Interparfums reconciles its IFRS and US GAAP reporting with the Fluence and VISEO consolidation solution

Interparfums is an international group that designs, manufactures and distributes perfumes, but also cosmetics. Its distribution network covers more than 100 countries, with a broad portfolio of products, sold under 9 licensed brands and 2 own brands: Lanvin and Rochas. The group is made up of 5 subsidiaries, bringing together a total of 330 employees spread across three sites, in New York, Paris and Singapore. Growing rapidly, Interparfums should approach 900 million euros in turnover in 2024, compared to 798 million euros in 2023.

“One of the group’s particularities is its dual listing,” notes Alice Caillet, Consolidation Director, Interparfums. “Interparfums SA is listed in France on the SBF 120. This subsidiary is owned by Interparfums Inc. which is for its part listed on Nasdaq. » Each quarter, the group must produce IFRS reporting for its French subsidiary and US GAAP reporting for the American holding company. “Until now, we managed this reporting work separately, in France with an aging consolidation tool associated with Excel, and in the United States through a solution based on Excel tables and macros. »

A consolidation tool capable of reconciling IFRS and US GAAP standards

As the group has grown significantly over the years, these consolidation tools and processes are no longer suitable. The Interparfums teams then began looking for a new consolidation solution. “One of our main objectives was to have an offer capable of reconciling the two accounting rules frameworks IFRS and US GAAP, in order to carry out our consolidation tasks through a common tool and processes. » A modern and agile solution, deployed in SaaS mode and which the consolidation teams will be able to administer themselves.

Based on these specifications, Interparfums immediately excludes tools that cannot cover both IFRS and US GAAP standards, but also certain market solutions deemed too complex to be administered independently. At the end of its call for tenders, the couple Fluence Technologies and VISEO were chosen. The publisher stands out for its SaaS and no-code consolidation solution. An offer designed by and for consolidators, which has quickly found a place on the market. Note that Fluence Technologies was acquired in May 2024 by Anaplan.

Several criteria worked in VISEO’s favor: its proximity to Anaplan, of which it has been a partner for several years, with a dedicated team of around 150 consultants; but also its mastery of the Fluence solution, for which VISEO offers an IFRS Starter Kit to reduce the duration and cost of projects. “The Starter Kit developed by VISEO allowed us to get started very quickly on the IFRS part, then to integrate our specificities, before tackling the integration of the US GAAP layer,”confirms Alice Caillet.

A complete overhaul of consolidation and reporting processes

Interparfums took advantage of this project to overhaul its processes, with the aim of automating the production of financial statements as much as possible. The project starts in September 2023, with a planning phase, followed by the collection of needs and the definition of the account construction process. Three weeks later, implementation work can begin.

“As a SaaS solution, making the Fluence application and its basic settings available only took a few days,” underlines Grégory Ponce, Senior Principal Product Owner, Anaplan, then VISEO consultant in charge of this project. “We first integrated IFRS, then carried out an initial recovery of historical data. » A crucial step to validate the choices made during the design phase. “We switched from two separate processes to a single integrated process, with a complete overhaul of the account plans. The acceptance phase with historical data recovery allowed us to validate in the Fluence solution that this new process was working as expected,” underlines Alice Caillet.

Once this step was successfully completed, the teams relied on this IFRS foundation for the implementation of the US GAAP framework. A parallel run followed in March 2024, before the go live of the solution during the second quarter of 2024. A go live secured by a user training plan, covering France, the United States and Asia .

A modern and agile tool that transforms the profession of consolidators… and auditors

“The central teams are now relieved of certain boring tasks,” notes Grégory Ponce. “We integrated Fluence into Interparfums’ Finance IS, to enable it to retrieve data from the ERP of the group’s main subsidiaries. The key is securing the account production process and better traceability of operations. »

“The involvement and support of the VISEO teams were key success factors,” explains Alice Caillet. “Today, the production process for IFRS and US GAAP consolidated accounts is integrated end-to-end within Fluence. A largely automated process, with the ability for subsidiaries to directly load their data into the tool. We are very satisfied with this solution, which allows us to work more efficiently. Fluence brings real added value. »

Fluence’s ability to offer a complete audit trail has also impacted – positively – the work of auditors. “Since Q2 2024, the audit teams have relied on Fluence and it is going very well. To the point that it even led them to rethink their audit approach,” concludes Alice Caillet.