Running the design workshop

Who is in the room: the controller, who owns the answer; the FP&A lead, who owns the reporting requirements; IT, who owns the integrations; and whoever runs consolidations. If the controller is not there, reschedule. Open with outputs, not inputs. Never start with how many segments do you want. Start with: show me every report you produce today, and every report you wish you produced. The structure falls out of the reporting requirement. Seven questions, in order. What legal entities exist, and will that number change in three years? What is the smallest unit you hold somebody accountable for a budget on? Show me your current account code and read it to me segment by segment. What do you do in spreadsheets today because the system cannot do it? Do entities transact with each other, and how is that eliminated? What is your statutory reporting obligation, per country? And who…

In this module: Module 4 · Chart of Accounts and Ledger Design

1. 1What we're building
2. 2The decision you can't undo
3. 3Anatomy of a chart of accounts
4. 4Segment labels and qualifiers
5. 5Running the design workshop
6. 6Sizing segments: the arithmetic
7. 7Building value sets
8. 8Structure, instance, deployment
9. 9Loading account values
10. 10Account hierarchies and why reporting needs them
11. 11Building and publishing a hierarchy
12. 12Accounting calendars
13. 13Currency and conversion rate types
14. 14Primary, secondary, reporting: the decision tree
15. 15Building the primary ledger
16. 16Ledger options and completing the definition
17. 17Cross-validation and segment value security
18. 18What breaks
19. 19Lab briefing: Meridian Trading