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We have presented to you case studies for Eight of our clients without stating their names. However we are willing to furnish client references where required.
Case Study 1
Background
The client is a global leader in network and embedded PowerPC processing, optical transport and storage solutions in the US.
The client proposed to set up a dedicated development centre in India and considered outsourcing the entire finance and accounting activity as part of its strategy to keep costs low.
Pierian's solution
Pierian's proposal was to provide end to end accounting and finance outsourcing as an alternative to an in-house team. With a proven track record in this domain, Pierian obtained statutory registrations for the client to commence its activities and helped set up processes. Our team coordinated with the client's US team to structure employee compensation packages and developed HR, administrative and finance policies. We worked closely with the management and employees to establish procedures that built a seamless bridge between our off shore accounting function and the company.
Benefits
Cost advantage from the word go- the client saved on the cost of hiring an in house accounting team. Pierian was able to provide a full fledged accounting team from day one of the client's operation at a cost of 50% of an in house department. Access to Pierian's knowledge pool and specialized skills- the client was able to benefit from Pierian's expertise in the accounting, finance and tax domains to find quicker solutions to their problems. An example is the smooth, quick and efficient manner in which the client's registered office was shifted from New Delhi to Bangalore. Pierian
used its in house team of experts and coordinated with its network of professionals in Delhi to successfully transfer the office. Stability and continuity- the client was insulated from the difficulties that could be caused by attrition in its in house accounting team. Pierian, with its detailed service level agreements, is committed to its deadlines and deliverables despite its own attrition issues. Focus on its core area of operation- since Pierian provided an end to end accounting solution, the client was able to focus on its core activities. The Pierian team liaisoned directly with the client's accounting team in the US to handle all matters relating to finance and accounting. We also handled the entire statutory audit at our own office, with minimal, need based involvement of the client management.
The client has expressed tremendous satisfaction with Pierian's services both on the timeliness and quality.
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Case Study 2
Background:
Our client, is an US company providing Recording keeping and 401k plan administration services to the various high profile companies in USA.
The Client has expertise in the selection and management of fund .They have tied-up with leading Trustee banker as their trading partner. They are not aligned to any particular fund group and are consequently able to give unbiased advice about any type of retirement benefit plan (both solo and 401k).
The Client is experiencing tremendous growth in business and consequently faced difficulty in addressing the day-to-day processing of the plans. At the same time, Client wanted to give their clients excellent and outstanding service. Further, the Client wanted to concentrate on marketing and client management and therefore were looking for a partner who can perform the day-to-day processing functions for them. The Client felt the need to have a team that could provide the support for day to day processing besides, capable of providing advice and support on 401k plans .
Challenge was to get the information about the plan and fund parameters, organize it in simplified manner so that end customers or participants can get the personalized information.
Pierian's Solution:
The Client chose PIERIAN to handle the entire processing of day-to-day functions, and compile the information of all the funds of fund companies across the US. Documents elaborating fund information in PDF format is either provided by the Client or downloaded from the websites. PIERIAN team maintains the records for all the 401k clients of the client using TSM, and periodically information is passed onto Client. Before sending data to Client'ss Client, it goes through the defined testing processes. The information is available to the end customer on website in a personalized format.
Benefits:
- Benefit of Cost savings in the form of Employee Cost, Management Cost and Infrastructure Cost.
- Improved turnaround time and client services. With a standard turnaround time of two business days and a premium service with a turnaround time of one business day , the client's able to address the requirements of their clients without any delays.
- Access to a dependable and trained back office team there by reducing the need to increase Client's staff during the busy season.
- Client's Processes and workflow are improved by the use of latest technology.
The Client is adding tremendous value to the services it is providing to its end customers. It is able to maintain the records in a most cost effective manner without compromising on the quality. Client's satisfaction is reflected in the continued relationship with
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Case Study 3
Background
The client was one of the larger PPOs (Preferred Provider Organization) based out of east coast, USA, providing full range of services in healthcare. The Client had 21 offices with over 50 physicians spread across different parts of the state.
Having grown through acquisitions, the client lacked a streamlined process for revenue cycle management such as billing, charge entry, demographics entry, payment posting, coding and accounts receivables management such as receivables analysis, denial analysis, underpayment analysis and payment follow up.
Client was unclear on the completeness of its billing, capturing the correct treatment given, making the correct claims to the insurance companies and collecting the amounts due from insurance companies and patients. This was leading to loss of revenue for the client.
The client approached Pierian to assess the situation and propose a solution.
Pierian Solution
Pierian, by virtue of its business focus and experienced team, quickly identified the process gaps and bottlenecks (for example, superbills not collected from different offices, incorrect or partial procedure codes and diagnosis codes marked on superbills, wrong diagnosis codes used for making insurance claims, incorrect or partial patient demographic details available in the database, physicians not credentialed with insurance companies and clearing houses, claims not filed within time etc) which were responsible for the prevalent problems and loss of revenue.
Pierian streamlined the collection of superbills from each of the client's offices to reach the central billing center. A scanning protocol was suggested to the client to scan each day's superbills and upload the scanned documents on the Client's server. These scanned documents were downloaded through FTP by Pierian's Bangalore center.
Our team in Bangalore would efficiently code, check patient demographics, insurance information and enter the superbills in the billing software for timely and accurate submission of claims. Our experienced professionals focused on operational efficiencies to maximize billing. Quality processes were implemented for continuous improvements.
Benefits to the client
Pierian was able to streamline processes, shorten billing and collections cycle and reduce back office costs to the Client. We shortened turnaround time for submission of clean claims. Using Pierian's services the Client was able eliminate 6 months billing backlog to being current. The Client also increased collections by over 50% due to our efficient coding and billing, timely submission of claims, analysis of unpaid claims and payment follow with insurance companies.
Using our back office services excess capacity was created at Client end, enabling the client for faster business growth without adding to cost.
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Case Study 4
Background:
The Client: A leading Global Telecom major which is also a leading player in the Indian Telecom space has myriad operations, each with its own complexities.
The Challenge:
- The ever-changing and dynamic needs of a telecom operator require a dedicated team at each of the critical activities and can ill afford frequent changes among the team's constituents.
- Another challenge was to scale the team to meet the tremendous growth witnessed by the client.
- The requirement is to handle multiple finance, commercial and operations team ? such as ? collection accounting, refund process, total inventory management, finance out-sourcing, statutory compliance, fixed asset accounting/verification and activation.
The Solution:
Pierian successfully migrated each of the above activities in less than the standard time ? this was achieved by a well defined process document and clear definition of roles and responsibilities for each of the team members.
Pierian's team has seen lower than industry average of attrition thus establishing a reliable team.
Pierian's team has grown from a two member team two years ago to a 22 member on-site team.
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Case Study 5
Background:
The Client: One of the world's largest B2B distributors of electronic components is a Fortune 500 Company having revenues to the tune of $ 12 Billions. The Client has various Business Units performing diversified business activities.
The Objective:
To assist management in assessing and testing the internal controls and designing a solution framework for control gaps.
To help ensure consistency in performing activities of each of the processes.
The Solution:
Over 150 processes were tested/audited across all business units of Asia deploying designated teams for each business unit.
The task was divided into various phases in achieving the desired objective:
Step 1:
Understand the current business practices of the client and identify the critical processes.
Step 2:
Understand and discuss with the process owner who is responsible in performing various activities of the process, the risks associated with the process and controls designed to mitigate the risks. Discussions take the form of Open Meetings, Walk-throughs etc.
Ensure the process documents are in accordance with Section 404 requirements.
Step 3:
3A)Test of controls:
Test the controls as per Risk Control Matrix (RCM). Identify primary and secondary controls in the process. Identify the compensating controls and ensure the same mitigates the risks Ensure System controls are in place Perform Quality Check by the Team Lead on the work performed by the team member.
3B) Document the test findings & evaluate the Process.
Document the test results of all the controls in a pre defined format. Evaluate the controls tested on an individual basis and also the Process as a whole
3C) Communicate to the process owner and Corporate Audit Dept.
Convey the test results to the Process owner and Corporate audit department through the
EXIT MEETING.
Suggest control remediation or revision or deletion or document enhancement
Suggest process enhancement (if any)
Suggestions to fix control gaps
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Case Study 6
Background:
The client is a US based (Fair fax , VA) company offering highly specialized service to some of the fortune 100 clients in the USA.
The clients' revenues grew rapidly and as a result pressure built up on the finance department to deliver better and faster.
In view of thin margins, the challenge was to deliver with no significant cost increase (and head count increase too) in the finance team. (Client uses Quick books accounting package)
Pierian's Solution
Pierian has successfully defined a migration plan in the following accounting processes and is in the process of off-shoring the accounting solution at half the cost, what it would have cost the client to have it accomplished on-site. Pierian has committed 2 FTE to the client.
I. PAYROLL / EMPLOYEE RELATED
- Health entry
- 401K entry
- Salary entry
- Bonus accrual entry
- FSA (Flexible Spending Account)
II. A/P - VENDOR RELATED
- Vendor invoice (AP) accounting / employee claim
- AP - Employee 'T & E' claims reimbursement
- Capital Leases
- Reconciliation / Confirmations (AP - AR)
- Vendor Payment
III. A/R - CUSTOMER RELATED
- Memo Generation / Determining Revenue recognition
- Invoice (Revenue) accounting
- Deferred Revenue
- Cash receipts
- Cash (Bank) reconciliationActivity
IV. GENERAL ACCOUNTING FUNCTION
- Depreciation
- Bangalore office costs review
- Class allocations (One time exercise)
- GA allocation
- Consolidation
- Financial Planning and forecasting
- Financial Reporting
- Amortization of Pre-paid Expenses
- Fixed Asset Review and Entry
- Amortization of Pre-paid Expenses
V. Corporate Tax Return Preparing and Filing
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Case Study 7
Background:
The client is a USA based (Plano- Texas) finance and accounting out sourcing company - offering services to USA based corporate based out of USA. The business of the client is similar to what Pierian offered to its clients in India.
The challenge:
While the client was able to acquire clients in the space, it was not feasible to take the service offering to Mid sized corporate as it would have meant hiring local (US based staff) at compensation levels what any US based company would be paying. Hence, it was constrained to serve small sized companies.
The Solution:
Team Pierian, after an on-site study of the various accounting activities performed by the client, identified specified accounting activities for migration to its off-shore center in Bangalore. The solution was an hybrid to the end client. The client served its customers using on-site and off-shore (team Pierian) service model there by reducing its dependence on local hires and eventually increasing profits by over 40%.
This prompted the client to pitch for a California based fitness company - whose revenues are $ 200 Mn and growing. Over the last 4 months, Pierian has committed 9 FTE's to this account and the end client is being serviced with a high % of off-shore (Pierian's) team content.
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Case Study 8
Background:
The client is a US $ 6 billion, global leader in logistics, providing end to end supply chain solutions with more than 450 offices located in over 100 countries spread across six continents.
Our client spans a wide range of industries, including, automotive, consumer and industrial electronics, consumer packaged goods, engineering and construction, events and entertainment, food and grocery, government and military, healthcare and pharmaceutical, and oil and petrochemicals.
The client proposed to set up a shared services centre in India and considered outsourcing the entire finance and accounting activity as part of its strategy to keep costs low.
Pierian's solution:
Pierian's proposal was to provide end to end accounting and finance outsourcing as an alternative to an in-house team, using tested technology and process to work from a remote location.
With a proven track record in this domain, Pierian started, after study and analysis of the clients practices, with offshoring the client's payroll function in the Middle East region. We worked closely with the management and employees to establish procedures that built a seamless bridge between our off shore payroll team and the client's HR representatives.
Pierian was able to run the payroll from the first month for the client and migrate the payroll for about 9000 employees in the first month without the need for parallel run. We are currently migrating at the rate of one country each month for payroll processing and handle more than 12,000 employee records for our client.
Benefits:
- Pierian was able to provide payroll services at a significantly reduced cost compared to an in house department.
- Access to Pierian's specialized skills in processes and migration, the client was able to see the ROI from the first month.
- Our extensive documentation on the processes and the Gap Analysis helped our client move towards implementing the best business practices.
- Pierian, with its detailed service level agreements, is committed to its deadlines and deliverables. Since Pierian was able to provide a cost effective and timely solution, the client was at liberty to free the senior HR resources for other focus areas.
The client has expressed tremendous satisfaction with Pierian's services both on the timeliness and quality, as borne by expanding business with the client.
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