- Client
- Budgen Motors
- Sector
- Motor Retail (multi-franchise dealer group)
- Outcome
- Faster month-end, consistent reporting across sites, and budgeting the team can plan with
- What we do
- Continuous development and support of the financial reporting platform, plus training and system administration
The situation
As the group grew, so did the reporting. There was more to consolidate, the management team wanted more analysis, and the finance department was under pressure to produce it all quickly and get it right first time.
Motor retail adds a complication. Manufacturers change what they want reported, and new model ranges have to be mapped into the account structures before the numbers mean anything. A reporting system built once and left alone falls out of step within a year.
How the work runs
There was never a single launch date. The finance team raises what it needs, and we review it and build it, including in the middle of a reporting cycle if that’s when it matters.
What we’ve built
Budgets and planning. Budget structures and planning tools in the same shape as the accounts they’re measured against, so budget versus actual stops being a manual reconciliation.
Stocking interest. Reporting and mapping that puts the cost of funding vehicle stock where it belongs, instead of leaving it as a lump at group level. That changes how departmental profit reads.
Sales and profit analysis. More account and analysis reports, and better versions of the summary reports the team uses every month.
Keeping up with manufacturers. Changes for new models and new reporting rules, made as they arrive.
Fixing what breaks. Reporting and consolidation problems put right as they surface, with user support, training and system administration alongside.
What changed
Month-end is quicker, and the finance team trusts what comes out of it. Reporting is consistent across sites. Budgets are planned and monitored, not estimated. And when something needs to change, it gets changed, instead of becoming a workaround someone has to remember every month.
The finance team now spends its time on what the numbers mean, not on getting them to add up.
In their words
From people we support
CDE took our tired old access database and transformed it into a system that is at the heart of our business. Everything is integrated – from a client’s first phone call to invoicing once the job is done.
Get in touch
Is month-end harder than it should be?
Tell us what the reporting runs on and where the time goes each month. We’ll come back with what we’d change first and what it would cost.
