“Our monthly close is faster, our data is more reliable, and we are saving 50 to 65 percent of the time previously spent on financial reporting.” — Maurice Liston, Associate Director of Finance, Eupraxia Pharmaceuticals
ABOUT THE CLIENT
Eupraxia Pharmaceuticals
Eupraxia Pharmaceuticals is a publicly traded clinical stage biotech headquartered in Victoria, BC, listed on the TSX under EPRX. The company is advancing therapies built on its proprietary Diffusphere delivery technology, with operations spanning 8 subsidiaries across Canada, Australia, and the United States. Reporting is consolidated to US GAAP.
As a public company with growing trial activity, Eupraxia needed a close cycle and a reporting workflow that matched the cadence its investors and auditors expect. Finance leadership engaged Archer Insights to deliver a NetSuite environment configured for that cadence, with system enforced approvals replacing the manual review steps and the spreadsheet handoffs that had built up around the close.
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Finance team time saved on reporting | 50 to 65% |
| Subsidiaries on one platform | 8 |
| Source of truth across close and audit | 1 |
| Manual approval routing outside the system | 0 |
THE CHALLENGE
A close cycle that ran on email, spreadsheets, and verification work
The pattern was familiar for a public biotech at this stage. The close took longer than the calendar allowed. Approval routing was tracked outside the ERP. Reporting was assembled in spreadsheets that drifted from the source data as soon as they were opened. Finance leaders spent meaningful time each month verifying that the workbook the management team was looking at matched what was posted in NetSuite.
The cost was not just hours. Each manual handoff added rework risk in the days before filing, and auditors required walk throughs that pulled the team away from analysis at exactly the moments analysis was needed. The fix had to make the system itself the source of truth and remove the steps that depended on chasing approvals down by email and rebuilding the same reports from scratch.
What was breaking down
- Approval routing for chart of accounts, dimensions, vendors, POs, bills, and journals lived in email and chat rather than in the ERP
- Reporting was rebuilt each month in spreadsheets that drifted from the source data as soon as transactions posted after extract
- Master data records could be created and used in transactions before independent review
- Audit evidence was assembled from system notes, third party tools, and spreadsheets, with auditor walk throughs taking days of finance team time
- Management reports presented mid close were frequently corrected late, eroding confidence in the numbers leadership saw
What was at stake
- Filing deadlines were absorbing the hours that should have been going to analysis and investor support
- The risk of a late close correction making it into a public filing grew with each manual handoff that surrounded the cycle
- Auditor walk throughs would continue to consume finance team capacity at the moments capacity was most needed
- The credibility of management reporting was being tested every month as mid close numbers diverged from final posted numbers
- Trial activity and the cadence of public company reporting were both scaling, and the manual workflow was not
WHY ARCHER INSIGHTS
A partner with proven close cycle configurations for public biotechs
Eupraxia needed a partner who could deploy proven approvals and reporting configurations on a compressed timeline. Archer Insights was selected based on its exclusive focus on life sciences companies, its Approvals App and Built for Pharma methodology, and its track record of close cycle work at comparable public and pre public biotechs.
Archer brought the Archer Approvals App, saved search and dashboard configurations refined across multiple TSX and NASDAQ listed biotech engagements, and the close cycle pattern library that supports management and audit reporting against one source of truth.
THE SOLUTION
Approvals and reporting in the system, not around it
Archer Insights deployed the Archer Approvals App across the master data and transaction set that drives the close, and rebuilt reporting natively in NetSuite. The close calendar was redrawn around the new flow so that finance, accounting, and FP&A worked from one set of numbers from the first day of close.
ARCHER CLOSE CYCLE FLOW
01 — Master data approvals
- 1 level DOA on COA, dimensions, vendors
- Records lock on approval with full history captured
02 — Transaction approvals
- DOA on POs, bills, journal entries
- Creator not equal to approver enforced as a system rule
03 — Native reporting
- Saved searches and consolidated financial reports
- Reports run against posted data continuously, no spreadsheet rebuild
04 — Dashboards
- Role based dashboards for CFO, finance manager, accountants
- Real time visibility for approvers and management
05 — Audit retrieval
- Complete approval history under each record
- Walk throughs run inside NetSuite without external assembly
The system became the source of truth. Approvals and reporting moved inside the platform, and the spreadsheet rebuild cycle stopped.
What Archer Built
01 — Archer Approvals App across master data and transactions
The Archer Approvals App was deployed across chart of accounts changes, dimension updates, vendor records, purchase orders, bills, and journal entries. Each record type runs through 1 level delegation of authority with creator not equal to approver enforced as a system rule. Records lock on approval and retain a complete history under the record itself, including approval status, next approver, created by, and rejection reasons.
Approval routing moved off email and into the system. The history that used to live in inboxes now lives in the record. Audit walk throughs run against the record itself rather than against the team’s recollection of where the approval lived.
02 — Native NetSuite reporting as the source of truth
Reporting was rebuilt natively in NetSuite. Saved searches, role based dashboards, and consolidated financial reports replaced the spreadsheet workbook that the team had previously rebuilt each month. Reports run against posted data continuously. The drift between extract and current state, which had been the source of mid close corrections, was eliminated by design.
03 — Role based dashboards with pending approvals visibility
Dashboards were configured for the CFO, finance manager, and accountant roles. Pending approval portlets give each approver real time visibility into what is waiting. Close status views show the cycle progress against the calendar. Email reminders that had previously surrounded the close were replaced by the system itself.
04 — Close calendar redrawn around the new flow
The close calendar was rebuilt against the new workflow so that finance, accounting, and FP&A could work from one set of numbers from the first day of close rather than converging on agreed numbers near the end. Mid close reports reflect posted data. The verification step that used to consume hours each cycle was structurally eliminated.
05 — Audit evidence under each record
System notes and approval histories sit under every record. Auditors retrieve the complete trail for any transaction or master data change without finance team assembly. ICFR walk throughs that used to take days compress into time spent reviewing what the system already produced.
MODULES DEPLOYED
| Module | What It Does | Impact at Eupraxia |
|---|---|---|
| Archer Approvals App | 1 level DOA on COA, dimensions, vendors, POs, bills, journals | Approvals captured in the system with record level history |
| NetSuite OneWorld reporting | Consolidated US GAAP reporting across 8 subsidiaries | One source of truth for management and audit |
| Role based dashboards | Pending approvals portlets and close status views | Real time visibility for CFO, finance manager, and accountants |
| Saved searches | Native reporting against posted data | Spreadsheet rebuild cycle replaced by continuous reporting |
| Procure to Pay | Vendor records, PO and bill approvals | Approval timing aligned with the close calendar |
| System notes and audit trails | Captured under every record | Auditor walk throughs run inside NetSuite |
OUTCOMES
What changed after go live
Operational results
- Approval routing moved off email and chat and into the system with full history under each record
- Spreadsheet reporting rebuilt each month was replaced by native NetSuite reports and saved searches
- Master data records default to Pending Approval and lock on approval with re approval required for edits
- Mid close report corrections eliminated; dashboards reflect posted data continuously
- Pending approval portlets removed the email reminders that surrounded the previous close
Finance and control results
- 50 to 65 percent of the time previously spent on financial reporting returned to the finance team
- 8 subsidiaries consolidated on one platform with native multi entity reporting
- Auditor walk throughs run inside NetSuite against records that carry their own evidence
- Hours returned shifted into analysis, investor support, and controls oversight expected of a public reporter
- Management reports reflect the same data auditors see, removing late cycle credibility risk
THE ARCHER EDGE
Faster close, fewer surprises, one source of truth
A faster close at a public biotech does not come from working longer. It comes from putting approvals and reporting where the data already lives. The hours returned to the Eupraxia finance team are not the result of effort. They are the result of a platform configuration that removed the steps that were consuming hours in the first place.
Generalist NetSuite partners configure software. Archer engineers operational workflows. The distinction shows up in the close calendar: approval timing aligned to the cycle, dashboards reflecting posted data continuously, audit evidence captured under each record by design rather than assembled after the fact.
The 50 to 65 percent time savings is a compounding number. Each month the finance team gets back the time they used to spend rebuilding reports and reconciling spreadsheets against the GL. Over a year, that is the equivalent of a senior finance professional returned to the work the team was hired to do.
Tighten your close cycle with Archer
If your finance team is rebuilding the same reports each month and chasing approvals through email, Archer Insights can show you what moving the close inside NetSuite looks like for a public biotech at your stage.
Tighten your close cycle with Archer › archerinsights.com
ABOUT ARCHER INSIGHTS
Archer Insights, LLC is a NetSuite Alliance Partner serving life sciences and healthcare organizations. The firm is an Inc. 5000 company and a 5 time consecutive NetSuite Alliance Partner Spotlight Award winner (2022 through 2026), recognized for biotech and biopharma specialization. Engagements cover new NetSuite implementations, enhancement services, proprietary software modules including the Archer AI Approval Module, and managed services.
archerinsights.com
May 2026