As businesses become more complex, the demand for an efficient and timely financial consolidation and close process becomes more critical to facilitating timely and accurate financial reporting. Along with this, Oracle Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) Cloud offers powerful financial planning, consolidation, and reporting applications that can help organizations achieve an efficient and unified financial close. Oracle’s cloud solutions promote a forward-looking mindset by automating manual processes, improving data quality, and giving greater visibility of financial performance through its best-in-class Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service (PBCS), Financial Consolidation & Close Cloud (FCCS) and others.

This guide explores Oracle EPM Cloud’s features, step-by-step processes, use cases across industries, and its key design principles for financial consolidation in the cloud.

Oracle EPM Cloud for Financial Close — Key Features

Oracle EPM Cloud can help you improve performance during the close process with its advanced capabilities that enable financial close processes, enhance data transparency, and ensure compliance.

Close Manager: Automates workflow of financial close tasks, provides a stoplight report of what needs to be completed and in what order, facilitates tracking during close and real-time updates of who is on track and who is not, supportive of team-based assignments to ensure a successful compilation to the time line in a collaborative way.

Advanced Consolidations: Includes robust multi-GAAP reporting, ownership management, equity eliminations, and proportional consolidations of global entities.

Supplemental Data Manager: Strong data collection for disclosures, Footnotes and Supporting Details.

Streamlined Processes: Automation of journal entries, intercompany eliminations, and reconciliations eliminate manual effort.

Integrated Reporting Tools: It provides dashboards, Smart View, and Financial Reporting Studio for real-time data visualization & decision making.

Data Integration with REST APIs: Real- time updates, with workflows running seamlessly without complex integration needed, financial data can be brought from ERP connection.

Connected Financial Close: A Step-by-Step Process

In order to arrive at an integrated financial close process, a number of core components in the Oracle EPM Cloud Planning & Budget Cloud Service (PBCS) and FCCS, will need to be tightly integrated. A connected and streamlined financial close means budgeting, forecasting, consolidation, and reporting processes are working in concert together.

Step 1: PBCS Implementation

PBCS is the foundation of significant financial planning where organizations can use budgets long with operational metrics.

Create multiple charts of accounts: Prepare a scalable, flexible chart for operational and reporting purposes.

Forecast Automation: Using Groovy Scripts and pre-built templates, generate highly accurate forecasts based on historical trends and business drivers.

Integrating ERP and EPM solutions: It is for real time updates on planning, budgeting and performance monitoring.

Budget vs Actual: Compare budgeted amounts against actual amounts regularly to identify variances and make informed decisions.

Step 2: Bringing Financial Data Together in FCCS

Financial Consolidation and Close Solutions, is a pillar of finance transformation that provides organizations with accurate and efficient financial consolidation capabilities. It is designed to simplify and accelerate the Financial Close & Consolidation Strategy.

Automate Eliminations: Streamline intercompany eliminations to ensure compliance and accuracy.

Ownership Management: Assign ownership percentages to subsidiaries and maintain proportional/equity consolidations.

Data Reconciliation: Some ERP systems may need to be validated and reconciled to ensure the integrity of the financial data before the consolidation.

Reporting and Analysis :Use built-in financial reporting and dashboards to gain real-time insights into performance.

Step 3: Automate and Oversee Normative Financial Close

Automation is also critical to reducing the time and energy spent in the close process.

Journal Entries : Automated adjustments through recurring journal entries.

Dynamic Approval Workflows: Automate Workflows for Rapid Review and Approvals

Go for Closed Task Monitoring: Indirectly monitor tasks through dashboards and alerts and keep confirming if everything is on the right track.

Principles of Financial Close in the Cloud

Oracle EPM Cloud design principles aim to provide scale, flexibility, and ease of use. This ensures that organizations can continue to meet their legacy financial needs without hampering their efficiency.

Standards and Best Practices in the Industry

Best Practice Capabilities on the ground of Hyperion & Industries. It is delivered with the necessary out-of-the-box configurations, allowing easy implementation and future scalability.

The Configuration Over Customization Metrics

Less-rapped, configuration-driven platform that decreases complexity, implementation time and enhances its maintainability. This allows organizations to respond quickly to changes and reduces dependence on custom code.

Modern User Experience

Oracle EPM Cloud is not just about people but based on technology which is for the new-age users & has an interface based on modern era devices such as smartphones and tablets. This design focused heavily on navigation, so that users could find tools and insights with ease.

Process-Driven Navigation

The platform also integrates ERP Enterprise resource planning and EPM Enterprise performance management processes to facilitate a holistic approach to financial close activities. Task management, sign-offs, and approvals are process-oriented; therefore, not product-oriented, ensuring a uniform workflow.

Ability for Descriptive Reporting

Oracle EPM Cloud is focused on reporting With this tool users can develop dashboards, financial reports, and Office-based reports (such as MS Excel and MS Word) to expose execution metrics and share insights with stakeholders.

EPM Cloud Innovations

Oracle is constantly enhancing the platform with capabilities, including autonomous consolidations, error logging and event-based alerts. All these characteristics ultimately provide efficiency, decrease mistakes and area unit user-friendly.

Industry Specific Applications of Oracle EPM Cloud – Use Cases

Oracle EPM Cloud is Industry Neutral Similar in Any Sector

Manufacturing

Cost Management: Reverse-engineer production costs through operational data and matching them with financial planning.

Supply Chain Management: Anticipate inventory needs & mitigate supply chain disruptions in advance.

Profitability Analysis: Link financial and operational metrics to identify profit drivers.

Retail

Sales Forecasting: Predictive analytics are used to forecast sales for operational effectiveness.

Demand Planning: More accurate demand planning helps with working capital reduction.

Margin Optimization: Identify margin improvement opportunities via dynamic reports.

Financial Services

Compliance: Utilize several out-of-the-box templates for IFRS, GAAP & other regulatory regime.

Risk Management : Use all financial and operational data available to you to reduce and eliminate risk.

Scenario Planning: Walk through scenarios in the market with contingency plans to protect profitability.

Oracle EPM Cloud: Optimizing Financial Close Processes

Organizations must adopt the following best practices to make most of Oracle EPM Cloud:

Unified Chart of Accounts : Build a world-class chart of accounts extended across the ERP & EPM systems for seamless reporting.

Leverage Automation: Use of Groovy Scripts and REST APIs to automate repetitive processes and move data.

Data Validation:At this stage, the reconciliation tools need to be employed to validate accuracy.

Dynamic Reporting: Drive actionable insights from dashboards, Smart View & out of the box templates.

ERP-EPM Integration: Allow data to flow smoothly between ERP and EPM systems to eliminate silos and improve visibility.

The Future is Bright – Cloud-based Financial Close

This is particularly relevant for Oracle EPM Cloud which is constantly evolving to suit the changing needs of modern organizations. Here are some of the upcoming advancements:

• Consolidation and Autonomous Journal Entries
• Advanced analytics: Scenario modeling
• Improving REST APIs for data ingestion
• Better logs for error debugging

All of these innovations help ensure Oracle EPM Cloud remains a leading financial technology with a flexible, compliant, and competitive solution.

Change Your Financial Operations Forever with Experts

A trusted Oracle EPM Implementation Partner, Quantisage specializes in all stages of the journey to wholesale Oracle EPM Cloud services deployment and optimization for your individual enterprise. Whether you want to improve forecast accuracy, speed up consolidation or increase reporting efficiencies, we will get you the most from Oracle EPM Cloud.

By taking the first step and introducing modern financial consolidation and close processes through FORECAST, you will not only achieve significant efficiencies during its rollout but that you can also enjoy the peace of mind of knowing that your entire solution has been built on these key principles: security and simplicity.

Oracle EPM Cloud being an emerging platform can work wonders for organizations looking to transform all aspects of financial consolidation and close. This provides a broad view of these financial reporting for each of its businesses while maintaining efficiency, accuracy, and transparency of its financial reporting.

Conclusion

Partners and Associates at Quantisage has been helping with Digital transformation projects for over 25 years. We are dedicated to making the transitions as seamless as possible. With our comprehensive services, from assessment and planning to training and support, we ensure that our clients achieve the results and capabilities that drive their business forward.

Contact us today to learn how we can transform your Financial processes and our Financial Reporting Strategy can revolutionize your financial processes with our expertise in Oracle EPM cloud solution.