Here's something that I hope does not breach any copyright rules ... my sincere apologies if it does; but I have given full credit for the full source, together with full links to the original. Whatever happened to the "virtual close"? Annotations of an article from www.cfo.com: full link at end. The virtual close, that is a business filing its annual report and account at the end of the financial year in real time, is an issue that crops up from time to time. Janet Kersnar of CFO wrote an article in which she explored this issue. Here is my summary of that article. ... Cisco Systems ... show the way. Yet research by KPMG Consulting Inc ... Surveying 550 companies, KPMG found that the average close took 8 days in 1999; two years later it had decreased by just 1 day. the entire process: closing the books ... press release ... no progress at all has been made ... 34 days to achieve that in 1999, and the same number last year. ... the only way you can get faster is if you improve the quality of your processes." Best-in-class companies such as Cisco offer some object lessons. ... make sure their processes and procedures are consistent and reliable ... a single chart of accounts for their entire organization. ... standard, companywide data warehousing or similar technology, and have automated most — if not all — of their processes ... installed Web-based applications or interfaces to connect consolidation tools and local companies' general-ledger systems. ... fast-close projects at best-in-class companies are a work in progress ... Germany's Veba Oel ...[t]he $26 billion oil and petrol-retail company ... few processes ... standardized across the company, which comprised three businesses for marketing and distribution, refining, and upstream production, with about 100 subgroups filing reports to them. ... workshops with unit heads, accountants, controllers, and auditors to discuss how books were closed "product by product, process by process ... group-level intercompany reconciliation now takes less than a day a month compared with four days before the project began ... in February 2002, E.On sold Veba Oel to BP of the United Kingdom, where the demands for fast consolidation and reporting are even greater. ... at the German company Henkel, $13 billion maker of toiletries, home-care products, and industrial goods began using Web-based software for intercompany reconciliations. "Having Web-enabled software for intercompany reconciliations is a great way to let managers anywhere in the company see their receivables against the liabilities of their partners within Henkel," ... "... 280 reporting units ..." ... groupwide database and financial system that ... "will give us seamless, real-time virtual management." ... auditors signing off on the 2001 accounts by February 14 this year, Henkel made its financials available to shareholders 45 working days after year-end — 10 days faster than in 2001. The aim is to sign off on the books by January 31 of next year. ... Gerber Foods, a £450 million ($700 million) U.K. drinks supplier, is hoping [to] say the same ... waved good-bye to the trusty spreadsheets ... moved to Web-based consolidation and reporting software. "Spreadsheets are fine ... for ad hoc analysis ... But once a company reaches a certain scale ... too cumbersome to be the sole tool for closing the books." ... the KPMG survey found that while the average time to close the books has declined only 1 day, the median has dropped from 10 days to 7, and audit sign-off has dropped from 16 days to 10 (both average and median) ... Original autohor Janet Kersnar, CFO IT Date published October 23, 2002 Web link to full article http://www.cfo.com/article/1,5309,7884|||3,00.html DW