Case Study
Enhancing Financial Crime Prevention with Streamlined Forecasting Using NetSuite and MindStream Analytics
ACAMS, the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists, is the largest international membership organization dedicated to fighting financial crime. To better support its mission, ACAMS needed a more consistent and automated approach to planning, budgeting, and reporting.
The organization serves a highly specialized professional audience, so dependable planning and reporting are important not only for internal operations but also for supporting long-term strategic priorities. ACAMS needed a finance process that could scale cleanly and reduce the friction created by repetitive manual steps.
MindStream Analytics focused on giving ACAMS a more connected planning framework, one that would support stronger forecasting discipline, cleaner reporting workflows, and better visibility for decision-makers.
The Challenge:
The finance team at ACAMS faced several obstacles that limited efficiency and insight across its planning and budgeting process.
Lack of automated financial processes and no standard forecast or budgeting procedure. This limited how efficiently the team could move from collecting inputs to producing reliable forecasts and budgets.
Need for more specific analytic reporting to improve financial visibility. Without that visibility, finance leaders had a harder time analyzing performance from multiple angles and turning data into action.
Manual processes made it harder to maintain consistency and speed across the planning cycle. Over time, this made the planning cycle more cumbersome and increased reliance on workarounds instead of a repeatable system.
Because ACAMS operates in a mission-driven environment centered on financial crime prevention, the finance team needed planning tools that were accurate, timely, and flexible enough to support ongoing operational decisions.
The Solution
MindStream Analytics implemented NetSuite Planning and Budgeting to create a more integrated, automated, and insight-driven financial process for ACAMS.
Automated nightly updates for metadata and actuals, streamlining recurring finance processes. This gave ACAMS a stronger baseline for consistency and reduced the time spent on recurring update tasks.
Implemented the Workforce module to improve headcount forecasting and simplify budget input with SmartView and supporting modules. That made it easier for the team to plan around staffing and workforce-related costs with more structure and less manual effort.
Created alternate hierarchies so ACAMS could produce more accurate actuals-versus-forecast and budget reporting while preserving familiar formatting. As a result, the organization could analyze financial performance in ways that were more useful to the business while still retaining familiar reporting views.
Built a custom manual import form for adjustment entries, improving flexibility and usability. This practical enhancement improved flexibility and gave users a better way to manage adjustments inside the planning process.
The overall solution was not just about implementing software. It was about designing a planning environment that matched how ACAMS actually works, helping the finance team move faster while improving confidence in the numbers.
Key solution components included:
The Result
With NetSuite Planning and Budgeting in place, ACAMS now has a unified planning environment that supports better analysis, stronger processes, and more informed decision-making.
Integrated planning and budgeting into a single connected system. That created a clearer operating model for finance and helped connect processes that had previously been handled in a more fragmented way.
Improved data insight for more informed financial decision-making. Leadership and finance stakeholders could now evaluate trends, compare results, and make planning decisions with stronger context.
Reduced manual effort through automation and more structured processes. The gains in efficiency also helped free up time for more valuable financial analysis instead of repetitive administrative work.
Overall, the engagement gave ACAMS a stronger planning foundation. With NetSuite Planning and Budgeting in place and configured around the organization’s real needs, the team is better positioned to support growth, improve reporting quality, and maintain a more disciplined forecasting cycle over time.