16 Years of Partnership: Accounting & Payroll Outsourcing Service from a Single Source
Reference Client A/V/E GmbH
For over 25 years, A/V/E GmbH has been a nationwide service provider for companies in the energy sector, offering comprehensive services to its clients. From its Halle (Saale) location, 320 employees deliver customized process, service, and support services along the customer journey for over 50 clients nationwide.
https://www.ave-online.de/
Industry: Services
Employees: 320
Go-live: January 1, 2006 (System provision/operation/application support for SAP® system already in place since January 1, 2005)
“With the ICS adminservice team, we have had a reliable partner by our side for many years. ICS particularly impresses with the quality of its services. We have highly qualified, dedicated contact persons who are convincing not only professionally but also personally. Their advice and proactivity are very valuable to A/V/E. We appreciate the trusting collaboration and excellent cooperation. I can only recommend the step into outsourcing with ICS adminservice and look forward to continuing our journey together with the colleagues in Leuna.”
Mathias Worms, Head of Central Services, A/V/E GmbH
Initial Situation
As a service provider in the energy sector, A/V/E GmbH in Halle has grown steadily. The in-house accounting department could not keep pace with this growth and was understaffed with a single employee who was nearing retirement at the time. No replacement was available. Rigid and partly outdated processes in accounting and payment transactions were increasingly perceived as obstacles. Due to the intensified demographic development, no suitable personnel succession plan could be found.
The desire to focus on the “core business” while still having a scalable and structured accounting department had long been present at A/V/E. A/V/E GmbH has always been inclined towards outsourcing processes and keen to keep its overhead lean. Thus, payroll had already been outsourced within the group.
Project Goal & Project Progress
The objective of A/V/E GmbH was to outsource partial services in finance and accounting to an external service provider, thereby optimizing and securing business processes and improving cost structures, without having to build up new personnel resources for these tasks.
The available specialized personnel at ICS adminservice was decisive for taking the step into accounting outsourcing with ICS adminservice, thereby securing the succession in accounting. The professionalism and specialized expertise of those involved at ICS adminservice were already known to the decision-makers from previous interactions.
ICS adminservice was able to provide the necessary expertise and capacities and started a 3-month project at the end of 2005 to prepare for ongoing general ledger accounting. In intensive collaboration, existing processes were analyzed and designed for takeover, taking into account specific characteristics, internal regulations, and the wishes of A/V/E GmbH. The final go-live of the BPO services for finance and accounting then took place in January 2006.
SCOPE OF FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING OUTSOURCING SERVICES
The services essentially included general ledger accounting, including current account and fixed asset accounting, banking & payment transactions, and travel expense management, and were rounded off by supporting services in controlling (cost center and profit center accounting, including planning and internal/external reporting). ICS adminservice GmbH prepares the monthly, quarterly, and annual financial statements for A/V/E GmbH. Until 2020, the preparation of enviaM’s consolidated financial reporting was also part of ICS adminservice’s services for A/V/E GmbH.
For many years, there has been very close cooperation in finance and accounting, including regular on-site support for the client by a balance sheet accountant, as well as one year of on-site personnel support for establishing A/V/E’s controlling department starting August 2009. In the course of this, processes were structured and optimized, and a targeted reporting system was established as a basis for business decisions.
SCOPE OF PAYROLL OUTSOURCING SERVICES
Effective January 1, 2012, A/V/E GmbH additionally outsourced payroll to ICS adminservice to obtain commercial processes from a single source. The payroll services are comprehensive. They include basic services (i.e., payroll processing, garnishments, preparatory and follow-up work, monthly billing, certification, communication with third parties, etc.) and further services such as audit support, vacation balance management, absence management, statutory statistics, recovery of overpayments, direct insurance, employee shares, conversion of salary components into the support fund, and preparations related to actuarial reports. Time management remains the responsibility of A/V/E GmbH.
ICS adminservice supports the client in all accounting, commercial, and billing-related matters, especially regarding process mapping within the SAP® ERP 6.8 system.
PROVISIONING & APPLICATION SUPPORT OF THE SAP SYSTEM
From the outset, part of the solution for A/V/E GmbH has been the provision of SAP® systems within the partner network. The SAP® modules Financial Accounting (General Ledger, Accounts Receivable/Payable, Fixed Assets), Controlling, Materials Management, Sales, Project System, as well as Human Resources Administration, Payroll, Organizational Management, Travel Expense Management, and Time Management are used by ICS adminservice for the client A/V/E GmbH and are continuously adapted to the client’s needs within the partner network. ICS adminservice is particularly responsible for first-level helpdesk application support for SAP® ERP 6.8 (CORE) and SAP® ERP HCM 6.8.
SAP system support and second-level helpdesk application support for SAP® ERP 6.8 (CORE) and SAP® ERP HCM 6.8 are provided by GISA GmbH.
SPECIFICALLY IMPLEMENTED REQUIREMENTS
In the BPO partnership, significant changes and developments at A/V/E GmbH have always been, and continue to be, project-specifically supported by ICS adminservice in accounting and payroll. These currently include, among others:
- recurring support for audits by the tax authorities
- recurring support for audits by social security institutions or pension insurance
- Digitalization projects in 2020: rapid implementation of paperless data exchange and digital data storage for effective collaboration during the COVID-19 pandemic
- AWB Project 2021: Creation of system prerequisites in connection with the Infection Protection Act
- AWB Project 2021: Creation of system prerequisites in connection with statutory statistics
- AWB Project for the turn of the year 2021/2022: Establishment of system prerequisites in connection with the Company Pensions Strengthening Act
- AWB Project 2022: Introduction of Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) for data protection-compliant deletion of personal data in HCM
Solution and Benefits
ICS adminservice has now been a solid BPO partner of A/V/E GmbH for 16 years and offers the client a complete solution for the commercial sector by taking over finance and accounting processes and payroll based on SAP®. Dedicated contact persons are directly available to the central contacts at A/V/E GmbH for payroll inquiries via phone and email.
The support provided by ICS adminservice simplifies A/V/E GmbH’s daily business operations and fulfills the client’s defined requirements and objectives:
- Effort for building up and maintaining in-house staff is eliminated
- Ensuring permanent optimal regular operations: external specialists provide on-demand expertise, and staff absences or replacement situations are optimally covered.
- Increased quality in accounting: restructuring, conversion to weekly payment runs, precise daily postings for timely, fast payments and payroll disbursements.
- Establishment of high-performance controlling for greater transparency and meaningful reporting.
- Ensuring legally compliant payroll and consistently high quality standards.
- continuous perfection and further development of the SAP® system
- personal, trusting collaboration with short decision and reaction times, as well as support and flexible solutions for various issues
- Cost variabilization (pay per use) and cost transparency
Are you considering outsourcing in the commercial sector? Whether accounting, payroll, or travel expense management, feel free to get in touch with our experts.
Image source: A/V/E GmbH
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