ACCOUNTING PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS,
FINANCIAL REPORTING AND RECONCILIATIONS
GaP RESOURCES personnel have significant accounting expertise (currently, five of our seven consultants are CPAs) and understand the particular financial reporting and accounting processes in the insurance and other service industries. Our consultants are often utilized for assistance after new accounting systems have been installed and for specific reconciliation problems. In addition to providing assistance "after the fact", GaP RESOURCES is a strong partner in cleaning up the pre-conversion balance sheet and in developing appropriate processes "prior to" and immediately after a new system is installed. Some of the projects we have worked on include:
Transition Assistance for Key Financial Reporting Position, 2003 - Helping to ensure a smooth transition, GaP RESOURCES worked with the outgoing employee documenting their responsibilities, carried out the function while a replacement was found, and then, updated the newly hired manager. In addition, GaP RESOURCES identified and documented process improvement opportunities that were subsequently implemented.
Reinsurance Premium Recalculation and True-Up, 2003 - GaP RESOURCES recalculated the reinsurance premium based on total insured value after it had been paid on an estimated basis based on premium. The analysis required both IT skills and understanding of insurance concepts to identify, extract, sort and merge the appropriate data. By using several different assumptions, GaP RESOURCES could recalculate the reinsurance premium owed. This analysis found that using the assumptions most favorable to the reinsurer did not change the amount owed significantly and avoided pulling thousands of manual files. A report with the detail data was provided to the insurer.
Corporate Financial Reporting for Critical One Time Events, 2001 through 2002 - GaP RESOURCES assisted a corporate financial reporting group in accumulating, analyzing and documenting accounting information for several critical one time events. This project included defining data requirements for divisional accounting departments; accumulating, reviewing, organizing and tracking the data; and finally, presenting the data in a manner appropriate for detail audit review, summarized board reporting and external reporting/disclosure.
Accounts Receivable Reconciliation required due to Sale of In-house Agency, 2002 - Working within Mayfare Software's property casualty system, GaP RESOURCES was able to analyze premium and receivable transactions over four year old to verify the proper cash transfers and accounting between the two parties. GaP RESOURCES supported conclusions through automated data extraction and analysis techniques from reports and files within the system.
Accounts Receivable Reconciliation out of balance due to Multiple Purchases and New Business Activities, 2002 - GaP RESOURCES completed a difficult accounts receivable reconciliation that had been impacted by purchases of blocks of business; decentralized new business development that had not been processed through the company's main insurance system; and cash application processes that could not immediately identify the block of business cash should be applied to. The reconciliation required computing receivable balances back two years for some activity, as well as contract interpretation for the purchases. Significant process improvements were made relating to cash application processing, effective use of system generated accounting reports, as well as accounting entries for accounting activity not reflected in the insurance system.
Development of an Equity Reconciliation after System Migration, 2001 - GaP RESOURCES worked with a client to reconcile their equity account which had been out of balance at least nine months. This project involved reviewing and reconciling the equity components for over 30 individual business units (several foreign), rolling the equity into a consolidated report and preparing elimination entries. Unique challenges involved foreign exchange issues, conversion to the Euro, and developing/posting system adjustments for units with off-ledger consolidation. This reconciliation was eventually automated where the base numbers were populated electronically.
Various Account Reconciliations for an Insurance Company, 2001 - GaP RESOURCES personnel developed reconcilitions for this client in a number of areas to include:
- Schedule D vs. general ledger and custodial reports for investments
- Premium accounts receivable vs. billing system (which had historically been out of balance at year end and was a recurring audit comment)
- A trust account that had been out of balance for 8 years.
Financial Reporting Process Improvement and Assistance, 2000 through 2002 - GaP RESOURCES worked with a medical malpractice insurance client to document the financial accounting processes, prepare monthly accounting entries and financial statements, and prepare quarterly statutory filings. Efficiencies were realized by streamlining the financial reporting process using downloads to eliminate the need for manual data entry and combining several unique reports into one common workbook. These changes also significantly reduced the likelihood of error.