Financial consolidation requires scarce skills: accounting standards, scope, currency conversion, taxation, intercompany transactions, changes in equity and information systems. The departure of an experienced consolidation specialist can therefore immediately put a financial close at risk.
Why these professionals are difficult to replace
Expertise is not limited to accounting rules. It also includes knowledge of the group, exceptions, historical practices and informal controls. Part of this knowledge often remains in personal files or in the team’s memory.
Operational consequences
- longer closing cycles;
- dependency on a small number of people;
- more errors;
- difficulty integrating new entities;
- lengthy training periods;
- costly emergency use of external resources.
What EPM tools can provide
A well-designed system captures part of the expertise in rules, controls and workflows:
- documented mappings and processes;
- automated consolidation calculations;
- standardized controls;
- an audit trail;
- visible schedules and responsibilities;
- guides and comments embedded in the process.
Automating without losing understanding
Automation must not turn the consolidation engine into a black box. Users must understand the rules, analyze results and handle exceptions. Functional documentation remains essential.
The potential role of AI
AI can help find a rule, explain a variance, suggest a mapping or draft a comment. It can speed up skills development, but it replaces neither accounting judgment nor validation by the consolidation specialist.
Building a resilient organization
- identify critical knowledge;
- document rules and exceptions;
- reduce reliance on personal files;
- introduce cross-reviews;
- train several people in each area;
- automate repetitive tasks;
- test process continuity.
An economic argument
The return on investment of an EPM project is not limited to days saved. It includes reducing dependency risk, enabling the onboarding of new employees and preserving the group’s knowledge.
Faced with a shortage of experienced professionals, technology becomes a source of resilience. It does not replace human expertise: it makes that expertise shareable, controllable and sustainable.