Case study · Multi-company groups
One group close instead of five separate ones
Groups that grow by acquisition end up with each company on its own books, and a consolidation spreadsheet that only one person understands. This is how we put the group on Business Central with shared structures, automated intercompany and a consolidated close.
Project overview
A multi-company Business Central setup with automated consolidation.
- Industry
- Multi-company groups
- Client
- Confidential
- Solution
- Group finance and consolidation
- Platform
- Business Central
- Timeline
- 16–26 weeks
- Team
- 4 people
- Currencies
- Multi-currency
- Companies
- 3–15
- Deployment
- Business Central online
Expected business outcomes
What the client set out to achieve
The benefit comes from removing the manual steps between company closes and the group figures.
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40–60%
Faster group close
Intercompany eliminations and currency translation run in the system instead of in spreadsheets.
Target range; depends on how many companies go live together
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Near zero
Unmatched intercompany balances
Intercompany invoices post on both sides at once, so the two companies can't disagree.
Where intercompany postings are automated
-
One
Chart of accounts across the group
A shared structure means group reports need no mapping tables.
With company-specific detail kept in dimensions
Business challenges
How group finance worked before
Each acquisition brought its own system, and the group close is where they meet.
Books
Each company runs its own accounting package with its own chart of accounts.
Intercompany
Recharges are invoiced one way and recorded late or differently on the other side.
Currencies
Foreign subsidiaries are translated in a spreadsheet at month-end rates.
Consolidation
A workbook maps each company's accounts to group lines, maintained by one person.
Reporting
The board pack arrives three weeks after month-end and is out of date on arrival.
Proposed solution
What the Business Central build covers
Standard multi-company Business Central, designed as a group from the start.
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Shared structures
A group chart of accounts, dimensions and posting setup replicated to every company.
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Automated intercompany
Intercompany sales and purchases posted on both sides at once, including recharges.
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Consolidation
A consolidation company that pulls balances, translates currencies and eliminates intercompany.
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Group reporting
Management accounts and board reports from the consolidated figures.
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Controls
Approval workflows and user permissions per company, with a shared finance team able to work across them.
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Close checklist
A month-end checklist per company so the group close starts on time.
Project requirements
What the client asked us for
The request was a faster close. The real work is agreeing one chart of accounts and one set of dimensions that every company can live with.
We usually move companies in waves, starting with the parent and the largest subsidiary, so the consolidation is proven before the smaller companies join.
What the project had to deliver
- 01Every company on one platform
- 02Intercompany that always matches
- 03Currency translation without spreadsheets
- 04Board pack days after month-end
Key challenges & considerations
What made it harder, and what we did
-
Local statutory requirements per country
What we did
Local statutory accounts were kept in each company and mapped to the shared group chart of accounts.
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Different year-ends in acquired companies
What we did
Differing year-ends were handled with consolidation periods, until acquired companies aligned their calendars.
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Historic intercompany balances that never agreed
What we did
Old intercompany differences were investigated and cleared before migration, not carried into the new system.
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Finance teams attached to their own reports
What we did
Each finance team kept its own local reports, produced from the same shared data as the group pack.
What we watched for
- Agree the chart of accounts before migrating anyone
- Clear old intercompany differences first
- Respect local statutory needs from day one
- Prove consolidation with two companies before adding the rest
Development process
Design once, roll out in waves
The group design is agreed first, then each company moves on to it.
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Group design
Chart of accounts, dimensions, intercompany rules and reporting lines agreed with group finance.
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Parent and first subsidiary
The first two companies migrated and consolidated in a sandbox.
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Intercompany and currencies
Automated intercompany and translation tested against a previous month's manual figures.
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Remaining companies
The other companies migrated in waves, each with local requirements checked.
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First group close
A consolidated close run with the group team, then the checklist refined.
Technology stack
Business Central across the group
One Business Central tenant with a company per legal entity and a consolidation company on top.
ERP
- Business Central multi-company
- Consolidation
- Intercompany
Reporting
- Financial reports
- Power BI
- Excel add-in
Controls
- Approval workflows
- Permission sets
Migration
- Configuration packages
- Opening balance migration
Quality assurance & deployment
Proved on the client's own data before go-live
An ERP is trusted when the numbers agree. Configuration and extensions were tested in a sandbox on the client's own data, and finance signed off the figures before cut-over.
- Sandbox testing of every process on the client's own data
- User acceptance testing with key users, by scenario
- Migration rehearsals, reconciled to the old system
- Automated tests for extensions, run before each release
- Permission sets checked role by role
Deployment
- 01Remaining companiesThe other companies migrated in waves, each with local requirements checked.
- 02First group closeA consolidated close run with the group team, then the checklist refined.
- 03Cut-over planA rehearsed cut-over with a checklist, opening balances signed off by finance, and a rollback point.
- 04Hypercare and warrantyConsultants on hand through the first month-end, and six months of free bug fixing.
Final deliverables
A group that closes as one
Every company closes on the same platform with the same structure, intercompany agrees by design and the consolidation runs in the system.
The board sees the group figures days after month-end, and adding the next acquisition means adding a company, not another spreadsheet.
- One chart of accounts across companies
- Intercompany that can't disagree
- Currency translation in the system
- A repeatable way to onboard acquisitions
Handed over to the client
- 01Configured Business CentralProduction and sandbox environments
- 02ExtensionsSource code and documentation
- 03Migrated dataReconciled and signed off
- 04Key-user trainingWith process guides
- 05Six-month warrantyFree bug fixing after delivery
Success metrics
How success is measured
| Measure | Outcome | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|
| Faster group close | 40–60% | Target range; depends on how many companies go live together |
| Unmatched intercompany balances | Near zero | Where intercompany postings are automated |
| Chart of accounts across the group | One | With company-specific detail kept in dimensions |
Verified reviews
What clients say about our Dynamics work
Verified reviews from our clients on the same kind of work, published on Clutch.
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