Increasing Compliance & Driving Quality Across Six Continents
Anglo American, headquartered in London, England, is a leading mining company and the world’s largest producer of platinum. The company also produces diamonds, copper, nickel, iron ore, polyhalite, and steelmaking coal. With an annual revenue of 30.7 billion, the company is committed to being carbon neutral by 2040.
The Challenge
Anglo American operates across six continents and employs more than 53,000 people. The sheer scale of the business made it difficult for the Finance and Accounting function to ensure compliance and drive standardization across all processes.
“We operate on a global scale. But many of our accounting processes were still siloed, which led to inconsistencies and created a lot of non-valuedadded work,” says Jose Prado, Global R2R BlackLine Design Lead, at Anglo American. “We knew we needed to update our entire record-to-report process, from improving the quality of our reconciliations to standardizing journals.”
When Anglo American decided to create a new shared services center as part of a company-wide financial transformation, Prado saw an opportunity. “With the advent of a new services center, we could finally implement a single R2R solution that could be used across the globe.”
Why BlackLine
Prado has over 28 years of experience in setting up successful shared service centers. As a pioneer in the space—he set up his first center in 1998—he knows what makes for a successful shared service center.
“Shared service centers are a passion for me. The secret is putting together the right process, people, and technology,” says Prado. “These three together work synergistically to create efficiency.”
But while it’s “easy to train the right people” and standardize processes, says Prado, the technology can make or break a project.
“You have to make sure you have the best technology. That’s why, at the start of our finance transformation journey, we partnered with lackLine. Not only are they the leader in the space, but they also integrate seamlessly with SAP.”
The Results
Improved standardization and increased compliance. Previously, achieving process standardization across six continents was challenging, if not impossible.
“By implementing a single solution across the globe, we’ve both standardized and increased compliance of the R2R process,” says Prado. “We now use BlackLine for account reconciliations, task management, journal entries, and matching. We do 100% of the balance sheet reconciliation in BlackLine because it is our compliance tool. We also rely on BlackLine standard templates to ensure consistency and increase quality.”
Achieved results in 30 days. Prado and his team saw rapid results post-implementation.
“Just a month after implementing BlackLine, we were automating 60% of reconciliations,” says Prado. “It was very, very quick and a big achievement for the business. It also quickly freed people to focus on more value-added work.”
Enabled continuous financial transformation. Prado has plans to continue transforming Anglo American’s remaining outdated processes with BlackLine.
“The core modules have worked so well, we’re looking into BlackLine Intercompany,” says Prado. “We’re SAP users, so naturally, we consider SAP solutions first. But SAP alone can’t give us an end-to-end solution. Because our users are already familiar with BlackLine, implementing Intercompany globally will be a smooth process.”
Gained a community. Prado and his team have ongoing opportunities to connect with and learn from other BlackLine users and experts.
“I think it’s very important that leadership come together and learn from each other, especially when developing a new shared service center. BeyondtheBlack, BlackLine’s user conference, has been one of the most powerful networking tools for me. I love sharing my experience and helping others.”
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Anglo American's BlackLine Journey
Energy & Raw Materials
SAP
Global
Enterprise
Improved standardization and increased compliance
Achieved results in 30 days
Enabled continuing financial transformation
Gained a community
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