The team at Fatland are constantly seeking out solutions that can make them more efficient.
-What would I miss if the consolidation solution disappeared overnight? Sleep! That’s the first thing that comes to mind. I would have to bring in a field bed here, laughs Roar Malmin in his office in Hommersåk.
He clearly remembers when he started as the Group Accounting Manager eight years ago.
-No one in the system now remembers how it was in the old days – but I do. It was a gruesome job. There were a lot of tables and lookups and copy-pasting and joining tables with formulas and… Oh! No, it was awful! See these receding hairlines? What do you think caused them? he asks with a laugh and continues reminiscing:
-There were many late nights. When I had to compile the accounts, it was first about guessing how they had done it before. Then I had to generate a bunch of reports, export from the ERP system to spreadsheets, compile them there, and then check if the reports in the ERP system were actually correct. Then, manual adjustments had to be made in the spreadsheets, he sighs.
-However, the way we work now is completely different.
The journey there began with an IT manager who, years ago, discovered that the company had an unused financial cube from Profitbase and informed him about it.
-I got very excited and felt butterflies in my stomach, says Roar.
With cross-competence in economics and coding, the Group Accounting Manager quickly saw the possibilities. The development and collaboration with Profitbase began.
Saved Time and Increased Accuracy
-What used to take three weeks, now takes three minutes, summarizes Roar, before elaborating:
-Having such a consolidation solution is time-saving and automates a lot of work that previously was done in spreadsheets. Additionally, the accuracy level has significantly increased. We now have an accuracy rate approaching one hundred percent.
Being efficient and accurate is important for a large company like Fatland, which had a turnover of approximately 5.9 billion NOK in 2022.
-The Fatland group is Norway’s largest privately-owned meat company. Last year, we had a turnover of approximately 5.9 billion NOK. Including internal trade, it was 15 billion NOK. So, we have more intercompany than external sales, which means there is a lot to clean up. Therefore, we are entirely dependent on the consolidation solutions we have.
Rapid Development
In his eight years as Group Accounting Manager, Roar has seen rapid development. The team has also expanded, and today he works alongside Group Controller Eleonora Berghøyden and Group Accountant Agne Ulfsnes.
-The biggest revolution came when we got the cubes in place with the systems on top. It was a revolution. Now we are in the evolution stage, begins Roar.
The plan is to make the consolidation solution even more efficient, ensuring even better flow in the company’s finances.
One Click Is All It Takes
-What we are doing now is refining, says Roar, highlighting that Profitbase has created a process where Fatland receives financial data every ten minutes.
-When accountants transfer to the ERP system and post there, it takes a maximum of 10 minutes before it is in the system. Without this process, we would have had to sit and pull out transactions, for example, before going home for the evening. Run all the transactions and load them into a huge database so we could do exactly what we do today. We would have spent an incredible amount of time, he says, clicking around on the computer.
-There are some logistics reports, he starts, bringing one up on the screen as an example.
-This report here, it used to be a 20 percent position. Creating that view was a day’s work.
He clicks, and another report appears.
-And there’s another day’s work.
-With one click?
-Yes. And here’s another day’s work, he says, emphasizing his point for the third time.
Enabling Value Creation and Analysis
-Profitbase are stealing jobs, as you can see now, jokes Eleonora, getting laughs from both Agne and Roar.
-No, it doesn’t. But it allows you to use your time on other things, on more value-creating work and analysis, says Roar, continuing:
-This is a very good example of what can be achieved. We wouldn’t have been able to do this otherwise, because there is an extreme amount of data behind this. We produce about 15 million transactions per year, and the spreadsheets start to struggle a bit, you could say, says Roar.
-So, it also likely brings more job satisfaction – working on value-creating activities instead of punching numbers?
-Without a doubt. We’ve noticed it in the budgeting work, for example, says Roar.
-Yes, you’re absolutely right. After working with Profitbase, it’s just a matter of pressing update, and everything gets updated. The quality of the reporting is enormous. I was so excited and don’t know how we would have managed without it, says Eleonora.
-We literally couldn’t manage without it, confirms Roar.
-I like to say: it’s like trying to live without a mobile phone, laughs Eleonora.
Future-Oriented
-We constantly want to develop further, so moving forward, we will work even more with budgeting and forecasting. We are building routines and competence in this, and we also want to use more of the driver-based models and utilize even more modules, such as the HR module, says Roar, continuing:
-Going forward, it’s also important for us to get as much information about ourselves as possible. It requires quite a bit of data transfer and compilation and such, and it is something we will definitely use Profitbase for as well. We want to offer as much information as possible in the shortest amount of time with the best possible quality and usability.
