A general ledger is the central component of any company’s financial systems. As the official “books and records” of the firm, the general ledger supports the proper booking and reporting of a company’s accounting records.

Our client, an asset management firm had just experienced a failed effort to upgrade its current General Ledger. The client faced a crisis in terms of closing its books for its Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) which was already a public entity on the New York Stock Exchange. The current system could not handle their increasingly complex business including the ability to work with multi-currencies, support expense allocations, automatically reconcile cash and perform legal entity consolidations. Custom reporting capabilities had to be handled through a complex development language which caused the client to opt to manually create their reports in Excel.

The client had plans for growth and needed more sophisticated systems to manage and coordinate all the resources, information, and functions of their business. The client was seeking guidance to select the appropriate application and the leadership to implement it in a compressed timeframe.

To support the implementation, FinServ assembled a team of resources with deep project management, ERP and asset management expertise. The team started by stabilizing the existing system and environment through a set of focused improvement projects allowing the client to close its books and meet critical regulatory requirements.

After a comprehensive selection process, utilizing FinServ’s proprietary Vendor Selection Methodology the client elected Lawson as the new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. The FinServ project team crafted a plan to support all phases of the implementation from Analysis to Go Live and Ongoing Support utilizing its Project Delivery Lifecycle (PDLC) approach to projects.

Like many complex alternative investment firms, the client required a sophisticated legal entity design to support fund level reporting and tracking of expenses. FinServ utilized a "thin ledger" approach, allowing the client to reduce the number of accounts in the general ledger and take advantage of the detail and functionality captured in other Lawson modules and specialized subledgers and systems.

FinServ utilized its Systems Integration Methodology to lead the client through configuring the software to meet their unique requirements. The implementation included the successful implementation of Lawson’s accounts payable, accounts receivable, fixed asset, cash book, and legal consolidation modules.

After leading the client through an intense period of adapting the software to meet the unique needs of their funds, Lawson was implemented in 6 months. The implementation included the detailed migration of several years of history from their legacy system.

In addition to configuring the software, FinServ supported the creation of new processes which increased controls and enhanced efficiency of the client’s operations. The increased functionality allowed more accurate and timelier reporting.

The system was put to the test in subsequent months when the client fulfilled a long term goal and filed with the SEC for an initial public offering. The filing was noteworthy as they were the first US hedge fund to go public. As such, the firm faced multiple iterations of regulatory and audit review. The IPO was extremely successful and the CFO credited the Lawson implementation and FinServ with being a crucial component of the IPO process.