Prospectus Group Australia
Prospectus Group Australia

Case Study 4 - Retailer: Coles

 Coles Selects Profectus' Financial Transaction Analysis

For over 90 years, Coles has had a rich history in Australia. Today, Coles is a leader in Australian food retailing and is regarded as one of the flagship names in Wesfarmers's portfolio of companies.


Background

Coles has more than 100,000 employees and over 11 million customer transactions per week.  They process more than 600,000 accounts payable transactions per month.


Challenge

It is a considerable challenge ensuring complete process accuracy on a high volume of transactions.  The most robust processing controls don't always prevent errors from occurring.  Even if a high percentage of transactions are processed accurately, the residual errors can add up considerably over time.  Identification and recovery of these erroneous transactions requires in-depth analysis, specialised technology and best practice benchmarking of results.
 

'We wanted a partner that understands the complexities of retail'

'Profectus is our transaction analyst partner of choice. We need a provider with the size and capabilities to service Coles' needs.  Profectus provides a valuable, ongoing review of all areas of our supply chain, merchandise and shared service functions to ensure accuracy and best practice processes.
They assist us to understand the cause of errors and implement preventative processes. Profectus has developed a strong collaborative working relationship with our teams and vendors.'

Alex Bertoncini
Rebates Allowances & Trading Terms Manager
Coles Supermarkets

Solution

In 2003 Coles engaged Profectus to provide ongoing Financial Transaction Analysis (FTA) services to prevent errors from occurring and ensure best practice processing is maintained.  Profectus detects and recovers lost profits due to overpayments and under claimed vendor entitlements, such as:

  • Duplicate Payments / Payment Errors
  • Expense Category Reviews
  • Supplier Statement Analysis
  • Freight Analysis
  • GST Input Credit Recovery
  • Waste Management Analysis
  • Merchandise Contract Compliance (rebates, deals, straight monies)
  • Direct to store Cost Checking
     

Benefit to Coles

  • Recoveries have made a material contribution to Coles' Profit since 2003
  • Profectus assists Coles' teams to achieve best practice transaction processing and provides preventative recommendations to reduce the rate of erroneous transactions
  • Profectus provides excellent visibility through a web portal for Coles stakeholders and provides key suppliers regular project updates
  • Financial targets set by Coles have been consistently achieved by Profectus 

 

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