The Customer
Riverside Natural Foods is a Canadian food company that manufactures and distributes healthier snack options under brands like MadeGood, focusing on organic and sustainable products.
The Project
Automate the financial consolidation process by replacing manual, Excel-based methods, ensuring accuracy, consistency, and compliance with accounting principles. Gain realtime data access, streamline intercompany reconciliation, and enhance financial reporting for faster decision-making and efficient audit preparation.
Overview
Founded in 2013, with MadeGood launched in Canada in 2014, Riverside is an innovative family-owned CPG company that manufactures, sells, and distributes better-for-you snacking products and human-grade pet treats.
The Business Challenges
Transition & Adoption – Moving from manual, Excel-based processes to an automated system requires significant change management, training, and adaptation by finance teams.
Data Integration & Accuracy – Ensuring seamless integration of financial data from multiple sources while maintaining accuracy, consistency, and compliance with accounting principles.
Intercompany Reconciliation Complexity – Addressing discrepancies and inconsistencies in inter-company transactions before financial close to ensure a smooth consolidation process.
System Implementation & Costs – Investing in the right technology, managing implementation timelines, and balancing costs while maximizing efficiency gains.
Audit & Compliance Requirements – Aligning the new system with regulatory requirements and audit standards while ensuring transparency in financial adjustments.
The Solution
Improving successfully automated Riverside’s financial consolidation process using SAP Group Reporting, enhancing accuracy, efficiency, and compliance. The project began with a comprehensive business and data readiness assessment to evaluate existing processes, future architecture needs, and consolidation and FP&A requirements. This assessment identified data analytics gaps and ensured alignment with Riverside’s business goals.
Leveraging industry best practices and implementation accelerators, Improving collaborated closely with Riverside through strategic meetings to define the optimal architectural approach for financial consolidation. This approach enhanced inter-company reconciliation, enabled real-time data access, and improved audit readiness.
To meet regulatory and compliance requirements, SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) and Analysis for Office were integrated to support financial reporting and ensure adherence to regulatory standards. The tailored solution enhanced operational efficiency and decision-making.
As a result, Riverside significantly reduced reporting time, improved financial transparency, and established a scalable, future-ready consolidation framework aligned with long-term strategic goals.
Business Benefits
Riverside successfully automated its financial consolidation process using SAP Group Reporting, enhancing accuracy, efficiency, and decision-making. By replacing manual Excel-based processes, the company eliminated errors, ensured data consistency, and streamlined inter-company reconciliation before financial close.
With real-time access to consolidated financial data in SAP Group Reporting, Riverside improved decision-making and strategic planning. Audit readiness and compliance were also strengthened by applying proper accounting principles and maintaining transparency in financial adjustments.
To meet regulatory requirements and compliance standards, SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) and Analysis for Office were integrated to support financial reporting, ensuring adherence to compliance frameworks and regulatory guidelines.
This transformation enhanced operational efficiency, reduced reporting time, and established a scalable foundation for Riverside’s continued growth.
Why Improving
Improving was the ideal partner for implementing SAP Group Reporting at Riverside, leveraging deep expertise and best practices to streamline financial consolidation. By automating manual processes, we enhanced accuracy, efficiency, and compliance.
Using proven methodologies, we optimized intercompany reconciliation, real-time reporting, and regulatory compliance with SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) and Analysis for Office. This transformation reduced reporting time and strengthened decision-making.
Beyond SAP Group Reporting, we seamlessly integrate with SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC), SAP Datasphere, and the Excel Add-in for Microsoft Office to elevate financial processes.
Our strategic approach enables:
Integration of budget, forecast, and planning data for dynamic analysis.
Advanced reporting tools and Excel Add-in integration for deeper insights.
Real-time access to consolidated data for agile planning and compliance.
