The Customer

Grayling is the world’s 2nd largest independent PR agency. A global communications network founded in 1981, it delivers data-driven strategies for Public Relations, Government Affairs, Investor Relations and Event Management. Grayling operates from 54 offices in 26 countries worldwide across Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia. Grayling has an enormous international reach and provides fully integrated communications across every major market. 

The Challenge 

A global, multi-office agency ERP implementation. Not only was the rollout truly international – 26 countries and over 700 users – but there were limited resources and a very quick turnaround to get our solution integrated. 

Grayling’s mandate for a global system required:

• fast, accurate globally consolidated data with consistent profit and loss, profitability, job, time & resourcing reporting
• ability to track global client revenues in real time, providing a single source of truth ​
• Timely and cost effective deployment through largely self managed implementation and training

The Solution

Accountability acted as an extension of the Grayling team to drive the development needed for Grayling’s operations that were using disparate systems across multiple regions. Most legacy systems had specific compliance and operational demands, so we ensured these were integrated without losing their functional requirements.

“Given the users were spread over 26 countries with multiple languages, we developed a self-managed implementation and training process so the entire Grayling workforce was ready to use the platform once the setup was complete.”

David Guthrie, Accountability Chief Customer Officer

The Results

“We’ve become so used to dealing with multiple systems that it was hard to imagine how big an impact a centralised, integrated solution would have. So far, we’ve had great early success across all regions with Accountability’s implementation.” 

James Holland, Grayling Global CFO

Accountability gave Grayling a true consolidated reporting system. This has been crucial when providing financial information to its parent company Huntsworth PLC. More importantly, it has also given Grayling executives more confidence when planning for the future.

“Having a complete company overview is vital for a global agency like ours. It means we know exactly what’s happening all the time, across all markets. That definitely makes decision making a lot easier.”

James Holland, Grayling Global CFO

The Customer

Cowan  is an international brand and packaging design agency, specializing in the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) packaging, with established offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, Vietnam, Hong Kong and London. 

The Challenge 

Cowan was running separate finance and production systems for each office across Melbourne, Sydney, Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, Vietnam, Hong Kong and London.  This resulted in operational inefficiencies and lack of financial visibility across the organization: 

• Duplicate data entry across production and accounting systems
• Minimal visibility of detailed foreign activity
• Manual consolidation of group results on a monthly basis
• Inefficiencies in the recording of related party transactions
• Group forecasts managed in Excel was error-prone
• Minimal job profitability analysis 

The Solution

In 2013, Cowan centralized its financial management workflow within the Accountability platform, integrating its production and accounting operations globally.

Cowan required a system that was capable of linking multiple local and global offices in one database and a partner that understood the added complexity of a multi-country operation. Accountability was implemented to ensure that local accounting requirements were met while making it very easy to transact with related entities. 

Working with Accountability to implement the system was achieved through a smooth transition with outstanding training and ongoing support to all Cowan staff. They always provide prompt support and are keen to work with us to answer any queries

Mina Lekkas, Financial Controller

The Results

Cowan gained significant benefits from centralizing its financial operations within the Accountability platform:

• Greater capacity to analyse job profitability at various stages of a project
• Standardised processes and procedures across the Group to ensure operation and financial consistency
• Tools to provide the Group with streamlined budgeting, forecasting and reporting processes
• The ability to transact in numerous currencies
• Increased efficiency and a reduced headcount in our finance division

The success of the Cowan implementation has largely been as a result of a successful working relationship between Accountability and Cowan.

Mina Lekkas, Financial Controller