Case Study: Norsk Hydro saves time and reduces risk by automating 90% of 80,000 global close tasks with BlackLine

Saving Time & Reducing Risk by Automating 90% of 80,000 Global Tasks

Norsk Hydro, a century-old materials company with 32,000 employees across 140 locations in 40 countries, faced fragmented ERPs and inconsistent finance processes after rapid acquisitions. Although a global business services (GBS) model was in place, the monthly close still involved about 80,000 tasks executed with disparate Excel checklists, missing deadlines, and limited visibility — creating inefficiency and operational risk.

To standardize and automate the close, Norsk Hydro embedded BlackLine Smart Close, Account Reconciliations, and Account Analysis into SAP and rolled the solution out as the company standard (500+ users). The result: 90% of the 80,000 tasks are now automated for a faster close, automated error detection and stronger controls that reduce risk, improved transparency across business units, and a jump in same‑day paid-invoices from 73% to 93%.

Norsk Hydro

Piotr Kubacki

Global Process Owner