Cutting the finance cost base by 42 percent while closing on day seven
A Riyadh distributor with SAR 180 million in revenue was paying for a six-person finance team, closing on day 25 and had received two ZATCA queries on VAT return mismatches. After moving to ECT's Amman delivery model the close was on day seven, filings were reconciled, and the cost of the function had fallen by more than 40 percent.
The client
The company distributes consumer goods to retailers across the Kingdom through three warehouses, runs SAP Business One, and is owned by two founding shareholders who wanted reliable monthly numbers ahead of a planned bank facility.
Where the client started
The company's finance team had grown by hiring reactively: a bookkeeper, then an accountant, then a VAT specialist, then two more accountants as volumes grew. Nobody owned the close calendar, bank reconciliations were performed quarterly, and the ERP was used as a glorified invoicing tool with most reporting done in spreadsheets.
Two ZATCA queries on differences between e-invoice data and VAT returns had consumed weeks of management time. The owners wanted reliable monthly numbers, clean compliance and a lower cost, in that order.
What we were engaged to do
- Diagnostic review of transactions, systems, controls and compliance history
- Process and system redesign around the existing ERP
- Transition of daily accounting and month-end to the Amman delivery centre under CPA review
- Compliance calendar covering VAT, e-invoicing, GOSI, WPS and zakat
- Preparation of the annual financial statements and the audit file
Our approach
What changed
The close moved from day 25 to day 7 in the second month and has stayed there. The management pack now includes segment margins, cash forecasting and covenant tracking that the owners had never previously received. Subsequent VAT filings reconcile to e-invoicing data with no further queries.
The annual cost of the finance function, including our fee, is 42 percent below the prior in-house cost. The audit was completed in half the time of the previous year, and the bank facility was approved on the strength of the monthly reporting.
Cost came down because the process was fixed first. Outsourcing a broken process only moves the problem to a cheaper location.
What we would tell another client
- Fix the process before moving it; outsourcing a broken process only relocates the problem.
- Credit notes outside the e-invoicing flow are the most common cause of ZATCA queries we see.
- A named owner for every reconciliation matters more than headcount.
Engagement details are anonymised and figures are rounded. Client identity is available on request, subject to confidentiality.
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