Receive the periodtrial balance, cost centers and checklist per company
By department · Consolidation
One late adjustment stalls the whole group. A spreadsheet can even handle a few companies.
Abstra connects each company's close, intercompany elimination and the queue: it writes company, amount and next step, and leaves the adjustment with accounting.
The consolidation pipeline
- 1
Receive
Trial balance, cost centers and checklist for each subsidiary
- 2
Extract
Whoever entered the group continues. What is open is only counted
- 3
Absorb
Cost center by cost center: what landed and what stayed in review
- 4
Gate
It finishes only if assets, liabilities and equity sum to zero
Company, amount and next step stay in the queue. Accounting investigates the difference and decides the adjustment.
Workflow example · from each company’s period to the equation that lets the step finish · 100% customized per customer
1 · Open the round
Extract the companieswho entered scope · the base continues to absorption
Base loaded → continues
If the other side did not postthe difference does not proceed to elimination
Review the gapone side this month, the other the next month
2 · Before release
Extract absorptioncost center by cost center · what landed and what stayed in review
Apply the equationassets + liabilities + equity
Finishes only if the sum is zero
Screen example · the whole period, connected and 100% customized
Equation validated, and what still blocks release
Illustrative data for demonstration.
equation validated
this period
Companies in scope
11
Balance-sheet equation
OK
Open items
4
Blocks release
1
Affects the number
2
Document only
1
Group round
From intake to review
- 01
Companies received
11
period bases in one place
- 02
Equation validated
OK
assets, liabilities and equity balance
- 03
Blocks
1
stops the elimination from proceeding
- 04
Affects the number
2
goes to review before release
- 05
Document only
1
does not block the number · kept apart
Period queue
What is still open
The equation may already balance. The longest bar is what still blocks release.
- Blocks1
no counterparty · elimination does not proceed
- Affects the number2
mismatch and incomplete absorption
- Document only1
audit attachment · does not block
Live queue
Items that need attention
- Blocks
IC-1200
Sale between group companies
One side this month. The other only the next month. Someone has to find the difference before eliminating.
- Affects the number
CC-410
Cost center · absorption
Part of the cost landed. The rest is still in review.
- Document only
DOC-1600
Provision · support
The audit support is still missing. This is not what blocks the number.
What financial consolidation automation is
Financial consolidation automation is the pipeline between closing each company and releasing the group. With Abstra, the equity check and the item that blocks appear together, and accounting decides the adjustment.
If your consolidation looks like this, we fix it.
“One company posts this month. The other, only next month. Intercompany elimination waits for someone to cross both sides.”
“The equity check is done. The item that blocks the group is still open.”
“The covenant does not wait. One adjustment in a subsidiary holds the whole group.”
“The investor asks why the result changed. The answer is in the email of whoever made the adjustment.”
Intercompany elimination
What stalls the group is the adjustment that ran late.
One side this month, the other next month. The queue keeps the difference. Accounting decides before moving on.
The difference stays written
The routine counts what is already open and leaves company, amount and next step in the queue. Classification stays with controllership.
See processBooks closed, release still waiting
Assets, liabilities and equity can sum to zero while an item still blocks. Both stay on the same screen.
See processThe cost center still in review
Gross, absorbed and in review, side by side. What fell behind stays open.
The number that goes to the meeting
Accounting investigates and validates the adjustment. The open item carries company, amount and what is still missing.
See processWhat goes into the same round
From each company’s close to the group close
What arrived, who controls whom, the period’s rule and what still blocks.
Month-end close
The period in which each company closes and the group still needs review.
See processTree and ownership
Who controls whom in this period, with the subgroup preview beside it.
See processRound assumptions
The equity equation and the period’s rules made explicit, before the number is released.
See processOpen-item queue
What blocks, what affects the number and what is only a document, with company, amount and next step.
See processControllership
Spend and approval control is a different pipeline. Here the focus is the group number.
See processManagement reports
The number that goes to the meeting, with what was still open written beside it.
See processAbstra vs one spreadsheet per company, the ERP module and BI
With more subsidiaries, the question stops being whether the file closed. It is what still stalls the release.
| Criterion | Abstra | One spreadsheet per company | ERP consolidation module | BI / dashboard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Where you see what is missing | In the same period: scope, validation and queue | In tabs, emails and versions | Inside the module, if the license covers it | After the number has already been built |
| Intercompany with no counterparty | Stays in the queue, with company, amount and next step. The adjustment stays human. | Someone crosses the month with the next month by hand | Depends on the rule the module exposes | Does not point to what stops the elimination |
| Equation and block together | Validation can be done and the item that blocks stays visible | The check and the open item live in different files | The module closes the number; the exception goes back to the spreadsheet | Shows the consolidated number, not what still blocks it |
| The board’s question | The open item keeps company, amount and what still has to be done | The answer is in the email of whoever adjusted it | The source posting stays in the ERP | The chart does not explain the adjustment |
| Best for | A group that has grown, scattered spreadsheets and an adjustment that cannot delay the report | A stable group and a single spreadsheet owner | A single ERP with the consolidation module already bought | Only the presentation of a number already closed |
Integrations
It starts from the file the team already exports. The ERP joins when there is a connector.
Trial balance, tree, assumptions and open items in the same period. Native connector or a spreadsheet read when there is no API.
200+ connectors and custom integrations
SAP
ERP
Microsoft Dynamics
ERP
Oracle
ERP
TOTVS
ERP
Google Sheets
Spreadsheets
NetSuite
ERP
SAP
ERP
Microsoft Dynamics
ERP
Oracle
ERP
TOTVS
ERP
Google Sheets
Spreadsheets
NetSuite
ERP
Microsoft Excel
Spreadsheets
Omie
ERP
Gmail
PostgreSQL
Data
BigQuery
Data
Snowflake
Data
Microsoft Excel
Spreadsheets
Omie
ERP
Gmail
PostgreSQL
Data
BigQuery
Data
Snowflake
Data
Slack
Alerts
Pipefy
Operations
Jira
Operations
Alerts
Slack
Alerts
Pipefy
Operations
Jira
Operations
Alerts
Where the team looks
Four screens to release the group
Period intake
Before the extract, the team sees whether the trial balance, the cost centers and the absorption balances arrived, and what the period checklist still asks for.
Group tree
Who controls whom, the ownership stake and a subgroup preview. You can change the node and see that cut without leaving the period.
Assumptions
The round’s rules stay written, including the equation the last step uses as a gate. It is not a footnote on the spreadsheet.
A queue with three destinations
What blocks the elimination, what affects the number and what is only an audit document. Each item carries company, amount and next step.
Consolidating means walking into the meeting knowing what accounting released. The open item beside it shows what still stalls the group.
Why not generic AI?Frequently asked questions
What is financial consolidation?+
It is closing the group from each company’s close: intercompany elimination, the equity check and the queue of what still blocks release. With more subsidiaries and a covenant deadline, the adjustment that has not landed yet stalls the group.
Does Abstra calculate the elimination by itself?+
No. The flow organizes what arrived from each company, the equity check and the queue of what is still missing. Controllership decides the adjustment. The open item keeps the company, the amount and the next step.
Can you see what is missing if the equation already balances?+
Yes. The equity check and the item that still blocks appear together. Balancing the books and being ready for the board are not the same thing.
Does the screen go back to the source posting?+
The open item shows the company, the amount and what still has to be done. The source posting stays in the ERP or in the spreadsheet it came from.
Can we start from each company’s spreadsheets?+
Yes. The round can start from the Excel or Sheets the team already exports. When the ERP has a connector, the arrival of the balances joins the same flow.
What is the difference between consolidation and controllership in Abstra?+
Controllership focuses on balance, approval tiers and budget vs. actual at spend intent. Consolidation focuses on the path between closing each company and closing the group: scope, the equation, intercompany and the queue of what still blocks release.
Does AI decide the adjustment?+
No. Automation separates what blocks from what is only a document and keeps the difference written. The decision stays with controllership.
Does Abstra replace the ERP consolidation module?+
It is not an accounting engine. It orchestrates the review when the module does not cover the cross-check, the queue and the answer for the board. The posting stays in the source system.
Where should we start?+
With the period in which one side posted this month and the other only next month. The financial consolidation guide lists what to check before releasing the group.
Execution capacity
Automate without building a technical team.
Abstra specialists map, implement and evolve finance automations with your team. Execution capacity without building an internal technical structure.
- Abstra builds for you
- Your team builds
- Hybrid build
On the last close, where did you see what was still missing?
Bring a period. We’ll build the queue of what stalls the group.