Close Calendar Management
Task sequencing, role-based ownership and a binding calendar for the monthly and year-end close — so it stays traceable who was responsible for what, and when, instead of a manual approval list nobody actually follows.
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Closing & Consolidation
Group Close & Consolidation · Platform-Embedded BPO
The close shouldn't be the hardest ten days of the month.
A reliable multi-entity close is a system property, not a heroic effort by two people who understand the spreadsheet. JPS-iQ takes over defined close and consolidation work — close calendar management, intercompany reconciliation and elimination, group reporting support, and consolidation process support — directly inside the ERP you already run: NetSuite OneWorld, DATEV, SAP or Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations. Not in a separate BPO tool, and not beside your ERP.
Before the diagnostic call
The symptoms that usually bring closing and consolidation work to us.
None of these show up as one clean problem. They show up as a close that keeps slipping, a set of numbers nobody fully trusts, and an audit conversation that repeats itself every cycle.
Slow, unreliable closeThe monthly close routinely runs past its calendar, consolidation slips into the next reporting cycle, and the finish date depends on who happens to be available that week.
Intercompany imbalances that don't resolveIC differences get manually levelled before consolidation instead of matched during the month — the imbalance moves, it rarely disappears.
Manual, Excel-based consolidation breaking as entity count growsA spreadsheet model built for five entities is still carrying the group at fifteen, maintained by one or two people who know which tab actually drives the numbers.
Recurring audit findingsMultibook postings and tax provisioning come up again at every audit cycle — partially booked at group, partially at entity level, with no consistent rule set.
Scope
What's confirmed and covered — agreed process by process, not as a fixed bundle.
Closing & Consolidation BPO covers four areas of work. Engagements combine one or more of them around your actual close calendar and entity structure — from a single recurring step to full ownership of the group close.
Intercompany Reconciliation & Elimination
Matching intercompany balances and transactions during the month rather than only at close, and supporting elimination as part of the consolidation step — so discrepancies surface early, not on day 20 of the close.
Group Reporting Support
Operational support for the reporting package that comes out of the group close — pulling together entity-level figures, group adjustments and management reporting inputs on a dependable cadence.
Consolidation Process Support
Operational support for the consolidation step itself — native NetSuite OneWorld consolidation where that's the platform in play, plus the consolidation and group-reporting contexts around DATEV, SAP and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations.
Read: when Finance BPO beats doing group close in-house →On tax: closing and consolidation work touches tax-relevant processes — tax provisioning among them. JPS-iQ is not a tax advisory firm and does not act as one. We support the operational side of these processes — data, systems, reconciliations and preparation work. Wherever a task requires licensed tax advisory authority, we bring in a qualified tax advisory partner; the two roles stay separate.
Finance Transformation: introducing a new consolidation solution or process
Where a client is introducing a new consolidation solution, or changing how the existing close and consolidation process runs, that's Finance Transformation work we support directly — not just steady-state operations. Typical activities:
- Functional preparation and requirements clarification
- Consolidation process design
- Operational implementation work
- Testing and reconciliation against the prior process
- Migration and transition planning
- Training the client's group-accounting team on the new setup
- Supporting the first few closes on the new setup
- Ongoing operation and hypercare afterward
Training & Enablement runs alongside every closing and consolidation engagement: as steps move from JPS-iQ back toward the client's team, or as a new consolidation process goes live, we bring the client's group-accounting team up to speed on the new close calendar, the reconciliation logic and the system screens they will own going forward.
Close taking too long, intercompany not resolving, or an audit finding that keeps coming back? 30 minutes with a senior BPO architect.
Book a scope call
We work inside your consolidation system
One ERP, one consolidation path, one number truth.
Closing and consolidation work happens inside NetSuite — including native NetSuite OneWorld consolidation — DATEV, SAP and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations. The ERP stays the Single Source of Truth: there is no separate consolidation spreadsheet universe sitting beside it, and no second version of the group numbers to reconcile back.
- Consolidation and close work run inside the ERP you already have — no parallel BPO stack
- Native NetSuite OneWorld consolidation where that's the platform in play
- DATEV, SAP and Dynamics 365 F&O contexts covered on their own terms
- Clean handover of consolidation entries and workpapers back to internal teams or audit
4 systems
NetSuite OneWorld, DATEV, SAP, Dynamics 365 F&O.
1 platform
Your ERP stays the Single Source of Truth for the group close.
0 shadow files
No separate consolidation spreadsheet universe to maintain and reconcile.
1 handover
Clean transfer of consolidation entries and logic back to internal teams or audit.
Operating model
From extra hands during close week to full ownership of the group close.
The right level for closing and consolidation work is agreed in the diagnostic conversation, not assumed in advance — and it can shift as entity count, audit pressure or team capacity change.
This is the closing-and-consolidation slice of the group's broader BPO Operating Model. See the full Operating Model for how it applies across all five BPO areas. Where consolidation problems trace back to an unstable ERP setup rather than a process gap, ERP & Finance Stabilization is the natural companion engagement.
- 01
Capacity
Additional hands during close week — reconciliation, data preparation, entity-level support — without changing who owns the process.
- 02
Process Takeover
Specific close or consolidation steps handed over end-to-end — intercompany elimination, group adjustments, a defined set of entities — while the rest stays internal.
- 03
Full Managed Group Close
The entire close-and-consolidation cycle run as a managed service inside your ERP, under agreed SLAs, with a documented transfer option back to internal teams.
Method
Diagnose. Transition. Operate. Evolve. Without breaking the reporting calendar.
Taking over close or consolidation steps midstream is the one operation that cannot afford a missed reporting cycle. The lifecycle is built around that constraint from day one.
01 — Diagnose
What's actually broken in the close?
Close calendar, intercompany process, consolidation setup and ownership captured — including whether the root cause sits in process, data, system configuration or governance. Scope sketch on a single page.
02 — Transition
Handover without a missed cycle
Scope, service boundaries, system access and the first operating cadence agreed and aligned to the existing reporting calendar — transition runs alongside the live close, not against it.
03 — Operate
Actual operational responsibility
Day-to-day execution of the close and consolidation steps taken over, inside the ERP. Escalation path, KPI discipline — close timing, intercompany imbalance, error rates — and continuous quality management.
04 — Evolve
Stabilize, extend, or hand back
Scope extensions, additional entities, a new consolidation process — or controlled transfer back to internal teams once the close runs reliably inside the reporting cycle. No lock-in.
Documented outcome
One group close, from 22 days to 8 — without restarting the ERP.
An anonymized, documented case: a 14-legal-entity group across seven countries, four years into its ERP, was closing the month in 22 working days with recurring audit findings and two competing vendor proposals on the table to re-implement or migrate. A finance-and-system stabilization programme — including BPO support for two of the smaller entities, freeing local controllers for higher-value work — brought the close back inside the reporting cycle within six months. It was a team effort across finance architecture, ERP configuration and operational execution; BPO's specific contribution was carrying the operational accounting load for the entities that needed it most — not the full outcome on its own.
14 entitiesacross seven countries
22 → 8 daysmonthly close, back inside the reporting cycle
€2-4m → <€100kintercompany imbalance at month-end
Closedaudit findings on multibook & tax provisioning
€6m avoidedre-implementation budget, platform kept in place
Read the full case: recovering a stalled multi-entity finance close, without restarting the ERP →
Decision framework: when Finance BPO beats doing group close in-house →
Typical risks this addresses
The patterns that usually sit behind a stalled close.
Delayed closeThe close routinely runs past its calendar and consolidation slips into the next reporting cycle.
Error-prone manual consolidationConsolidation logic lives in spreadsheets rather than in the ERP, rebuilt by hand every cycle.
Recurring audit findingsThe same multibook or tax-provisioning finding reappears every audit cycle, unresolved between cycles.
Key-person dependency on spreadsheet-based consolidationOne or two people carry the actual consolidation logic in their heads, with no documented backup.
Before the first call
Who this is built for — and who it isn't.
Handing over parts of the close requires trust in the numbers. The clearest way to build it is to say plainly who this fits, and who it doesn't.
Good fit
Multi-entity groups running NetSuite, DATEV, SAP or Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations where the close is unreliable, intercompany doesn't resolve, or consolidation still runs through spreadsheets as entity count grows. Also: groups with recurring audit findings on multibook or tax provisioning; teams introducing a new consolidation solution or process and wanting hands-on delivery support, not just advice; organizations that want a documented transfer path back to internal teams rather than a permanent dependency.
Less of a good fit
A single-entity business with a straightforward, already-reliable close and no consolidation requirement. Organizations that want the close run in a separate BPO tool disconnected from their ERP. Anyone expecting JPS-iQ to provide tax advisory services directly — for licensed tax advisory work, we bring in a qualified partner; we don't replace one.
Hard questions
What CFOs and Heads of Group Accounting ask before handing over the close.
Can you take over just the consolidation step, or does it have to be the full close?
Either. Scope can be a single close or consolidation step — for example intercompany elimination, group adjustments, or consolidation-process support for two entities — or the full monthly and year-end close across the group.
There is no all-or-nothing package; scope is agreed step by step in the diagnostic conversation.
How do you handle intercompany reconciliation and elimination?
We work inside the intercompany structure your ERP already provides — matching balances and transactions during the month rather than only at close, and supporting elimination as part of the consolidation process.
Where the underlying intercompany process itself is the problem — no policy on who leads a transaction, no automated counter-booking — that is diagnosed and fixed as part of the engagement, not worked around.
Does this replace our consolidation tool or software?
No. We work inside whatever consolidation setup you already run — native NetSuite OneWorld consolidation, a specialized consolidation tool, or a spreadsheet-based model you want to move off.
Where a new consolidation solution or process is being introduced, that is Finance Transformation work we support directly: functional preparation, process design, implementation, testing, migration, training and hypercare. We do not sell or prescribe a specific consolidation product.
How do you handle tax provisioning as part of closing and consolidation?
JPS-iQ is not a tax advisory firm and does not act as one. We support the operational side of tax-relevant close and consolidation processes — data, systems, reconciliations and preparation work, including tax-provisioning entries as instructed.
Wherever a task requires licensed tax advisory authority, we bring in a qualified tax advisory partner; the two roles stay separate.
How fast can you stabilize a close that has already broken down?
It depends on entity count, audit calendar and current process maturity, and that is confirmed in the diagnostic call rather than promised up front.
As a reference point, one documented programme brought a 14-entity, seven-country group's close from 22 working days back to 8 within six months, alongside a wider finance-and-system stabilization effort — not achieved by BPO capacity alone.
What is the typical contract length or minimum commitment?
There is no fixed standard term. Engagements are scoped and termed during the transition phase based on what is being taken over — a single recurring close step looks different from a full managed group close.
Every engagement is built with a documented transfer option back to internal teams from day one.
Do you support introducing a new consolidation solution or process?
Yes — this is a real Finance Transformation capability, not a side effect of running BPO. Typical activities: functional preparation, consolidation process design, operational implementation work, testing, reconciliation, migration and transition, training the group-accounting team, supporting the first few closes on the new setup, and ongoing operation or hypercare afterward.
Contact · Closing & Consolidation BPO
Ready to see what a reliable close looks like inside your own ERP?
Start with a short scoping conversation. We look at your close calendar, entity structure and consolidation setup — and outline what a platform-embedded closing and consolidation service would actually take over.