Securing Success: Prominent Cybersecurity Company Modernizes Audit Support with Xactly CEA
The Challenge:
A leading cybersecurity company encountered notable challenges in managing commission accounting in the fast-paced security training industry. The industry's dynamic nature demanded quick adaptability, especially during the acquisition by a private equity firm, which necessitated a complete reset of commission balances. The organization also needed help navigating complex audit processes and ensuring compliance with ever-changing regulations. The manual accrual of commissions, intricate spreadsheet calculations, and the necessity for extensive customization to suit their unique commission rules added complexity to their operations.
The Solution:
The company achieved a comprehensive solution with Xactly CEA (Commission Expense Accounting), significantly streamlining their commission accounting processes. The system enabled them to track commissions accurately, even with complex commission rules and customization. Additionally, the implementation of Xactly CEA facilitated a smooth transition post-acquisition, allowing them to manage commission balances and processes more efficiently and in a more structured way.
Stats:
Before CEA, there was about a 5-10% discrepancy in the firm’s commission accruals and payouts. After implementing CEA, the firm has seen their discrepancy rate drop to only a 1-2% with detailed visibility into what is causing that variance every single month.
The detailed documentation and even the summarized reports [Xactly] has in the system. I love the roll-forward report. That's what I export every month— I save it, and that's our support for the month for our balance.
The system has significantly streamlined commission accounting, facilitating better management of the company’s commissions amidst the industry's fast-paced nature. Xactly CEA's customized solution allowed them to improve its auditing practices, making compliance with regulatory standards more effortless than before. Keep reading to learn more.
Navigating the Cyber Labyrinth
Before leveraging Xactly CEA, the company’s commission accounting and audit support processes were riddled with inefficiencies and complexities. Managing commission data for a diverse Sales team while ensuring adherence to stringent regulatory requirements was a laborious and error-prone task. The Accounting team often struggled to provide detailed and transparent documentation to auditors, leading to prolonged audit cycles and compliance.
Transparent and Compliant Commissions
Recognizing the need for a comprehensive solution, the company adopted Xactly to streamline its commission management and compliance efforts. The solution’s intuitive interface and robust capabilities enabled the team to centralize commission data, generate comprehensive reports, and effectively communicate with auditors. With Xactly CEA, the team gained enhanced visibility into individual deals, allowing them to customize their processes to align with their unique business needs.
Whereas now, if I want to, I can go into the details in CEA, I can pick out which individual deals were huge this month. What are they adding or subtracting to the total? Was there a big forfeiture maybe that came in from a prior month?
Secure Outlook
The impact of Xactly CEA on the company’s business processes has been truly transformative. Its audit support has significantly improved, enabling auditors to access detailed documentation and summarized reports seamlessly, resulting in smoother and more effective audit processes. The roll-forward report provides valuable support during audits, ensuring alignment between records and auditor requirements.
According to the accounting leader, "The detailed documentation and the summarized reports in Xactly CEA have been invaluable assets, especially during audit support. The roll forward report is a game-changer, providing seamless support for our month-end balances and strengthening our confidence in audits."
The company's continued partnership with Xactly has empowered them to confidently navigate audit processes and regulatory changes, ensuring a solid foundation for future growth and success.