To support the business transformation of the finance function for a leading financial institution, our consultant was asked to define a future-state architecture based on user requirements and industry practices. Since best practices apply only to situations that have been previously encountered — and since the economic down turn is creating all-new situations businesses have never before experienced — our consultant went beyond conventional thinking. In defining the right answer for this unique company in this unique set of economic, regulatory and market circumstances, our consultant worked closely with executive management to develop strategic end-to-end business flows to support overall goals. He defined future-state architectures as well as documentation, modeling, and analysis of financial close and reporting processes and related controls.