What started out as the extended hand of the financial department in Cracow has now developed into a unit encompassing many different business functions. The new name, ALK Global Business Services Cracow reflects the shift. European Accounting Center (EAC), is now part of ALK Global Business Services Cracow (ALK GBSC), and continues to be the largest unit.

“When we started three years ago, we launched what we called the European Accounting Center with around 26 employees. We did not have a concrete plan of where to take it, but it was always meant to be the start of something bigger”, says Jesper Vestergaard, SVP Global Finance. Since then, the office has grown from 26 employees in the European Accounting Center (EAC), to 53 employees in the newly named umbrella ALK Global Business Services Cracow. EAC continues to be the biggest with 31 employees, working under the supervision of Jesper Vestergaard, in conjunction with Pawel Zawrzykraj, the director of EAC. The rest of the employees are new additions, and are independent business functions that report to a manager in a different location. These business functions include colleagues from Global IT, Global HR, Commercial Excellence and more.

With the addition of the new employees, ALK has a business center with a wider interface and with multiple functions. The rationale behind establishing a center like this is not only that it makes sense fiscally, but it also provides ALK with a critical mass that would ensure a more dynamic accounting service, with data collected and processed in one place. “Before, we had one or two accountants in every country, which was very fragile, now we have an opportunity to cover a larger part of the organization and at the same time ensure that there is opportunity for personal growth for the employees. With the addition of the new functions, we have opened up the potential for growth and synergy between the different departments,” says Jesper Vestergaard.