Graphic Packaging to Join BlackLine Systems and SAP on Panel at SAP® Conference for Financial Shared Services in Atlanta

LOS ANGELES, April 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Global packaging industry giant Graphic Packaging (NYSE: GPK) will be joining financial software company BlackLine Systems and enterprise application software leader SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) to give a presentation entitled "Close with Confidence and Achieve Balance Sheet Integrity" at the SAP® Conference for Financial Shared Services 2014 show being held in Atlanta April 9-10.  The presentation, to be given at 2 p.m. on Thursday, April 10, is designed to show how global organizations operating in a shared services environment can optimize their account reconciliation and financial close processes using the BlackLine Financial Close Suite for SAP® Solutions.

Led by Susan Parcells, CPA, director of Finance Transformation and product expert for BlackLine Systems, the presentation will focus on how finance managers and compliance officers can further ensure the integrity of their balance sheets – and ultimately financial reports – by implementing enterprise-class financial software solutions, such as BlackLine's flagship SaaS-based offering, to automate the traditionally manual, labor-intensive and spreadsheet-driven account reconciliation process.  Melissa Coker of the Finance team at Graphic Packaging will present a case study on the benefits of the BlackLine Financial Close Suite and its ease of integration with SAP solutions.

With the number of companies moving to shared services environments (often overseas) continuing to increase, it is increasingly critical for proper controls to be in place surrounding the financial close.  Coker will discuss how large companies operating in shared services environments can communicate better, improve efficiencies, increase productivity, reduce bottom-line costs and ensure accuracy on the balance sheet by implementing an automated account reconciliation and financial close system such as that offered by BlackLine.  

Pete Graham, director of Finance Solutions and Mobility, SAP Labs, will participate as well.  Graham will share his insight on where SAP sees BlackLine adding value and filling a need specifically for companies that are transforming their Finance function to Shared Services in an SAP solution-based environment. These transformations increasingly include automated, harmonized and transparent closing cycles, and BlackLine is complementing and extending the capabilities that SAP provides natively.

The session is designed to educate customers, whether they're operating in an environment of all SAP solutions or using applications from multiple vendors, on how optimizing their account reconciliation process can help them achieve a quicker and more accurate financial close process.  Attendees will learn that by automating their account reconciliations, they can:

• Virtually eliminate spreadsheets (and the manual errors that often come with them) from their account reconciliation process
• Automate traditionally manual accounting functions
• Have a faster, more efficient close cycle, thus maintaining more control and visibility worldwide while reducing risk
• Realize exceptionally high ROI in a very short time frame
• Improve the accuracy and timeliness of compliance reporting
• Manage compliance while servicing multiple locations

BlackLine is an SAP gold partner in the SAP PartnerEdge®program.  The company is also a participant in SAP Store, the online e-commerce channel or "e-channel" for enterprise solutions and services from SAP and its partners, designed to provide SAP customers with information on relevant, complementary technology solutions that are certified by SAP.

BlackLine was named a 2011 SAP Pinnacle award finalist in the "Software Solution Newcomer of the Year" category.  SAP Pinnacle awards are presented annually to the "best and brightest" of the SAP partner ecosystem, recognising partners that have excelled in developing and growing their partnerships with SAP and driving customer success.

At the end of last year, the company announced that the BlackLine Financial Close Suite for SAP® Solutions has become an SAP-endorsed business solution – joining the ranks of fewer than 40 other software offerings globally.

About BlackLine Systems
BlackLine Systems was the first to develop and offer a commercially available Balance Sheet Account Reconciliation solution.  An experienced provider of software to companies from the Fortune 100 to beyond the Fortune 1,000, BlackLine provides quick-to-implement, scalable and easy-to-use applications that automate the entire financial close process to help improve financial controls for companies of all sizes.  With more than 85,000 users in over 100 countries, BlackLine software applications complement existing Enterprise Performance Management (EPM), Governance Risk and Compliance (GRC) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems.

BlackLine offers clients its enterprise-class financial software in a simple and secure SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) platform.  With a proven track record and a commitment to customer success, BlackLine seeks to reduce the burden the financial close places on accounting and finance professionals. 

BlackLine headquarters are in Los Angeles, with offices in Atlanta, Chicago, London, Melbourne, New York City and Sydney to serve the company's growing global client base.  For more information, please visit www.blackline.com.  

SAP, PartnerEdge and all SAP logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries.

All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.

Media Contact:
Kimberly Uberti
Director of Corporate Communications
BlackLine Systems
[email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20061117/LAF027LOGO

SOURCE BlackLine Systems