Crude Accounting: Improve Inventory Reconciliation and Closing & Controls By Enite Team

Situation

Enite was approached by the Crude Supply and Crude Accounting departments of an international Refiner to review, document and improve the inventory reconciliation and closing & control processes, with a focus on both near-term and long-term results.

The objectives were to:

1. Improve Inventory Reconciliation through transactional system configuration providing:
   • More accurate sub-ledger data
   • Better inventory position for scheduler, F&PA and accounting
   • Reduce research & reconciliation time
2. Improve closing and control reporting and processes, providing:
   • Increased accuracy of accruals
   • Confirm current month transactions captured and accounted for
   • Sustainable business support, closing processes & controls

Approach

Enite established and followed the following process during the analysis phase:

Deliverables

• Establish guiding principles for system configuration that will lead to long-term, sustainable benefits
• Outlines of test scenarios and expected results vs actual results (Unit, Integration or User testing)
• New and/or improved processes and process flows, and updated existing controls maps
• Implementation of system redesign & enhancements to improve inventory reconciliation
• Implementation of system redesign & enhancements to improve Closing & Controls

Outcome

Inventory Reconciliation:

• ~85% reduction in Accounting’s reconciliation time for pipelines and trucks
• Reduced book-to-physical issues

Closing & Control Process:

• 29 Reporting or Process Improvements
• Eliminated 12 obsolete closing steps
• Added process control improvements to monitor un-actualized orders via new control report