Founded in 1816 and headquartered in Paris, the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC) is a French public financial institution. As the state’s operational arm, the organization carries out missions of public interest in support of government policies. To that end, CDC supports a wide range of operations, such as funding universities and vocational training, promoting research into sustainability, and managing the pension plans of one in five French retirees.
For over 22 years, CDC has relied on the Axway Financial Accounting Hub (AFAH) to conduct general ledger accounting for the 40 funds managed under mandate by the Social Policy Directorate at CDC. However, as the funds have grown in size and complexity over the past two decades, the accounting processes have also become increasingly complex. On average, it would take CDC’s accounts team four to five months to produce statements for all the funds. In parallel, as a public institution responsible for managing important social programs, CDC is subject to strict government regulations and must regularly provide reports to the relevant authorities.
“In our line of work, there is a constant demand to do more—and more quickly—with the same resources,” says Abdelilah Belahrech, Product Manager of SI Finance DPS at CDC. “At the same time, managing the accounting for the Social Policy Department is a delicate process that requires close attention, and we were not getting the depth of insight we needed from general ledger accounting.”
Consequently, CDC decided to undertake a complete overhaul of the DPS accounting information system, implemented in 2006. This project aims to set up a new integrated accounting platform, fed by data flows from the DPS’s management information systems that are subject to auxiliary accounting. The projects objectives are as follows:
- Simplify and industrialize the process of integrating funds into the accounting information system
- Improve the reliability of accounting data and simplify reconciliation
- Automate the control of payments and improve the reliability of the accounting system, while enhancing the audit trail
- Facilitate the justification of declarations to social security organizations
- Anticipate the operational efficiency objectives in the production of accounting work
Working closely with its long-time partner Axway, CDC launched a proof of concept (PoC) project for modernizing its AFAH system.
“We continue to choose AFAH because it offers streamlined processes and seamless integration,” explains Abdelilah Belahrech. “Our teams across Paris, Bordeaux, and Angers have everything they need in one place. AFAH also provides a robust audit trail with reliable data, helping us zoom into the relationship between management and accounting processes.”
After a successful PoC, CDC began its three-year accounting system evolution program. Within AFAH, CDC introduced Axway DataStore, supporting financial data volume scalability, and Axway Sentinel, helping to monitor processes to ensure regulatory compliance. The data from AFAH is processed by the AFAH business rules engine before being sent to Oracle Business ERP.
To facilitate the generation of subledger accounting statements, CDC implemented the AFAH HubLedger capability and tools that enable accountants to produce statements directly from DataStore. Lastly, CDC integrated the Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools (BIRT) component into AFAH, enabling the creation of user-friendly reports for analysis.
“The Axway experts were really integrated into our team and helped us on a daily basis,” recalls Abdelilah Belahrech. “Our relationship was positive and very smooth, so the project progressed without a hitch.”
With the new services from AFAH, CDC now produces accounting statements in just two to three months, for an around two-times boost in productivity. Significantly, the organization has automated over 95% of matching processes across 1.5 billion accounting entries, reducing the risk of human error and supporting cost-efficient operations. By cutting manual reconciliation work for its accountants, CDC has unlocked more valuable time for analysis.
“With statement production capabilities, we have visually appealing reports that are ready to go and don’t require any extra work from the accountants,” adds Abdililah Belahrech.
By driving faster statement production, CDC can now also stay more agile in its response to shifting regulatory demands. At the same time, by producing more in-depth reports with customizable subledger accounting in AFAH HubLedger, CDC has better insight into all transaction information, supporting data-driven decision-making.
“The AFAH modernization project has been reviewed by auditors, and we received very positive feedback from them,” says Abdelilah Belahrech. “With the single source of truth and the audit trail in AFAH, we have everything the auditors require.”
The Axway solution also enables smooth scalability—CDC accountants effortlessly manage around 500 million lines of data, with 50 million new lines added every month. Abdelilah Belahrech notes: “There aren’t many accounting systems on the market that can handle over 1.5 billion accounting entries. AFAH’s primary advantage is that it is robust and reliable.”
Looking to the future, AFAH’s flexibility will enable CDC to continue modernizing its accounting processes in line with changing government demands, helping to ensure that financing for critical public interest initiatives continues to be handled effectively and efficiently.
Close books in days, not weeks, with a financial and accounting hub solution from Axway.
