Case Study: The Timken Company achieves a virtual close and streamlined audits with BlackLine

The Timken Company enables a virtual close with BlackLine and auto-certifies 50% of reconciliations

The Timken Company, a global manufacturer, sought to modernize its manual and spreadsheet-based accounting processes after an SAP ERP rollout. Challenges included a lack of standardization, scaling difficulties due to acquisitions, and poor visibility into reconciliations across business units. To address this, Timken implemented BlackLine's cloud-based solutions for account reconciliation and task management.

By integrating BlackLine with its SAP systems, Timken automated and standardized its financial close. This provided a single, accessible repository for reconciliations, enabling a virtual close. Key results included auto-certifying approximately 50% of its 9,100 account reconciliations and 85-90% of its 3,100 system-to-system reconciliations monthly. BlackLine's solution dramatically improved audit efficiency, reduced costs, and gave the company the agility to smoothly integrate new acquisitions.

The Timken Company

Dan Welcheck, Jr.

Principal - Global Finance Systems Group