On being sold in 2006 by Thomas Cook AG to the Grupo Santana Cazorly (GSC) based on Gran Canaria, Aldiana GmbH found itself confronted for the first time with the necessity of preparing its own consolidated financial statement. This was also when the company decided to switch from their in-house financial accounting program to the Microsoft Dynamics AX product, from where the question of suitable consolidation software arose.

Up to that point, Aldiana GmbH had only figured as a brief section in the financial statement of the Thomas Cook Group, and the company had never produced consolidated accounts itself. This meant that, in both selecting the software and defining the process, Michael Eckert had to start with a blank page and implement the program as well as the consolidation process in the company from scratch.

The Seelhof Systemberatung GmbH consultancy, which had been commissioned with the migration work on the financial accounting software, gave Mr. Eckert a presentation of the consolidation tool CP-Cons with Corporate Planner as the "link" between the financial accounting system and the consolidation program. This solution allows the direct transfer of data from the financial accounts to the finished consolidated financial statement.

Due to his many and varied areas of responsibility, it suited Dirk Firnhaber down to the ground that "the consolidation process in CP-Cons is relatively quick and easy to get the hang of". In introducing CP-Cons, he hoped to achieve the most straightforward data transfer for the preparation of diverse financial statements in a minimal amount of time.

 

 

 

The Aldiana IT department, collaborating with Seelhof Systemberatung GmbH, completed the installation of the software in less than two days. In three individual workshops over nine days in total, plus a two-day training session in Hamburg, Michael Eckert and Dirk Firnhaber carried out the initial consolidation and drew up the first annual accounts for Aldiana GmbH with the assistance of a consultant.

 

Michael Eckert


Dirk Firnhaber

"The software is designed in such a way that the user is forced to perform each particular step in the correct order, so it's actually impossible to leave a crucial one out by mistake," is one of the main advantages of CP-Cons given by Dirk Firnhaber. This has put him in a position to generate subsequent financial statements without any further help. Following the workflow diagram (illustrated), he carries out user administration tasks and makes general settings for reporting dates and currencies, including how translation differences are to be treated, and defines the individual companies and their respective consolidation methods along with the structure of the consolidated reporting entity. The same flowchart also proves useful when assigning the accounts in a chart of accounts to the appropriate main groups.

In the consolidation process itself, also managed by a workflow sequence, the individual financial statements are aggregated, all inter-company investments, liabilities, profits, losses, expenses and income are eliminated and any necessary manual consolidation adjustments are made. The progress monitor lets Dirk Firnhaber view the current status of each consolidation step at any time. Whenever he needs to, he can generate reports, such as of previously-defined key ratios, or print out the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statement.

 

The accounting data are quick and easy for Firnhaber to obtain by way of upload from the Excel files. Compared with preparing the financial statements by hand, say, in Excel, the automatic data import and the electronic generation of the financial statements result in a lot of time saved and a noticeable increase in efficiency. This extra time is very much appreciated by Dirk Firnhaber. "Another thing which suits us very well is being able to export individual reports, postings and so on to Excel, as we use this program for supplying our auditors with the data they need for their report," Firnhaber adds.

To be continued…
Michael Eckert and Dirk Firnhaber now work with CP-Cons and they are already planning the next steps. New companies joining the group and the switch to a new group chart of accounts are the forthcoming challenges which Dirk Firnhaber mentions. The management accounting team has set its sights on carrying out the segment reporting in CP-Cons. So there is still a lot to be done. However, thanks to the CP software, Dirk Firnhaber is able to remain calm in the face of it. After all, he works at "the home of the happy".

 

 

Since 1973, Aldiana has proved its competence as a provider of club holidays of a high standard. Aldiana, which means "paradise" in one of the national languages of Senegal, was where the company opened its first club. Today, Aldiana has more than ten club resorts – two in Turkey and Andalusia and one each in Cyprus, on the Tunisian mainland and on the isle of Djerba as well as on Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria and in Austria.

In September 2005, Thomas Cook AG sold 75.1 percent of the Aldiana GmbH shares to the Grupo Santana Cazorla. The Grupo Santana Cazorla, based on Gran Canaria, is one of the major construction companies in Spain and has a strong presence in tourism, property development and in the automotive sector, with an authorised BMW dealership in Las Palmas.