. The second is another smaller company (Company B) that has scaled and grown their business to the point where implementing a more stable and sustainable ERP system is a necessity.

The following discussion will provide five areas to keep in mind in both scenarios: assessment, documentation, data availability, user roles and implementation planning.

Assessment of Existing Processes and Future Opportunities

Early in the process of implementation of a financial system for a small business or target company, the entity (Company A or B) should assess the current ERP and subledger system inefficiencies, limitations, etc., which would be addressed with the new ERP system. Such limitations or inefficiencies might include lack of controls, access limitations depending on the role of staff members or the inability to feed various subledger systems to the main ERP.

This assessment can be done in-house if management is experienced and have dealt with prior implementations in their prior experience. If not, and there is capability to bring in an outside consultant, it would be best to do so early, in this stage of the implementation process.

For Company A, this assessment will help to alert the Implementation Team to the need state as well as potential improvements to be created within a new system.

For Company B, this assessment step serves as the starting point for shifting perspectives and redesigning and optimizing processes to maximize the impact of a new ERP, rather than simply utilizing their current system as-is. For example, Company B might note an existing inability to feed Trade Payables from its subledger system, QuickBooks. But a system such as Oracle or SAP would have the capability to effectively feed Trade Payables from a subledger system. This offers an opportunity to reduce errors and create efficiencies by automating the process.

Detailed assessment may also expose limitations in a new system, which would need to be managed so that all processes are addressed. These limitations may include industry-specific transactions that may not be compatible with the new ERP system. For example, in the ever-evolving tech industry, a static, established system may not take in the data cleanly without custom-designing the new ERP system to fit business needs. By talking through the business and how transactions are structured, stakeholders might find the new, as-is ERP isn’t the final solution. They might decide making it more customized would better suit the company.

Learn more translatable principles of assessment and system selection in our whitepaper:

revenue management software for ASC 606 whitepaper

Documentation of Processes

Proper documentation of all processes (for both Company A & B) will encourage more efficiency in the blueprint phase of the implementation. Each area of the Balance Sheet and Income Statement that is handled by specific members of the Accounting Department should have desktop procedures prepared, and each cycle should be documented to show process and workflow (e.g., the Revenue cycle).

When documentation is requested ahead of the blueprint phase of an implementation, it’d be best for Company A to have documentation ready. This can avoid organizational stress and the risks of hastily putting documentation together last-minute, which can lead to the omission of critical steps or uninformed deficiencies in the new system. For Company B, the documentation can create consistency and inform an optimal implementation of the new ERP by allowing clarity in the translation of processes into the new environment.

Your documentation should be reviewed and updated every two to three months to ensure changes in steps or processes are reflected. It can also be helpful to have new team members review the documentation as they would have a fresh set of eyes to make thoughtful edits.

Learn more about documentation: “The Unnecessary Risk of Poor Accounting Process Documentation”

Data Availability

Before implementing a financial system for a small business or target company, it is also important to gather and organize data that needs to be ingested as a part of the implementation (e.g., vendor data, customer information or chart of accounts), so that it is easier to ingest when the time comes.

For example, let’s say Company A’s position is to reduce the number of general ledger accounts in the new system and to map against the parent company’s chart of accounts. Company A should first place a current list of accounts against the more-condensed list to weed out redundancies, misnamed accounts and so on. Once a draft of the list of accounts is created, vet this list with senior management for their approval, and then finalize the list beforehand so the ingestion is smooth.

Once a chart of accounts is transitioned to the new ERP system, it becomes difficult to amend the list, especially once transactions are generated as unraveling them would be messy.

For Company B, as the business expands and grows, vendor data may be constantly changing.  As such, it would be best to collect and organize the vendor data up until the time of implementation, so that the data would not have to be updated in the new system. Changes that would need to be made after the vendor detail is ingested would cause a disruption in normal day-to-day business and potentially cause delays in invoices being paid. 

User Roles

Understand who the current users of the ERP/subledger systems are versus the future-state users. For example, a user list for the current financial system for a small business may only include people in the Accounting and Finance functions. Post-implementation, a user list might include users who are from other business areas. In this case, it is useful to understand what system roles and access levels these business users will have, the training needed to use the system and who to reach out to for access, system issues, troubleshooting or support—aside from Accounting and Finance team members.

For example, let’s say Company A is a small media technology company that is acquired by a global media company, and they transition from QuickBooks to SAP. In QuickBooks, the sole users of the system are from the Accounting and Finance departments. In SAP, the role of the Accounting and Finance departments is focused on areas specific to these two functions (e.g., Journal Entry creation, consolidations or data warehouse retrieval). In SAP, users in Marketing, Sales, IT and other departments have access to create POs, create Customer Invoices and perform other tasks relevant to their function. As such, gathering all potential users of the new system and identifying what functions they should have going forward (e.g., read or write access) makes the transition smoother. They can be included in appropriate training sessions, can test their access and will be capable of performing their duties appropriately once the system has gone live.

For Company B, where there may not be a structured user list, some users may have multiple roles and user access may not be tightly controlled. This would need to be revised as the business grows. Implementing a new system provides an opportunity to firm up the controls via a revised user list. This would be done by limiting access depending on the activity in the new system (e.g., posting journal entries versus a read-only user). This can also be done by creating a preparer, reviewer and secondary reviewer hierarchy, so junior staff cannot perform approvals within the system. By taking a step back and making sure this list is revised ahead of an implementation, you can ensure that the list does not need to be amended afterwards and there is no disruption to daily activity.

Implementation Planning

As one of the last steps prior to implementation, it is helpful for Company A to determine the core Team to handle the implementation from the perspective of the entity being acquired. The core Team should be assembled based on an understanding of current workload, future system needs, experience level and other relevant factors. The Team should gather the needs for the future system(s) by conducting interviews with the Team and Leadership to understand expectations of the system (e.g., potential useful outputs, reporting needs). This will allow Company A to interface thoughtfully with the Implementation Team (both business and technical sides) of the acquiring company. The Team should set up a meeting cadence with the Implementation Team to address tangible deadlines, create action items and work to address these items and meet the deadlines. This will enable the entire organization to understand the implementation timeline and any deviations, hopefully before they arise, so they can be addressed properly.

In the case of Company B, this planning should be guided by management with the greatest expertise and knowledge of system implementations—and who can facilitate this process with the ERP Vendor. If there is no such in-house expertise and there is a budget in place for the implementation, it would be a good choice to utilize an external consulting firm to assist with this massive undertaking.

Learn more about systems implementations:

Implementing a Financial System for a Small Business or Target Company? Experience Matters.

As a company grows and/or is nearing an acquisition, keeping in mind the areas discussed above will help ensure a smoother ERP implementation as the Team approaches the User Acceptance Testing (UAT), Go Live, parallel testing, support and optimize phases.

It’s common that companies will attempt to perform a financial systems implementation with in-house resources, who add this responsibility onto their day-to-day duties. Due to the complexity and workload inherent in systems implementations, it’s our firm’s view that engaging an external project manager, who can focus on the implementation 100% of the time, substantially reduces the risk of implementation failure. If you’d like to learn more about how 8020 Consulting can help your business, visit our financial systems consulting page. You can also learn more about ERP implementation stages and phases in our downloadable guide:

erp implementation steps guide

About the Author

Radha has 15+ years of finance and accounting experience in various industries, with a specialty in Entertainment. Prior to consulting, she was a Sr. Manager of Financial Reporting at Paramount Pictures, where she managed the consolidated GAAP and cash reporting to DreamWorks Animation and Marvel Studios. As a consultant, Radha has performed financial system implementations, provided accounting services for month-end, quarter-end and year-end close processes, business process re-engineering, created forecasting and budgeting models, and managed the forecast and budget cycles and deliverables within various large clients. Radha is also an alumnus of PwC in Los Angeles, where she was on engagements spanning various industries of varying sizes, such as Valeant Pharmaceuticals, Tetra Tech, Disney, Arbonne and Morgan Creek Productions. Radha holds a B.A. in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from California State University, Fullerton.

Transform Your Budget and Forecast Process: From Excel to Oracle NetSuite PBCS

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For small to mid-size companies, relying on Excel can create stress every budget season, including a forecast cycle or two, if time permits! Excel is a great tool for analysis and data representation. However, the pain of consolidating, linking and maintaining version control with multiple spreadsheets and several users to create an annual budget takes up valuable time and resources. The finance team should be spending time on actual analysis, reviewing information and telling the story of the company’s financials. Let’s review how moving from Excel to a platform like Oracle NetSuite PBCS (Planning & Budgeting Cloud Service) can help.

Consider an Enterprise Performance Management Solution

Are you and your team drowning in Excel files during budget season? Is the business changing rapidly, making it more difficult for your team to maintain static templates? Are static Excel templates emailed to budget owners and returned via email to your team for consolidation? This situation is an all-too-familiar scenario for many finance groups. And to add fuel to the fire, emails go missing, or multiple versions are re-sent to your team.

An Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) solution facilitates a budget process more efficiently. Utilizing an EPM system provides a central repository of financial data that can be sliced and diced using an Excel add-in, which is a familiar tool used for financial analysis. Many of the EPM solutions have reporting and dashboarding capabilities for senior leadership to digest financial information quickly. Budgets can be entered and reviewed by P&L owners, and there can be an approval workflow and audit trail of changes.

Having experienced implementing an EPM solution, specifically Oracle NetSuite PBCS, switching from Excel to an EPM tool brought the following benefits to the budget process:

  1. Transparency
  2. Manageability
  3. Collaboration
  4. Data Integrity

Learn more about identifying whether you need an automated system for budgeting and forecasting:

automating budgeting and forecasting checklist

Finding the Right Solution, and Selecting Oracle NetSuite PBCS

The selection process of an EPM solution can be overwhelming. Factors to consider include, but are not limited to, the speed to implement, integrations and application features. To speed up implementations, a cloud-based option is the path businesses often choose. Another consideration involves the integration of data between your ERP and EPM tool, specifically how data will be loaded. Each tool has unique features and specifications. During the RFP and demonstration process, the solutions considered were Workday Adaptive Insights, Host Analytics and Oracle NetSuite PBCS. Though there are many Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud benefits, with NetSuite as the company’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, implementing PBCS was the most obvious option for four main reasons:

  1. Compatibility within the same Oracle ecosystem meant there would be a seamless connection to and from NetSuite and PBCS.
  2. A drill through feature from PBCS to NetSuite allowed users to access transactional data.
  3. PBCS utilizes the popular Excel add-in, Smart View, which all other vendors were comparing themselves against.
  4. PBCS was robust and could scale with our rapid growth, both organically and through acquisition.

Learn more about the process of system selection in our guide to selecting a system for ASC 606. It offers transferrable principles and processes: “Selecting a Revenue Management System for ASC 606” [Whitepaper]

Design for the Future

After an EPM solution is selected and requirements are gathered, the design phase of the project begins. During the design sessions, it usually becomes clear that current budget processes and finance views will not work in a future-state solution. For example, a finance process improvement and redesign process may include the requirements for how workforce would be budgeted, how volumes and rates would be captured (which may not be readily available by product) and structuring the organization for proper workflow approvals.

To meet the requirements within PBCS, the Workforce cube can be utilized to manage existing and new employees, and a Revenue cube can be developed to capture volume and rates—along with the enablement of the Financials cube for a consolidated view of all financial data. You can also take advantage of PBCS Valid Intersections functionality, where foreign entities can budget in their home currency with no concerns of inputting data to invalid currencies. Finally, PBCS can perform allocations where applicable, such as Cost of Goods Sold.

Training, Testing & Roll Out of Oracle NetSuite PBCS

Before go-live of PBCS, routine meetings with internal stakeholders and sponsors can help mitigate risks and surprises and ensure requirements are being met. Training for users is often completed before, during and after User Acceptance Testing (UAT). During the UAT phase, bugs will be identified and fixed by your implementation partner. Input and review forms are also modified during UAT to help increase performance, when applicable. Once the model successfully passes UAT, the solution is rolled out to all end users.

An important consideration, and a cost not usually considered, is a resource to administer PBCS. If the current finance team does not have the bandwidth and/or skillset, a systems administrator is strongly recommended. The administrator will be responsible for updates and maintenance, running business rules, documentation, and security controls.

The phases of implementation for an EPM solution take time from the day-to-day operations of the finance team. For future Oracle NetSuite PBCS implementations, keep 8020 Consulting in mind and we can guide you through the selection, design, and implementation process. If you have questions or would like to connect, take the first step by contacting us, or visit our financial systems consulting services page to learn more:

financial systems consultants

Identifying Business Needs in a Phased System Implementation

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I recently completed an engagement as the project manager for a phased system implementation, in which the client transitioned away from MRI Software to Foundation Construction Accounting Software. The project required the diagnosis of the client’s current system and the selection of a new system with full cycle phases of implementation, data migration, training and going live.

During the initial discussion before the project began, it became obvious that the client was looking for suggestions for a new system, which is always preferable to a client’s having already decided on the replacement platform. I determined the best way to approach this type of project was a phased system implementation. I would obtain relevant company information before suggesting a new platform, and then I’d use that information to inform the decision-making process throughout the software vetting, implementation and go-live stages of the project.

About Phased System Implementations

A phased system implementation is a process by which the consultant takes the time to dig into the client’s business operations and requirements before beginning the physical implementation process. A phased system implementation may include the following: 

  1. Understanding the company’s business operations and identifying any unique requirements for a new system.
  2. Participating in the selection and sales process for possible new software platforms.
  3. Managing the physical financial systems implementation process, including the day-to-day tasks of data migration, testing and remediation.
  4. Overseeing the go-live and user training processes once the system implementation has commenced.

Going In-Depth to Determine Business Requirements

In phase one, I obtained much of the information needed to lay the groundwork for the remaining phases of the implementation. This was particularly true in determining which new software platform would best deliver what the client needed. My client is a vertically integrated company that had been using MRI Software, a platform generally designed for real estate companies, to run several different business units that were unrelated to real estate. However, the company needed a software platform with unique functionality for its construction accounting and project management operations, both specifically provided by Foundation Construction Accounting Software.

Making informed decisions during the subsequent phases of the project became possible by taking an in-depth look at the company’s requirements in the first phase. I spent several weeks examining my client’s business requirements with an eye on identifying a new software solution to suit their needs. This deep dive into my client’s needs included following aspects of their business and identifying these important markers for proceeding with any new system:

Current Accounting Processes and Operational Protocols

It was necessary to compile and review as much information as possible on the company’s current accounting and operational processes to understand what they did and did not need in a new system. This becomes the jumping off point to not only learn about the company, but to understand how a new system like Foundation Construction Accounting Software could solve some of their accounting and operational challenges.

Related Blog: Learn more about construction accounting principles in “What You Should Know About Project Accounting.”

Internal and External Reporting Requirements

This step can include a review of the company’s chart of accounts or its financial statements to identify if the company is maximizing its reporting capability. It can also include a check on any regulatory or investor reporting requirements to ensure that the new system can handle current needs and provide additional solutions to address needs that are not currently being met.

Functionality and Limitations of the Company’s Existing System

MRI Software is a trustworthy and capable platform that served the client’s needs adequately in one of their operating companies. However, it was inadequate to fulfill the needs of their growing general contracting and construction management business. The choice of a new system needs to include the accounting and reporting requirements of the company’s specific scope of work and the daily tasks associated with operating that type of business.

Internal Accounting Staff, IT Department and Stakeholder Needs

It is important to determine who will be using the new system and what they need for it to accomplish each cycle. Each team requires its own functionality and contributes its own work product to the successful operations of the company. Interviewing each of the interested parties is an informative way to learn the details of each team’s responsibilities, namely how they interact with the old system and how they will integrate into the new system.

User Requirements

Defining the user requirements may be the most important step of phase one. The key to selecting a new system is identifying the system functions that will be performed on a daily, monthly and annual basis. It’s also important to determine what output is required for the company to operate at maximum levels. This step clearly identified Foundation Construction Accounting Software as an ideal option to meet the needs of the company and their ongoing operational strategy.

Learning More

The work began on phases two through four once the client selected Foundation Construction Accounting Software as its new system. The hard work completed in phase one informed all the decisions made along the way and the client is now working within a new system that meets its needs and supplies all stakeholders and team members with the required functionality.

Related Insights:

Thank you for reading, and we invite you to subscribe to our blog! Once you’re signed up, we’ll send you email notifications whenever we post new content. If you’d like to learn more about ERP implementations, we also offer a downloadable guide that offers more insight into the stages and phases of these projects:

erp implementation steps guide

Five Factors to Help You Decide Which eCommerce Platform to Choose for Your Business

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With traditional brick-and-mortar stores closing, more consumers are turning to online stores both for convenience and safety during the pandemic. In terms of quantifying that shift, McKinsey measured 10 years’ eCommerce growth in 90 days in early 2020. A global survey across 11 markets by Shopify found 84% of consumers shopped online during the pandemic. Accordingly, the shift to online shopping has driven many companies to consider which eCommerce platform to choose to keep up with customers and increase sales.

Businesses can no longer avoid the online market opportunities in consumer behavior shifts due to COVID-19. To fortify their businesses, they need to understand web store platforms and applications in order to properly set up an online store. Several turn-key online platforms allow for a quick and easy setup. However, it is very important to consider a few points that will help both the initial setup and the long-term success.

Factors for Deciding Which eCommerce Platform to Choose

There are a lot of options to pick and choose from, including:

Some are cheap, some are expensive, some are easy to use and some offer different plans and enhanced features. Choosing the right platform for your business is of utmost importance. That choice will dictate what can be offered to the consumer, how it will be paid, how it will be delivered and how much consideration of additional costs will be needed for both initial setup and ongoing operating expenses.

Although the due diligence and system selection analysis of choosing an eCommerce platform can be overwhelming, enough time should be allocated to go through the available options as your choice will impact the workflow for accounting, finance and sales departments and ultimately the bottom line on the income statement. Choosing the right store platform basically depends on the purpose, type of product and desired size of your online store, as well as the reporting needs of each department.

Some of the important factors to review and compare are:

Pricing and Plans

eCommerce platform plans range from $20 to several hundred dollars a month depending on the store application features and scalability.

Integration

Based on the business needs and sales strategy, it is important to consider built-in integration with other financial systems and internal platforms that will add sales, shipping, marketing and reporting capabilities.

Inventory Management

Some eCommerce platforms include inventory tracking and fulfillment features, which help inventory management, the number of items sold online and integration with shipping applications and ERP systems. This is extremely helpful for the accounting and operations teams to have accurate inventory counts and cost records. Additionally, special consideration should be given to the number of SKUs and categories that can be added based on the platform plan allowance as some only support a limited number of items.

Shopping Cart Payment Options

This is a very important decision in the setup process as it will determine browser conversions into sales and, depending on the payment option, additional merchant-related costs. Most eCommerce platforms offer a variety of options and provide an easy connection with different payment options for the shopping cart. Some of the most common are:

  • Merchant Account and Payment Gateway – Payments are processed through the business bank partner and deposited directly into the business bank account.
  • Payment Gateway Packages – These connect the shopping cart to the card processing network.
  • Platform’s Own Payment Gateway – The shopping cart integrates with the built-in platform gateway so shoppers will not leave the site while completing a purchase.

Finance, Sales and Marketing teams will need to work together to determine which payment method will create more conversions while being the most cost effective. The target market and the geographical location of potential customers are key factors in choosing the right payment options.

Shipping Settings

The shipping options available on the eCommerce platform determines both overall customer satisfaction and healthy margins. Different platforms come with a variety of shipping options and shipping management tools: drop-shipping, label printing, FedEx, UPS, USPS, DHL, etc. At a minimum, it is important to consider the target customers’ location(s), the type of products sold, transit times, warehouse location and systems integration needs in order to choose the platform with the shipping options that are supportive to the business.

Unsure Which eCommerce Platform to Choose?

Many online store options include the above discussed features, and some include other settings that also need to be carefully evaluated before committing to which eCommerce platform to choose. The best decisions are made when Sales, Marketing, Finance and Accounting team up to carefully review and compare the available options.

If you’re looking for support in system selection, then we invite you to contact us to explore how we can help. We have a breadth of experience in financial system selection, implementation and post-go-live hyper care.

To learn a little more about best practices, you can download our whitepaper on ASC 606 system selection, which offers a helpful framework for consideration:

revenue management software for ASC 606 whitepaper

About the Author

Carlos has over 20 years of experience in finance, accounting and operational leadership roles, including positions as CFO and Controller, across multiple industries such as beauty, manufacturing, e-commerce and entertainment. Throughout his career, Carlos has developed and mentored strong finance and accounting teams, led financial system implementations and created processes and internal controls for start-ups and well established companies. He has extensive experience in reporting, forecasting, budgeting, cash management, due diligence, SOX compliance and financial analysis. He began his career with Deloitte in accounting outsourcing services and moved to audit where he served a variety of client industries. Prior to joining 8020 Consulting, he was CFO at Sultra Corporation and before that, Director of Finance at ghd Professional North America. Carlos holds a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Accounting from Universidad Tecnológica de México.

Selecting a Telephony System for Enhanced Recovery & Collections

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An effective Collections/Recoveries team is an integral part of an overall Accounts Receivable strategy. Since collecting cash is the foremost priority for an AR department, effectively managing and measuring the efforts of the Collections/Recoveries team is a key ingredient to enhanced recovery and collections. Finding an effective telephony system that can be deployed in your financial systems stack can greatly assist in managing call center teams.

A Features List for Telephony Systems Criteria: Enhanced Recovery & Collections

System selection is one of the most important phases in the overall system lifecycle. When selecting a telephony system, a few key features need to be offered in the software solution you’re considering. Let’s review these features:

Automatic Call Distribution (ACD)

ACD routes calls to a specific agent or department ensuring effective customer routing. The system can be customized with parameters when mapping the call routes to specific agents/departments (e.g., by days past due, base vs. premium accounts).

Call Analytics

Calling activity of the calling team can be monitored, broken into important KPIs and available through automated reports. Examples of relevant KPIs would be:

  • # of Calls
  • Abandoned Calls
  • Average Talk Time

Call Recording

Your telephony system should have the ability to automatically record calls with the ability to review, pause and replay calls. This feature is used to assess call quality and provides the ability to audit select calls.

Customized Automated Actions

A call outcome can be programmed to trigger another action through workflows. For example, a non-response from customer might trigger an email to that customer. Workflows can be customized to suit the needs of the business.

Auto Callback

This useful feature triggers the system after an unanswered/missed customer call. The systems will call that customer back when the agent ends the current call that they are engaged in.

Call Outcome Codes

Tagging every completed call with an “outcome code” is vital to measuring call output and outcome. (Example codes might signal “promise to pay” or “ringing no response.”) The system also summarizes the codes and produces automated reports.

API Connection to Customer Data

The customer call information/outcome should be integrated with the customer account information, so calls are tied account values. Automated reporting provides key metrics such as the dollar value of call outcomes across the portfolio, average talk time by account delinquency (e.g., days past due), and so on. The ability to judge agent efforts by account value is a key managerial tool.

IVR (Speech Recognition)

Speech recognition software allows the customer to interact with the system and be routed to the appropriate agent immediately saving the customer and the company, time and effort.

Customer Information Integration

Incoming calls from customers should immediately trigger the system to display the customer account information on the agent screen by recognizing the incoming number if it’s associated with a customer account.

Call Queues and Auto Call Answer

Incoming calls should be stacked up in a holding pattern and calls automatically routed to open agent lines. This functionality leads to fewer dropped calls while maximizing agent utility.

Call Monitoring and Barging

This feature allows a supervisor to listen to a call without the agent knowing and intervene if the need arises. The ability to resolve a potential issue in real time has immediate and long-term benefits.

Access Control

Security protocols can be set in place restricting access to levels within the software environment so that managers and supervisors have access to data that is restricted for agents.

Call Predictive Dialer

The system only connects outgoing calls that are answered by a live person, reducing agents’ idle time waiting for calls to be answered or routed to voicemail.

Custom Agent Status

This is a useful tool for optimal resource allocation in a calling environment, where agent call statuses are visible to the entire team, and team members can route calls to open agents.

Voicemail by Email

If an incoming call is not answered by an agent, the customer is provided the ability to leave a voicemail that is emailed to the agent. The agent also has an additional reminder to call the customer back.

Caller ID Masking

The calling system can assume any caller ID and even be customized to assume a local area code to match the destination number when calling.

VOIP Phone

VOIP has become an industry standard as it is economical, portable and reliable especially with current high internet speeds. This is an important feature that needs to be included in the software solution.

Cloud Based

The software solution should ideally store all its data in the cloud, where it is easily accessible, secure and backed up as opposed to housing the data locally.

Learn More About System Selection

Telephony systems are crucial to managing and measuring a Collections/Recoveries team’s efforts. This tool offers a backbone for efficiency and increasing the velocity of Cash Collection, and they lead to efficient and enhanced recovery and collections. The desired function feature set listed above should be used when undergoing the system selection process to ensure the system possesses the desired capability.

If you’re interested in exploring related processes and considerations for system selection, you can download our whitepaper: “Tips for Selecting Best-in-Class Revenue Management Software for ASC 606”

You can also learn more about our financial systems consulting by clicking below:

financial systems consultants

About the Author

Vikram possesses 17 years of experience focused in Financial Planning and Analysis across a variety of industries such as Entertainment, IT Communications, Banking, Food and Beverage, Investment Consulting, Retail, Publishing, Aircraft Distribution, and Real Estate. Vikram’s core competencies include managing finance teams and operations (Supply Chain/Inventory Management, Cost Accounting), conceptualizing and leading budgeting and forecasting processes relating to the P&L, Capital Planning, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow analysis for both mid-sized and Fortune 1000 Companies. Vikram has project managed and led several financial system implementations such as Rightsline, Anaplan, Hyperion Essbase and TM1 Cognos. Vikram attended Willamette University (Oregon) where he received his MBA specializing in Finance. He also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and Accounting from Christ College in Bangalore and a Master’s degree in Finance and Accounting from Bangalore University.