Abstract
Louwman Group, a mobility and automotive organization, transformed its fragmented, Excel-driven planning and consolidation processes by implementing Board as a unified, business-owned platform. Operating across six divisions and more than 15 data sources, the organization now runs integrated, continuous planning alongside statutory and managerial consolidation on a single platform. With faster closes, consistent data, and scalable, division-specific models, Louwman established a single source of truth that supports agility, collaboration, and long-term self-sufficiency.
Why This Story Matters
As organizations scale, finance teams are under increasing pressure to deliver faster insights while maintaining control, auditability, and consistency. Louwman Group’s journey demonstrates how a flexible, unified, and business-owned platform can replace manual, error-prone workflows with integrated planning and consolidation—without sacrificing autonomy or scalability.
Key benefits:
- Single source of truth across 6 divisions and 15+ data sources
- Consolidation runtime reduced from 6+ hours to ~45 minutes
- Group results available within minutes during close200+ reporting units consolidated across statutory and managerial views
- Weekly cash flow forecasting enabling near real-time treasury visibility
- Flexible, division-specific planning models without IT dependency
- Improved collaboration and continuity via standardized workflows
- Easily create, copy, and compare scenarios to evaluate alternatives and support informed decision-making.
The Company
Louwman Group, founded in 1923, is a Dutch family-owned mobility organization and one of Europe’s largest automobile distributors. With imports of brands like Toyota, Lexus, Morgan and Suzuki, it operates across the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and the Czech Republic. Beyond car sales, Louwman offers leasing, financing, logistics, retail and even healthcare mobility solutions — all rooted in its enduring commitment to customer service, innovation and mobility for life.
The Challenge: Unifying Planning and Consolidation across 6 Divisions and 15+ Data Sources
In the fast-moving automotive sector, effective and connected planning is critical. Yet Louwman relied heavily on Excel files and separate consolidation tools, with everyone uploading their files individually and without interaction between the files. This fragmented approach was inefficient, error-prone, and lacked integration, which drove the need for a unified planning solution.
We wanted to transition from a decentralized setup to a more unified structure, which required faster and more efficient planning and analysis.
Erwin van Roon
Erwin van Roon, CFO of Toyota Louwman Financial Services, explains that the organization was seeking a planning solution that was both flexible and intuitive, enabling easy reporting and collaboration. He also highlights the value of controller independence, noting that optimal results are achieved when finance teams can configure and manage the tool themselves without relying on IT support.
With Board, Louwman set out to unify planning, consolidation, and reporting on a single platform, improving collaboration and establishing a true single source of truth across the organization.
The Solution: A Flexible, Business-Owned Platform for Unified Planning and Consolidation
Following a structured vendor evaluation, Louwman selected Board over alternative planning and consolidation solutions due to its unique ability to combine statutory and managerial consolidation with unified planning on a single platform.
Key selection criteria included:
- Finance-owned configuration without reliance on IT
- Flexible planning models tailored to different business units
- Enterprise-scale consolidation handling complex group structures
- A single platform enabling internal expertise and long-term self-sufficiency
Board supports Louwman’s full financial scope on a single platform, covering P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, tax, and treasury reporting. The platform runs both statutory and managerial consolidation on the same dataset, ensuring full consistency between audit-ready reporting, bank reporting, and internal performance management.
Erwin van Roon
Previously, tax data was fragmented across multiple sources. Today, we manage everything centrally in Board, resulting in more accurate reporting and deeper tax insights.
During the early phases of the implementation, Louwman worked with Board partners to support the initial setup of consolidation and planning use cases. As internal expertise grew, the organization deliberately shifted toward a self-sufficient operating model, with partners providing targeted support and guidance when needed. This approach ensured a strong foundation while enabling Louwman to retain long-term ownership and control over its Board platform.
One Platform, Multiple Planning Use Cases Across the Group
- Tailored Planning Modules for Diverse Business Needs
Rather than forcing the organization into a single planning framework, Louwman developed modular, division-specific planning models aligned with distinct business requirements. This approach allows divisions such as Care to use HR-driven FTE data while respecting employee privacy and compliance needs.
- Advanced Financial and Asset Planning
In Group Services, the company extended planning beyond the P&L by introducing a tangible fixed assets module. This enables advanced balance sheet planning, and detailed depreciation calculations for every building owned. This deeper financial modelling capability supports more informed long-term asset and investment decisions.
- Scalability and Agility through Internal Expertise
The internal Board competence center enables rapid delivery of new use cases.. A planning module covering 10 companies was developed in just two months, demonstrating how in-house expertise accelerates rollout.
- Efficiency in Large-Scale Reporting
At the Retail division, managing reporting for 70 dealer locations is now fully automated. Using Board’s broadcasting functionality, all reports can be generated with a single action, eliminating repetitive manual work and freeing capacity for higher-value analysis.
- Standardization and Collaboration across Teams
In the Wholesale division, three out of six companies use Board modules with the same workflows and layouts. This standardization simplifies collaboration, allowing team members to cover for one another without process disruption or rework.
- Enhanced Treasury and Tax Management
Specialized modules support both treasury and tax processes. Weekly direct cash flow forecasting provides timely visibility into group financing needs, while integrated HR and financial data streamlines WKR (Work-related Costs Scheme) tracking and tax reporting, improving accuracy and compliance.
Erwin van Roon
We moved from fragmented spreadsheets and disconnected tools to Board as a single platform supporting statutory and managerial consolidation as well as planning. That shift fundamentally changed how fast and confidently we operate as a group.
Turning Unified Planning into Measurable Business Impact
By consolidating planning, statutory reporting, and management consolidation on a single platform, Louwman moved beyond process efficiency to measurable business impact. Finance teams now operate with consistent data, faster cycles, and greater confidence, while maintaining the flexibility required across diverse divisions and business models.
Data Integration & Consistency
By running planning, statutory reporting, and management consolidation on a single Board platform, Louwman established a consistent, group-wide source of truth across six divisions. Finance teams now work with aligned data, reducing reconciliation effort and eliminating inconsistencies between local, group, and external reporting.
Planning & Forecasting Agility
Board enables continuous, division-specific planning while maintaining group alignment.
Planning models support cash flow forecasting, tax reconciliation, and scenario-based forecasting, allowing finance teams to assess multiple outcomes and respond quickly to changing conditions.
A key improvement is weekly cash flow forecasting, replacing slower, manually consolidated processes with a more continuous approach, giving treasury teams near real-time visibility into financing needs across the group. Combined with internal ownership of the models, this has significantly shortened planning cycles and increased responsiveness without adding operational overhead.
Financial Consolidation
Board enables Louwman to run both statutory and managerial consolidation on the same dataset, ensuring that management reports, audit packs, and bank reporting are always aligned. With over 200 reporting units, cross-ownership structures, and multiple currencies, consolidation results can now be produced in minutes during close, significantly accelerating decision-making and reducing reconciliation effort.
- Consolidation runtime reduced from 6+ hours to ~45 minutes
- Consolidated group results available within 5 minutes during close
Ronald Bruijniks
Consolidation used to take hours and required extensive manual work. Today, we can deliver group results in minutes, with confidence that statutory and management views are fully aligned.
Internal Board Competence Center
By investing in an internal Board competence center, Louwman significantly increased its agility. New planning modules can be designed and deployed in weeks rather than months, supporting rapid expansion across divisions while reducing reliance on external support. This internal ownership ensures continuity, scalability, and long-term sustainability of the platform.
Looking Ahead: Scaling Unified Planning and Consolidation
With unified, continuous planning and consolidation firmly in place, Louwman Group is now focused on scaling insight. Board provides the foundation to continuously align plans, performance, and reporting as the organization grows—ensuring finance remains a strategic driver of speed, control, and confidence across the group.
