ACL Newsletter Issue 28

GASKET COMPANY
ACHIEVES FIRST WITH
REPORTING CHANGES
FORMER
FORKLIFT REP.
HAS HIS FEET
FIRMLY
ON COMCORK
FLOORING
New Sales Manager at Comcork,
Secondo Gastaldello, has sold
forklift trucks for some of Australia’s
leading companies. These days, his feet
are firmly on the floor selling Australia’s
best-kept secret - Comcork flooring.
“What appealed to me about this
position was the challenge of trying to
push the product forward,” revealed ‘Sec’.
“It’s a niche product that nobody else in
Australia makes, and it really is one of
the best-kept secrets I’ve come across.
“Being made from rubber and cork
offers users real benefits. In the short
period I’ve been with the company and
visiting architects, I can see the benefits
of offering an economically sustainable
product. It’s really creating a lot of interest.
Architects are driven by the market, and
the market is saying we want products
that are good for the environment.”
He said he’s confident that in the
future, more and more people specifying
flooring, will be using Comcork Walk
Easy and other Comcork products.In the
period ‘Sec’s’ been with the company,
substantial new sales have been made
across a number of areas, with more in
the pipeline.
In his spare time, it’s soccer and golf
for the married Sales Manager, who plays
centre mid-field for the Pascoe Vale soccer
club,which has won its divisional competition
three times in a row.
The Financial Team (L-R):Terry Witham, Lorraine Foran, Graeme Fraser, Bob Jackson and Margaret Blake.
The end of month reporting process has
been turned on its ear as ACL Gasket
Company streamlined the way it undertakes
the function. Gasket Company’s new General
Manager, Steve Smee explains.
“Traditionally it has taken us 3-5 days to
do the end of month accounts. So steps were
put in place, and through some very good
work by our financial team with Smartlink
journal processing assistance from Lyette at
MAHLE-ACL, we have reduced that time
to around a day.
“We now have our reconciliations being
done on a daily basis in many areas, and this
has given us tighter control over our financial
performance. It has also paved the way for
us to move towards a one-day processing of
end-of-month journals, and profit results.
Which in turn has enabled us to complete our
end of month reports faster & with greater
confidence. So the process improvements
we’ve made have been fairly significant.”
Steve said the team consisted of Graeme
Fraser as Team Leader and Terry Witham,Bob
Jackson, Margaret Blake and Lorraine Foran.
Lorraine, said Steve had been instrumental
in bringing forth the changes and
reviewing the way things were done.“It has
been a good implementation to our visual
management programme,” he said.
Lorraine said reporting for ACL 2 (the
company accounting package), formed the
basis of the balance sheet, and everything
was pivotal to this.“This has to balance and
reconcile.What we are getting away from is
doing the journals, balance sheet, and ACL
Reports, and at the end of that the general
ledger reconciliations. We decided to pull
the reconciliation forward so that when we
did the journals, and reconciliations we’d
know the balance sheet is all reconciled.
“This means you have a high level of
confidence in your monthly performance
results and balance sheet. Processing the
information daily means you can see a
problem earlier, and any out of balance areas
are corrected as you go.We’re not waiting
until the end of the month to find problems.
Another benefit is we don’t have to wade
through pages of print-outs - we have converted
them to downloads which go on to a
spread sheet, so it’s a lot more automated.”
The team then split the ACL2 into sections
showing cash, receivables, stock, debtors,
creditors etc. Prompts have been installed in
the system, which call for Yes answers and
verifies that everything is correct.
“Any daily problems are highlighted and
resolved then and there,” added Lorraine.
“They’re signed off by the accounts person
and checked by our Financial Controller.
The new system has saved a lot of time and
doesn’t cause a backlog for the next month.
Not only do you get the end of month
accounts completed quicker, but you have
greater confidence that they are correct.”