The following tip was taken from a recent presentation delivered by PwC at our  Financials2013 conference in Las Vegas, "Designing a chart of accounts that supports fast closes and smoother reporting". This session will also be presented at our upcoming Financials 2013 event in Amsterdam, June 11-13.

Chart of Account standardization for a faster close

• The Chart of Accounts Standardization is generally an enabling aspiration objective to support a single “version of the truth,” key information, reporting, closing and accounting needs of the organization
• Standardization may be performed as a standalone project, as part of a new SAP implementation, or with other finance transformation initiatives

To support the organization’s overall financial vision, consider the following objectives to be included in the standardization effort

In addition, it's important to develop guiding principles that support the overall objective and provide more tactical decisions to help design the CoA.

For more information on the upcoming conference, check out our website at www.sapfinancials2013.com or follow me on Twitter @AllisonMartin14