1. Objective and Scope

The purpose of this document is to describe the monthly process to update "ACTUAL/REEL" exchange rates in BFC Syensqo.

"ACTUAL/REEL" exchange rates are used in the following reporting categories to convert, during the Consolidation runs,  package submitted in Local currency to Consolidation currency (main currency being EUROS):

  • ACTUAL2 - IFRS Consolidation operated every month
  • ACTUAL1-TAX - Tax reporting cycles operated in Q1, Q2, Q3 , October Hard Close and final Year End
  • ACTUAL3 - Annual appendices required to complete Syensqo Annual Report (analysis of Net Financial Indebtedness, commitments, related parties…) - requested in September and at Year End
  • ACTUAL0 - Statutory net equity for dividends valuation / Financial information on Non Consolidated companies
  • ACTUAL1 - Quarterly collection for Pillar II and "CBCR - Country by Country Report" (OECD requirement)
  • RSB - Restatement of Y-1 Financial Statements to current Y Perimeter and Exchange Rates


Below are the 6 types of conversion rates updated in this monthly process:

  • TC - Closing rate - used for Balance Sheet Closing balance and some specific flows
  • TMN - Average cumulative  rate - used for P&L and some variation flows from BS
  • TMN-1 - Average rate Dec.Y-1
  • TO - Opening rate  (equals to Dec.Y-1 closing rate ) - used for Balance Sheet opening balance and some specific flows
  • TCN-1 - Closing rate N-1 (closing rate / same period of previous year)
  • TMYN-1 - Average rate N-1 (average rate / same period of previous year)


In addition to "ACTUAL/REEL" tables,  BFC Admin is also responsible for the update of 2 other Exchange Rates tables - PREV and SIMULATION - used in Controlling categories

  • PREV rates are used for Budget purposes
  • SIMULATION rates for Business Forecast reviews
  • both are communicated by the Corporate Controlling team to BFC Admin


2. Quantum files 

2.1 Content of files

Quantum is the Treasury system managing centrally Syensqo official exchange rates and distributing them across the SAP applications.

On the last working day of the month, Quantum (through e-mail address QUANTUM-Solvay@avantgardportal.com) automatically sends 4 emails (one per each file) to ECo-$SBS FinanceSL Fin Acc SU BFC Admin  with the following contents:

  • QUANTUM : YYYY.MM Rates Interface for BFC contains  YYYY.MM_BFC_Rates_Interface_FromQT.txt file 
  • QUANTUM : YYYY.MM Monthly Rates for BFC contains YYYY.MM-BFC_MonthlyRates_FromQT.xls file
  • QUANTUM : YYYY.MM Quarterly Rates for BFC contains YYYY.MM-BFC_QuarterlyRates_FromQT.xls file
  • QUANTUM : YYYY.MM Year's Rates for BFCcontains YYYY.MM-BFC_YearRates_FromQT.xls file

2.2 Controls in place on Syensqo Treasury team side

After several issues on BFC Admin side with Quantum files received (missing or inconsistent Exchange Rates), new process of controls will be conducted on Syensqo Treasury team before sending to BFC Admin:

  • 1/ TSU Tools and BAM team is doing the Fixing as usual (verification of rates received from Reuters, initiating the rates import process within Quantum and generating the different year-to-date / monthly average rates calculation required for BFC).
  • 2/ During the fixing process, BFC reports are generated and 4 e-mails are sent to TSU Tools and BAM team for visual controls:
    • 1 E-mail "QUANTUM : YYYY.MM BFC Rates Interface for control"  related to BFC interface: controlling the 5 different information are generated for all currencies (TCN-1;TMYN-1;TMN-1;TO;TC)
    • 3 E-mails  "QUANTUM : YYYY.MM Year's (or Quarterly or Monthly) BFC Rates for control"   related to BFC Monthly/Quarterly/Year's rates: controlling the rates were calculated for the corresponding period for all currencies
  • 3/ If all the visual controls are ok, TSU Tools and BAM is launching the specific Quantum job "QT Fixing Rates - 3 -EOM BFC rates (after control)"  that will send the 4 emails to BFC defined recipients.
  • 3bis/ If all the visual controls are not ok (missing rates in one of the files), it might be caused by some delays in the rates import and calculation within Quantum.  Generating in foreground the BFC reports is to be done to verify if after 1 or 2 min the reports have been updated correctly ;if so, TSU Tools and BAM team to execute the job "QT Fixing Rates - 3 -EOM BFC rates (after control)" sending the email to BFC team. 
    In case the issue is persisting and the BFC reports are not correctly updated, DT Finance and Treasury team is to be contacted for further analysis.

Ideally BFC reports should be communicated to BFC team latest 5PM CET.
In case of delays, DT Finance and Treasury or TSU Tools and BAM will transfer the reports as soon as available

2.2 Treasury point of contacts in case of issues


Despite controls performed before sending, if there are any issues with the files the point of contacts is  tsu_tools_bam@Syensqo.com (TSU team) with copy to sbs-is-appli-finance-titc.quantum@Solvay.com (DT team)



3. BFC upload

The file YYYY.MM_BFC_Rates_Interface_FromQT.txt received from Quantum has the correct format ready to be uploaded in BFC.


3.1 Create REEL YYYY.MM table in BFC_Top_SCO

Before being able to upload YYYY.MM reel exchange rates from the txt file, creation of the table in BFC is first required.

From the previous period, do a Save as.





Save the new table  and close. 


 Open the new table


Select all lines, except the frozen rates if any, and press DELETE to erase previous month rates. 



3.2 Import Quantum file

Import YYYY.MM_BFC_Rates_Interface_FromQT.txt file into BFC.









6 lines expected to be rejected: Currency CNH not created in BFC table as not required in the IFRS Consolidation. 



Save the table 

3.3 January Y Exchange Rates - Check consistency of Y-1 rates 

 In January when updating the 1st table of the year, it is recommended to check that the 4 Y-1 rates from Quantum files are  correct: TMN-1 / TO / TCN-1 / TMYN-1.

Control will be done running an Excel retrieve Exc Rates REEL 1st @ January check on Y-1 rates comparing Y-1 rates loaded in January REEL table versus rates from Y-1 REEL tables:

  • TMN-1 - Average rate Dec.Y-1    = TMN of December Y-1
  • TO - Opening rate    = TC (closing rate) December Y-1
  • TCN-1 - Closing rate Y-1    = TC (closing rate) of same period Y-1
  • TMYN-1 - Average rate Y-1    = TMN (average rate) of same period Y-1


Example in January 2024:

  • TMN-1 REEL 2024.01    = TMN REEL 2023.12
  • TO REEL 2024.01    = TC REEL 2023.12
  • TCN-1 REEL 2024.01    = TC REEL 2023.01
  • TMYN-1 REEL 2024.01    = TMN REEL 2023.01










3.4 Every month - Run Excel retrieval file to check consistency 

 

Before piloting the exchange rates table to BFC_Prod_SCO it is recommended to run a consistency check on the rates just uploaded into BFC_Top_SCO.

Connect to BFC_Top_SCO through BFC Excel Link WEB



Excel retrieval file - Exchange Rates checks.xls - is saved in this folder in the remote desktop \\Acew1ptsefcp1\BFC-SHARE\ER


The file can also be found in the Gdrive Exchange Rates checks

























How to proceed with these checks:

  • Update period in cell C1
  • Connect to BFC_Top_SCO and refresh the file



  • From column E to J there's a retrieve of what we've just uploaded into BFC with the interface file.



  • In columns M and N there's a comparison of TO (Opening Rate) and TMN-1 (Closing rate) with TC and TMN rates from Dec Y-1 table. No differences are expected. 




  • In columns P and Q there's a comparison of TCN-1 (Closing Rate Y-1) and TMN-1 (Aver. Rate Y-1) with TC and TMN extracted from the Y-1 table.  No differences are expected. 



  • In Columns V and W there's a calculation of the TC and TMN variations (%) compared to previous month. 
  • There's a conditional formatting in these cells: variations >= or <= 50% are highlighted in red and those cases should be communicated to GAR Conso team by email as a warning message of high currency variation.


3.5 Piloting to BFC_Prod_SCO database

 Task SCO-ADMIN has to be used to pilot REEL Exchange Rates table inserting the REEL table of the month.




4. Exchange Rates publication in GAR Syensqo AODOCs (GAR team site)

Besides BFC update, BFC Admin is also in charge of updating every month the actual (REEL) exchange rates file published in GAR Syensqo AODOC.

The information received in the 3 files from Quantum (Monthly, Quarterly and Yearly rates) are in the exact same format as the 3 tabs in GAR Syensqo AODOCs file and therefore only a copy/paste is necessary. 


4.1 Beginning of the year (in January YYYY) - creation of the new file for year YYYY


  • In GAR Syensqo AODOC library open the Exchange Rate file from previous year (YYYY-1)















  • Select option "Open in a new tab" to open it in google drive











  • File opened in Google Drive










  •  Menu "File" option "make a copy" to duplicate the document 










  • In the new File generated by copy:
    • rename it "ExcRates YYYY Syensqo"
    • adapt columns titles in each tab
    • remove previous exchange rates values (YYYY values will come from monthly updates)










  • Load the new file into GAR Syensqo AODOC:
    • click on "NEW" button
    • select "DocClass BFC and Doc Training"
    • "Choose a file" window => select 1st option "import file from your My Drive"
    • Then select Google Drive and search and select the new file => the upload starts









  • Once loaded the new file appears in GAR Syensqo AODOC and its storage has become an GAR Syensqo AODOC storage (the file belongs to GAR Syensqo AODOC, no more to My drive)



























4.2 Monthly updates


Open the Exchange Rates YYYY file in GAR Syensqo AODOCs


From Quantum file YYYY.MM-BFC_MonthlyRates_FromQT.xls copy the last column to GAR Syensqo AODOCs file tab Monthly calculation





From Quantum file YYYY.MM-BFC_QuarterlyRates_FromQT.xls copy the last column to GAR Syensqo AODOCs file tab Quarterly calculation




From YYYY.MM-BFC_YearRates_FromQT.xls copy the last 2 columns to GAR Syensqo AODOCs file tab Year rates


Once the 3 tabs of GAR Syensqo AODOCs file have been updated close the file (changes are automatically saved).

5. Communication

Once exchange rates have been piloted to BFC_Prod_SCO and GAR Syensqo AODOCs file has been updated, BFC Admin should communicate to Syensqo's Finance external partners (outsourcing companies, Syensqo Actuaries, Businesses sold under TSA ...).

From February 2024, Syensqo end users are only notified in case of delay (Exchange rates not uploaded before 7pm CET on WD1)


The distribution lists of external partners is available in this file BFC Syensqo Exc.rates file contacts (2nd tab):

  • Note: When someone (external partner) asks to be added to the distribution list, BFC Admin should check with Syensqo Consolidation team if the contact can be added and which is the validity period.
  • Mail to external partners (GAR Syensqo AODOCs file sent in attachment as they have no access to =GAR Syensqo AODOC library):


END OF THIS PROCEDURE