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Industry
Automotive
Our role
Digital Transformation / Finance Automation Managed Services
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Workday
1:17
Advancing Supply Chain Resilience with Boyd Group’s
No company would claim to have a perfect accounts payable process – there are always discrepancies between goods received and the invoices sent in by suppliers, as well as information coming in different formats from each vendor. Spending time and effort to reconcile the data is inevitable, and the matching process can be more complex in companies where procurement is not done centrally.
This was the case at Boyd Group, a Winnipeg-headquartered auto collision repair company, which has over 900 shops across Canada and the US. Each shop purchases the parts it needs, but the accounts payable are reconciled centrally in Canada, to be paid each month. With the business experiencing remarkable growth and having ambitious goals to continue growing the business, the finance team faced an exciting challenge. The increasing volume of supplier invoices required meticulous reconciliation, and occasionally, payment delays led to concerns from suppliers. Our collaboration was driven by the client’s commitment to properly attend to their suppliers, ensuring strong relationships and efficient processes.
Issue A manual and time-consuming process
Boyd’s finance team and PwC Canada were working on a project to implement Workday’s accounting module in 2022 when the then-finance vice president Jeff Murray (now Boyd’s chief financial officer) flagged the need to improve the supplier payment process.
The company handles millions of invoices from approximately 20,000 parts suppliers each year. The process was complex because suppliers send their invoices to each individual repair shop, which are then manually entered into Boyd’s management system. The central finance team then needed to reconcile the supplier’s statement to the invoices captured by the shops before the invoices were paid. Some 65 people were working manually on these end-of-month reconciliations. As the company expanded, the process of reconciling supplier invoices became increasingly time-consuming. Additionally, there were reconciliation challenges that caused payment delays, which posed operational difficulties. However, Boyd recognized this as an opportunity for improvement and decided to address it through collaboration with a service provider.
Boyd Group’s initiative to refine their payment process was driven by the desire to provide a steady supply of parts, vital for their operations and customer satisfaction. The company aimed to maintain robust supplier relationships and reliable part availability, while also committing to detailed invoice reconciliation for financial integrity.
“Working with PwC and embracing digital transformation and automation in our accounts payable process has empowered us to act swiftly. By eliminating manual tasks and reducing the need for extensive supervision, we’ve streamlined operations, strengthened supplier relationships and allowed our people to focus on more valued-added activities. Our commitment to innovation ensures operational efficiency, allowing us to focus efforts on solutions with immediate impact rather than managing and training additional personnel.” Jeff Murray, Chief Financial Officer, Boyd Group.
Solution A data challenge meets an accounting challenge
PwC Canada’s finance automated managed services team proposed a managed service for accounts payable, in which the supplier statements and the entries entered into Boyd’s accounting system would be delivered to a PwC team on an agreed schedule, and all the data reconciled in an automated way. The results make clear the invoices that match and those with different or missing information, so Boyd’s finance team can make timely payments and follow up on discrepancies. This streamlined process not only holds the potential for improved payment terms and cash flow predictability but also fosters stronger relationships with suppliers and heightened satisfaction for customers.
“In our team we have a balanced mix of data specialists and corporate accounting specialists,” says Jacques Radder, director in PwC Canada’s finance automated managed services business. “We need the accounting knowledge of how clients’ processes work and the data expertise to take data that may not be fully clean and structured and match it.”
“One of the key requirements of PwC’s managed service was that suppliers would not have to do anything differently, and that the automated system would be able to deal with all types of supplier invoice data, which was being provided in multiple formats. This level of flexibility is crucial, and the PwC team was able to provide that.” - Kaleigh Wills Wowryk, Vice President, Controller at Boyd Group Services Inc.
"For all but the world’s largest companies, it is very difficult to convince suppliers to send data in a different format,” adds Radder.
A sizable proportion of Boyd’s suppliers now have their invoices reconciled via the managed service, and Boyd and PwC are collaborating to expand the managed service to include more suppliers.
"Automation and managed services drive efficiency and build trust. At Boyd, an automated accounts payable managed service has transformed a complex, manual process into a streamlined, reliable system."
Jacques Radder,Finance Automation Managed Services Team, Director, PwC Canada.Impact Operational and cost benefits
The implementation of automated managed services has brought operational and strategic benefits for Boyd Group. Automation has supported consistent and timely payments, smoothing out operational issues caused by invoice discrepancies, leading to improved supplier relationships. The reconciliation process consistently produces accurate results, which helps to prevent overpayments and contributes to more effective cash flow management and forecasting. As the relationship between PwC and Boyd has evolved, the number of unreconciled invoices has decreased, making the payment process smoother and payment errors less common. Moreover, as the engagement evolves, the substantial data needed for processing could empower Boyd to make informed decisions and gain insights into their broader business model related to the accounts payable process.
The automation of the accounts payable process has also resulted in an improved work environment for the finance team. PwC sends a monthly estimate of the value created for Boyd by the managed service. Boyd and PwC are exploring ways to increase the level of automation in the managed service. Kieran MacLeod, manager in PwC Canada’s finance automated managed services business, says, “Managed services continue to prove their value to the client by ensuring ongoing improvements that stay ahead of industry trends, providing lasting results and building trust.”
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