Improving the performance of finance and accounting shared service centres

SunGard AvantGard conducted a Market Insight study to gain insight into how companies are implementing and managing Shared Service Centres (SSCs). Centralising payment functions can improve visibility of cash balances while reducing the fees and infrastructure costs needed to support each individual local group, while allowing subsidiaries to have independence on a specified range of operations and processes through supported workflows and controls that are standardised at the company level. The SunGard Insight Study uncovered some concerns when comparing the perceptions of the SSC service levels and capabilities from within the SSC to the businesses, with many business units unhappy with performance while the SSC expressed higher levels of satisfaction. Drivers to create an SSC have shifted – although companies still look toward cost savings and productivity gains, more strategic drivers like increased standardisation have grown in importance. Also indicative of the heightened strategic importance of the SSC is the growing trend toward creating a strategic shared service job title such as global process manager to oversee the creation and implementation of the SSC. This paper reviews the results and potential implications of the study results.