Shared service centres - 'The 2nd generation'

Overview

Shared service centres have many advantages (eg, efficiency, quality, transparency) over decentralised finance and accounting organisations. If companies aim to exploit and sustain the full range of benefits over the course of time, shared service centres

This survey assesses the actual level of performance of existing shared service centres (SSC) in order to provide a basis on which to identify potentials for efficiently implementing new SSCs and optimising existing SSCs. It is based on a maturity model developed by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to assess the status of SSCs. The results of the survey provide an exclusive overview of how finance and accounting SSCs all around the globe are currently performing.

The performance of all SSCs has been evaluated against eight evaluation criteria. These criteria have then been aggregated to an overall performance score which is the basis for
assigning each SSC to one of four maturity levels.

The results show that the SSCs analysed - over one-third of them listed in the Global Fortune 500 index - varied significantly in terms of their level of development. Only 13% were assigned to the highest level ('2nd generation SSC') in the overall evaluation. The majority of SSCs had at least some potential for improvement in one or more evaluation criteria.