“There is a feeling that your employees are part of our company”

Tatiana Ermakova
Manager global finance processes Walter

About company:

On the Russian market since 2005. Part of the international Sandvik group with five divisions in Russia. The main line of business is the sale of metal-cutting tools to large metallurgical industrial companies.

since 2011 have been working with UCMS, starting with payroll calculation
since 2014 outsourced the complete accounting function

Services:

• payroll calculation
• accounting segements: bank, customers, expense reports, future expenses, fixed assets, reflection of expenses
• HR administration

How did you choose an outsourcing supplier?

For the payroll project, a supplier was selected at the global level. We considered only large companies of the KPMG level. As a result, we chose a German company, with which many of our processes worsened.

A year later, we organized a tender again, then we looked at the quality of your services for payroll and realized that we had found what we were looking for: professionalism, knowledge of the system and legislation. In addition, you work in the international SAP program, and we needed a supplier who could provide professional service in it. We are happy with the choice so far.

Let’s remember how we started?

At first, we worked with you on the payroll block, then we successfully transferred part of the accounting to outsourcing. And since 2014, you have been managing almost full accounting.

Did our accounting services start with the expense reports?

Yes, plus checking of additional reports and waybills – it was a difficult part for us. Then we gradually transferred bank transactions, then – customers, and in parallel, bookkeeping and tax accounting were already added.

We have strict internal control rules in addition to Russian standards. Your colleagues have studied the policies of our company in order to know how to act correctly. Therefore, we were able to successfully and efficiently integrate these processes and then only added new areas of work for you.

And how do you like working with us? What can you note?

The biggest advantage is that your company is extremely flexible and sees customers as part of its business.

They worry about our processes, try to do the most useful, even overtime. It is very pleasant that they understand our strategy and can flexibly move from one process to another without long coordination of changes. We see the impact from them as from our own employees, which is extremely rare in outsourcing at all. If any new areas of work are launched, we recieve help from you very quickly.

Were the processes lined up correctly from the very beginning or were there some lapping?

I do not remember any special adjustments, we were well supported by our project manager, if there were any problems, she was in touch 24/7. From the very beginning I understood that I could get prompt help, even if it was a very burning question.

Our salary project was originally run by Olga Novikova, she is still running it. Olga knows our company very well, and we are very pleased with the cooperation.

What can you mention significant within this year?

In April, due to the pandemic, we had a staff restructuring. We have dismissed an HR specialist and transferred HR administration to you. Everything happened completely unnoticed, there was no discomfort. On the contrary, we saw a neat and structured approach. This segment was very well taken by you, despite the fact that now it is a difficult time.

I can tell you more – in addition, we have an audit. We see that every year the number of comments decreases, so the auditors are also satisfied with the process.

What situations do you especially remember?

You helped us a lot when we went through an internal audit from the Sandvik headquarters. This is a very serious process – if something is wrong, it can lead to dismissal. We got such a complete inclusion from you that even your IT department gave advice. Thanks to this support, our rating has improved in terms of internal audit.

We also, as part of a western company, work in the western version of SAP. Even the chart of accounts is all Western, and we use Excel to translate it into Russian standards. The accounting program is also not Russified, but there is tax reporting. You need to be creative to apply this to Russian standards. Perhaps that is why it was not so easy for us to find a partner who would be ready to think differently.

Quiz

Describe us in one word

Customer oriented

Why have you been with us for so many years?

We see and appreciate the individual approach to our company. Now, when technologies are actively developing, when everything is going digital, more attuned to being served by robots, we do not see a mass approach to us. Still, in some processes, flexibility and creativity are needed, it is necessary to see the participation of people, a human approach, especially in working with personnel, it is important that our company is treated as an individual project and and care about our problems.

What’s your vision of the ideal provider?

Depends on the service. We have a lot of digital services, so a robot can sometimes resolve issues faster. And when we come to Russian legislation in Western systems, then an individual approach is very important, because it is not always possible to establish business processes with standard solutions.