About Jemca Car Group
Jemca Car Group is a collection of car dealerships in the UK. The core business and heritage is its Toyota and Lexus franchises. Jemca has several state-of-the-art retail and servicing centres which all take pride in catering for their customer requirements.
The challenge
Jemca’s auditors noted a higher amount of manual journal entries being processed in the company’s accounting software without proper authorisation and validation. There was no functionality in the accounting system to add an approval system before committing journals. The need to report on thousands of journals monthly, with a 4 day reporting deadline, created a huge challenge. A formalised system for processing journals was required, with a hierarchy approval in place that assigned these to the right person before being entered into the General Ledger.
Adriaan Kroh, Group Finance Director comments:
“The process we had in place just wasn’t feasible anymore”.
The solution
As an ex-auditor with knowledge in Business Intelligence and SQL scripting, Adriaan recognised the need for a detective control to address the risk.
After considering various options, a matrix was proposed internally which would enable approved account pairings and the utilisation of SQL scripting and SharePoint automation to filter through all journals. This approach would effectively identify suspect journals for investigation.
Jemca approached HAYNE as its long-standing software and support provider for IBM Planning Analytics and Cognos Controller.
With HAYNE’s extensive understanding of Jemca’s accounting systems, HAYNE was able to implement this solution effectively. The solution was a bespoke build and combined the use of SQL scripting and SharePoint.
The project aimed to establish an automated and streamlined process that would identify and flag suspect journals, with the capability to forward them to the appropriate parties for review and approval.
Adriaan continues:
“HAYNE knew exactly what we needed and was able to solve our problem. They understand our business well as they support our current systems which allowed the project to run smoothly. We provided an outline of what we wanted the end product to look like, and HAYNE was able to build a bespoke solution to achieve this”.
Key benefits of the project
Automating this process has saved Jemca time and vastly improved the consistency and accuracy of its journal submissions. Additionally, the solution now provides a clear audit trail of the investigation process, ensuring accountability and transparency and reduced audit risk.
Jemca now has an automated approval system for its journals which would not have been possible to address manually.
Jemca’s relationship with HAYNE Solutions
HAYNE manages Jemca’s full IBM solution. This was a major contributing factor for Jemca when selecting HAYNE to solve the journal approval issue. HAYNE has a deep understanding of Jemca’s current systems and how they integrate.
Adriaan continues:
“I have had the opportunity to work on several projects with HAYNE in the past and found their understanding of our business and environment to be invaluable. Their team was responsive and supportive throughout the project, and their expertise in SQL and SharePoint automation was instrumental in the project’s success.”
Outcome
This has provided reassurance that there is a formalised process for the management and processing of journals with a clear audit trail.
The process for Jemca internally is much more practical and has created controls for journals that are much more robust and have much more governance and structure. Jemca now has the ability to utilise technology to improve processes. This would have been infeasible to address without significant manual effort and staff hours. It also helps to minimise the possibility of incorrect submissions..
The system now successfully identifies and flags suspect journals, and forwards them to the appropriate parties for review and approval.
Finally, Adriaan comments:
“I have had the pleasure of working with HAYNE on multiple occasions and have been impressed by their ability to maintain a personalised approach even as their company has grown. This sets them apart from other software providers we work with. They truly understand our business and environment, which is vital in identifying and implementing practical solutions. Overall, I was very satisfied with the outcome of this project and look forward to working with HAYNE in the future.”
HAYNE’s relationship with Jemca continues to go from strength to strength.