Shared services center (SSC)
A central team that runs transactional finance work, such as AR, AP and cash application, for all of a group's business units.
Shared services centers standardize order-to-cash processes across entities and regions. They may be run in house or outsourced to a business process outsourcing provider.
Their challenge is scale with consistency. Every business unit brings its own customers, systems and exceptions, and procedures written centrally rarely cover every case.
Related terms
- Business process outsourcing (BPO)Contracting a specialist provider to run a business process, such as collections or cash application, on your behalf.
- Multi-entity ARRunning receivables across several legal entities, currencies or ERPs, where the same customer may owe money to more than one subsidiary.
- Agent operating procedureA written procedure that tells an AI agent how to handle a type of work, encoded from the standard operating procedures a finance team already follows.