Afya automates 85% of its financial consolidation processes with Oracle Cloud

Afya is a leader in medical education in Brazil and a pioneer in offering digital services for continuing education and learning support for medical professionals. As the only company that interacts with doctors at every stage of their careers, Afya is present in 19 Brazilian states and the federal district, with 32 higher-education institutions and 15 postgraduate and continuing education units in the medical and healthcare field.

After experiencing exponential growth in recent years, much of it through the acquisition of other companies in the health sector, Afya needed to better structure its accounting consolidation and reporting processes, which were primarily completed via Excel spreadsheets and manual data entry. This process took hours to complete, and despite numerous checks for accuracy, still carried a high risk of errors.

When it was listed on the Nasdaq Composite index 2019, the company needed a new system for reliable financial consolidation that could integrate over 40 group companies quickly, help the company adhere to internationally recognized security standards, and help ensure accurate reporting to shareholders.

After evaluating various systems, Afya selected Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) and the Oracle Fusion Cloud EPM Financial Consolidation and Close. Each system supports Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, which helps to mitigate the risks from manual data entry. Company leaders knew the software would help the company automate processes to bring more speed to closures and external audits. Oracle Fusion Cloud EPM also integrates with other systems already used by Afya and provides the scalability needed for the company's expansion.

With Oracle Cloud EPM Financial Consolidation and Close, Afya's controllership and finance department automated 85% of its processes for financial closings. As a result, the company reduced the time needed to complete closings from 14 days to 2. Financial reports are now released on the fifth business day of the following month, whereas previously, financial statement consolidations occurred only in the second half of the following month. This improvement was achieved with a group that includes almost 40 companies, each with different business combinations, intercompany eliminations, and distinct activities, such as undergraduate and postgraduate education and digital solutions.

Oracle Cloud EPM Financial Consolidation and Close also streamlined the preparation of cash flow reports both for the executive board and external auditors. The process could take up to 20 days previously and now takes only 40 minutes. Afya also reduced the company's annual audit by about 40 days since 2020, publishing results within a shorter timeframe.

With Oracle Fusion Cloud EPM, Afya's controllership and finance team focus on more strategic tasks, such as integrating the accounting systems of newly acquired companies with Afya's, and facilitating the disclosure and reliability of results.

Afya relied on partner Avvale for the implementation. The project lasted four months and was completed within the stipulated timeframe with a highly technical team committed to the implementation deadline.