Axpo digitalized its impairment testing: From Manual Workflows to a Central Jedox Solution
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Company Profile
Axpo is Switzerland’s largest electricity producer and an international pioneer in energy trading and the marketing of solar and wind power. Headquartered in Baden, the company is active in more than 40 markets and employs over 7,500 people worldwide. Axpo Holding AG is wholly owned by the cantons and cantonal utilities of north-eastern Switzerland.
Its business includes an extensive power plant portfolio – from hydropower plants in Switzerland to wind and solar farms across Europe. Assets of this size tie up substantial capital for decades. This places high demands on the finance processes used to test and document their value on the balance sheet.
Growing Demands on a Key Finance Process
An impairment test checks whether assets – such as power plants – are still carried at the right value on the balance sheet. If the recoverable amount is lower than the carrying amount, an impairment loss must be recognized. For a power plant portfolio, this test depends on a large amount of data and many assumptions, for example on electricity prices, costs, useful lives and interest rates.
As Axpo’s business grew more complex, so did the demands on this process. It ran in an established, Excel-based environment: data from different sources was brought together and consolidated in recurring reconciliations. With rising requirements for efficiency, transparency and traceability, there was potential to standardize the process further and support it with technology.
Together with HICO Group, Axpo therefore decided to fundamentally modernize the process and move it to a central Jedox platform. The goal was to unify the data basis, standardize processes and increase transparency across the entire valuation process. HICO Group has used Jedox in finance and planning projects for years and brought the experience needed to turn accounting requirements into a stable solution.
From Manual Workflows to an Integrated Solution
- Anita Hug, IFRS Specialist, Axpo Services AG
In close collaboration with HICO Group, Axpo developed a tailored Jedox solution step by step. The focus was on moving the previously manual workflow into a modern, digital and scalable system.
To do this, the relevant process steps were mapped in a structured way, and the underlying data, calculation logic and valuation assumptions were brought together in one central solution. This created a consistent basis for carrying out impairment tests for the extensive power plant portfolio and for the reporting that follows.
Jedox combines a familiar, spreadsheet-like way of working with a central database. Data, assumptions and calculations sit in one place instead of in separate files, and everyone involved works with the same version.
More Transparency and Efficiency
With the new solution, Axpo now has a far more digitalized and standardized process. Central data storage increases transparency and supports the quality of analyses and decisions.
The close collaboration between Axpo and HICO Group made it possible to combine the finance team’s requirements with a powerful technology platform – laying the foundation for developing the process further over the long term.
With the new platform in place, Axpo has created an important basis for further digitalizing its finance and valuation processes. The solution offers the flexibility to handle future requirements efficiently and consistently.
