Ichor’s global accounting team relies on ART to intelligently manage the month-end close and reconciliation process.

Ichor offers world-class process engineering, manufacturing, materials management, and testing capabilities and is an experienced leader in the critical subsystems and turnkey process equipment marketplace. It’s capabilities enable the design and creation of complete outsourced solutions ranging from product concept to turnkey manufacturing to legacy service.

Ichor’s accounting team has a multi-national footprint, including resources in California, Oregon, Texas, New York, Singapore, Malaysia, and Scotland. The coordination and execution of the close and reconciliation process was completed manually each month at these various locations, resulting in:

• Heavy spreadsheet usage
• Poor management visibility into status of the close and reconciliations
• Uncoordinated preparation and review of reconciliations and closing activities
• Challenging offline review process
• Disparate document storage, making proper oversight difficult for the management team Cumbersome retrieval process of prior period information to provide to auditors
• Overburdened email inboxes

The Corporate Controller had previously used another reconciliation and close solution with mixed results and wanted to evaluate other options in the market.

The management team ultimately selected ART because it had the right combination of:

Customer Focus:

Having a single point of contact on the SkyStem side, from sales to Implementation and support, is something management valued immensely, as it ensured that Ichor’s objectives, vision, and needs were not lost during “hand-offs” from rep to rep. A prior software purchase experience forced the Corporate Controller to work with three different account and technical reps which created unnecessary headaches and extra work.

Key Features:

ART offered real-time updates on close and reconciliation status, instant visibility, and communication across all accounts. Email notification and alerts allowed the team to quickly address concerns or identify slow moving activities. Downloadable data ensured that files could be accessed both off- and online.

Transparency and Accountability:

High level dashboards and detailed executive reports were features that the current close and reconciliation process could not readily provide.

SkyStem’s implementation process focused on a fast and effective set up with minimal disruption to Ichor’s day-to-day business. The project was kicked off at the beginning of the month, and by month-end, the site was set up with users trained and the accounting team live on ART.

Instead of watching generic videos, all users were trained directly by SkyStem personnel, who were knowledgeable about the close and financial reporting process. Ichor’s own ART site and accounts were used during training sessions to make training effective and relatable to the end users. Within one month, the reconciliation process was visibly improved.

The SkyStem customer support team is comprised of former accountants with auditing experience. Deep product expertise coupled with industry knowledge puts SkyStem in a position to quickly address questions and requests.

•  Real-time dashboards to track month-end close and reconciliation status
• Internal controls automation based on best practices
• Instant access to reconciliations and key accounting documents
• Email notification and reminders to prompt action during month-end activities
• Auto-delivery of review notes into user inboxes to instantly notify accountants of any management comments
• Between 10% and 20% fewer reconciliations prepared each month
• Less time spent on review and status retrievals
• Archived files available at the touch of a button
• Smooth transition from implementation to training to usage
• Hands-on training and attentive customer support

A Word from SkyStem

From the beginning, the accounting team at Ichor had a clear idea of what they wanted to achieve, and how ART would help meet their objectives. The Corporate Controller and the entire accounting team diligently compiled the required set-up information and worked in lockstep with SkyStem. From project kick-off to go-live, Ichor Systems completed implementation in approximately one month’s time.