Corporate M&A

Following the acquisition of Shire Pharmaceuticals in 2019, Takeda, a leading pharmaceutical company, faced the challenge of transforming its finance processes to become a best-in-class finance organization. The global CFO, Costa Saroukos, recognized that achieving this vision required a significant evolution within the finance organization. To address this, Takeda initiated "Project Quantum," a comprehensive three-year engagement with EY aimed at accelerating the financial close process and enhancing user experience. The project involved a complete end-to-end transformation of Takeda’s financial close process, with a focus on establishing performance targets and key metrics endorsed by senior leadership. The project team, led by the record-to-disclose (R2D) global process owner, was structured into four workstreams: Base-to-close, Calendar and governance, Finance systems, and External reporting. Daily huddle meetings were implemented to foster collaboration across disciplines and regions, significantly accelerating the closing process. One of the key innovations was the development of a digital accrual solution that automated monthly accrual postings, saving over 100,000 hours per year. This tool improved the user experience for purchase order owners and standardized data collection globally. Additionally, the manual journal entry (MJE) process was optimized, resulting in a 75% reduction in global MJEs, equating to 45,000 productivity hours saved annually. Takeda also simplified its enterprise resource planning (ERP) data journey, enhancing data transparency and allowing users to focus more on analytics. The external reporting team introduced a new platform that streamlined the preparation of high-quality financial reports, reducing the effort from weeks to just a few steps. Overall, the collaborative efforts led to a remarkable acceleration of the financial close process by nine workdays, demonstrating the effectiveness of the initiatives implemented through Project Quantum. As a result of these transformations, Takeda not only improved efficiency but also positioned itself to maintain a best-in-class finance organization moving forward, with a continuous improvement framework to maximize the benefits achieved.

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