Avia Solutions Group

Consolidating 200 entities

"The group is constantly growing. Currently, we have 200 entities, which made consolidating in Excel a challenge. The files became very large, complex, and required constant maintenance," said Nerijus Murnikovas – OneStream project owner at Avia Solutions Group.

Avia Solutions Group is the world’s largest ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance, and Insurance) provider, operating a fleet of over 200 aircraft. The group also provides a range of aviation services including, MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul), pilot and crew training, ground handling, as well as a variety of associated services. Supported by 12,000 highly skilled aviation professionals, the group operates worldwide.

Integrating acquisitions into the reporting processes

Newly acquired entities often have their own processes, which was a challenge for the financial team. Simas Vilkelis, head of consolidation and reporting at Avia Solutions Group, said: "Since the group grew significantly by acquisitions, the local accounting systems were not uniform. We needed a system that allows us to create one reporting method while accepting different accounting systems."

As Avia Solutions Group operates worldwide, different local accounting legislations (GAAPs) also play a role. In such cases we need to accommodate transition to IFRS adjustments.

Choosing the combination of OneStream and AIQOS

To tackle these challenges, Avia Solutions Group decided to move to OneStream and asked AIQOS to be the implementation partner. Various factors played a role in the decision, such as the look & feel and flexibility of OneStream, and the in-depth experience of AIQOS in implementing the platform.

Accelerated reporting

Even before the team has finalized the consolidation model, the first results were noticeable. Simas recalling that period: "We are transitioning but already reaping the system's benefits."

An example of a substantial benefit is intercompany transaction matching. "Previously, this took us 4-6 weeks. Now, we can do it in 1 week. A big improvement," said Nerijus. After the subsidiaries import the data, they can see the differences immediately and start to resolve them.

Further noticeable benefits were gained after completion of General Ledger consolidation model.  “Once the team worked out and completed GL consolidation model, it enabled us to shorten this process by 2-3 weeks.” continued Nerijus.

Uniform and reliable reports

Another benefit is the uniformity of the management reports. Simas: "Each line of business has its responsibilities, so seeing the balance sheet and P&L in a uniform way saves our management team a lot of time. Now, they don't need to know the ins and outs of each line of business reporting but can easily see the results."

A third benefit is having all the data in one system. "Uniform reporting was one of our main goals. We now have one single source of data for all the reporting and a base as reference for our figures," continued Simas.

Key success factors for implementing OneStream

Asked about the key success factors of the implementation project, the team at Avia Solutions Group stated the collaboration with the consultants of AIQOS. Simas: “We were planning the project, setting the scope, and together with AIQOS we were working on achieving set goals. I am happy how the teams clicked."

"The consultants were very friendly, and it felt like we were colleagues in one team. We could always approach them with any questions," said Levira Razmute, financial analyst at Avia Solutions Group.

Dealing with dynamic business nature

Another success factor was the way AIQOS explained complex situations. Simas: "Finance people speak a different language than IT does. Going to Excel to see how it works helped a lot to avoid pitfalls. Also, the AIQOS team gave us examples of previous cases which assisted us in making decisions."

"At first glance, the consolidation looked straightforward. During the project, we discovered that there were quite some choices to be made. For example, due to changes in ownership percentages and multiple consolidation methods required. We created various scenarios in Excel first to enable discussing the consequences of each choice," explained Andreas Nederhoed, lead consultant at AIQOS.

Captain of the boat

Simas would recommend AIQOS to other companies: "OneStream can be overwhelming in the beginning, and the team guided us very well to understand the complexity. Andreas was the boat's captain and helped us through all the ups and downs. We are happy with his guidance and the impact we created with the platform."

About AIQOS

AIQOS is 100% dedicated to OneStream Software. We share a passion, and that is simplifying complexity; AIQOS has all the expertise to help you implement OneStream Software, train (future) users, and support our clients long-term through managed services. AIQOS Factory is dedicated to the development, delivery, and maintenance of solutions for OneStream’s Solution Exchange.

Our global team consists of over 140 consultants representing 32 nationalities; among them the people who in 2013 delivered one of the first OneStream implementations in EMEA. Since then, we have helped over 145 companies and delivered over 400 projects.

AIQOS is a OneStream Diamond Partner, Global Authorized Training Partner, and Authorized Development Partner. We have offices in The Netherlands, The United Kingdom, South Africa, Denmark, Singapore, India, Ireland, The United States of America, The Philippines, Spain, and Germany. To learn more visit www.aiqos.io.

More information?

Would you like to know more about optimizing the consolidation and reporting process for your organization? Please contact Roy Piek at roy.piek@aiqos.io.