Paragon Consulting

Close Cycle Rankings 2006

European corporations catch up with US companies as Sarbanes-Oxley legislation takes its toll

The members of BPM International, of which Paragon is a founding member, have carried out extensive research into the global trends and best practices in company close cycle times. The research covers the year end close cycle metrics for the 2006, 2005 and 2004 reporting season for 527 of the world’s largest multinational corporations, including 390 European Corporations and the US Top 100.

It covers the elapsed time taken to the initial announcement of year end results and the time taken to obtain auditors sign off. Some of the key findings are:

Endesa, Novartis, Philips, STMicroelectronics, and Banco Popular Espanol have the fastest year end reporting of the European Top 150, all reporting in less than 25 elapsed days

Average acceleration of results announcement in Europe since 2004 is 9 days and audit sign off 12 days

Average audit cycles in the US Top 100 now 15 days longer than 2004

We are also providing opportunities to learn more about the Close Cycle Rankings and how and why corporations seek to accelerate their close cycles. Please follow the Downloads link to receive more detailed information about The Close Cycle Rankings 2006.

 

Close Cycle Rankings