Case Study: How Solaris streamlined operations and expedited a food manufacturer’s year-end audit

This case study examines how Solaris successfully transformed a white-label food manufacturer by streamlining operations and expediting their year-end audit.

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Context:
Solaris' client needed assistance with facilitating their year-end audit engagement and the preparation of accurate and timely financial statements to meet bank reporting deadlines.
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Issues:
1) Due to capacity constraints, the finance organization had limited time to manage year-end audit requests and effectively organize the year end audit process.
2) The client also required assistance drafting new lease notes as well as preparing their full year-end statements.
3) Once deployed, the Solaris consultant leveraged their Big4 experience and previous client work to improve month-end reconciliations and processes. They also trained the current staff handing over the process to ensure smoother monthly and annual reporting closes.
4) After deployment, the Solaris consultant took over review duties to alleviate time constraints within the finance department, while also correcting internal billing processes prior to year-end to ensure compliance with bank covenants were met on time.

Solutions
1) Solaris reviewed the audit requests and provided the audit deliverables in a timely manner, enabling audited EBITDA sign-off and ensuring employee bonuses were paid on schedule.
2) Financial statements were prepared, reviewed and signed off by the external auditors earlier than in previous years.
3) Improved ownership of month-end activities, with more functional and intuitive reconciliations, and enhanced employee understanding of ASC 842 (Leases).
4) Freed up client resources by taking ownership of various tasks, ensuring they were completed promptly and accurately.
5) Large budget-to-actual variances were addressed quickly, preventing discrepancies in the year-end balance and ensuring bank covenants were not triggered.