SAP ERP Financials Enabling Financial Excellence

8/8/2019 SAP ERP Financials Enabling Financial Excellence

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SAP Solution OverviewSAP Business Suite

SAP ERP FINANCIALS

ENABLING FINANCIAL EXCELLENCE


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ESSENTIAL ENTERPRISE BUSINESS STRATEGY

PROVIDING A SOLID FOUNDATION FOR ENTERPRISEFINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

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The SAP ERP Financials solution, which is part of SAP Business Suite soft-

ware, delivers a complete, integrated financial management solution to ensure

compliant, predictable business performance. An essential building block of

your enterprise business strategy, SAP ERP Financials provides a solid foun-dation to expand your business, realize greater efficiencies across key finan-

cial processes, and help ensure compliant and accurate accounting and

financial reporting.

Even before Sarbanes-Oxley was passed, SAP ERP Financials gave us the

support we needed to ensure our financials were well controlled, documented,

and reconciled.

John Barron, Chief Financial Officer, Cole Haan

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SAP Business Suite software enablesenterprises to execute and optimize theirbusiness and IT strategies. Its modularsoftware is designed to work with otherSAP and non-SAP software to providebroad support for an organizationsessential business processes. Organi-zations and departments in all sectors

can deploy the software in a stepwisemanner to address specific businesschallenges on their own timelines andwithout costly upgrades. SAP BusinessSuite provides better insight and visibili-ty across organizations, improves oper-ational efficiency and effectiveness,and increases the flexibility to addressbusiness change.

Through its core applications, SAPBusiness Suite supports all essentialbusiness processes, including custom-er relationship management, financialmanagement, human capital manage-ment, asset management, product

life-cycle management, supplier rela-tionship management, and supply chainmanagement. SAP Business Suite ap-plications are built on service-orientedarchitecture (SOA) to help companiesadapt to accelerating change. Poweredby the SAP NetWeaver technologyplatform, they give companies theopportunity to integrate their valuechains, leveraging SAP and non-SAPsolutions.

SAP ERP Financials: A Foundationfor Expanding Your Business

During this time of economic uncertain-ty, a companys decision makers needto know that the information theyreceive is both current and accurate. Toachieve this, your business must estab-lish a single version of the truth for allits employees. The SAP ERP Financialssolution can help. Besides letting youstreamline financial processes, opti-mize working capital, mitigate financial

risks, and comply with global financialreporting standards, the softwareoffers robust financial and managerialaccounting and reporting functionalityto support confident decision making.Over 20,000 global companies rely onSAP to provide the foundation for theirfinancial management requirements.

SAP ERP AND SAP BUSINESS SUITE

BROADENING YOUR VISION TO SIMPLIFYAND INNOVATE

During this time of economic uncertainty, a compa-nys decision makers need to know that the informa-tion they receive is both current and accurate. Toachieve this, your business must establish a singleversion of the truth for all its employees. SAP ERPFinancials can help, offering robust financial andmanagerial accounting and reporting functionality tosupport confident decision making.

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Not very long ago, the scope of afinance organizations responsibilitywas limited to managing financial trans-actions and generating periodic finan-cial statements and management

reports. Today business is more com-plex. We live in a global economy withfinancial professionals expected tomeet a far wider range of challengesthan ever before.

As a financial professional, you mustproduce accurate, timely financial re-ports that satisfy global accounting andregulatory compliance standards thatvary by industry and by country. Yourfinancial management software mustsupport internal controls and compli-

ance standards to help ensure trans-parency of your companys accountingpractices. On top of that, you need itssupport in streamlining critical financialprocesses, such as the financial closecycle, accounts receivable, accountspayable, and cash and financial riskmanagement.

Business decision makers today havea greater need for relevant, accurate in-formation than ever before. Inaccurateor out-of-date reports can lead to baddecisions. Executives, managers, and

frontline employees require integratedreporting tools that give them the pow-er to quickly identify the factors impact-ing the business and help them makedecisions that improve performance.Together with the SAP BusinessObjectsportfolio, SAP ERP Financials offerspowerful functionality that meets yourmost demanding accounting and finan-cial reporting requirements.

In addition, finance professionals needto manage the cash conversion cycle

and overall working capital more effi-ciently. Through automation and greaterinsight into the accounts receivable andaccounts payable functions, business-es can improve cash flow, reduce dayssales outstanding, optimize workingcapital, and mitigate financial risks.

In short, finance professionals mustmanage increasing complexity. SAPprovides the comprehensive financialmanagement software you need tohelp your finance organization harnessthis complexity while gaining keyinsight that leads to better businessperformance.

YOUR BUSINESS AND THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

HARNESSING FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT SOFTWARETHAT KEEPS PACE

Business decision makers today have a greater need forrelevant, accurate information than ever before. Theyrequire integrated reporting tools that give them the powerto quickly identify the factors impacting the business.

Together with the SAP BusinessObjects portfolio, SAPERP Financials offers powerful functionality that meets

your most demanding accounting and financial reportingrequirements.

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From the knowledge gained from thou-sands of successful customer imple-mentations, SAP has enhanced SAPERP Financials with functionality sup-porting best-practices for the financialmanagement requirements of compa-

nies in more than 25 industries. Thisdelivers to you best-in-class support foryour industry-specific core accountingand financial reporting processes. Butthe softwares reach is much broader.It gives you the ability to collaborateacross organizational boundaries ona single platform that brings unprece-dented efficiency to your financial pro-cesses through end-to-end processintegrity.

In conjunction with SAP partner solu-tions, SAP ERP Financials can supportenhanced processes such as cashmanagement, financial risk management,invoice management, and the financialclose and reporting cycle. Becausethey integrate with your core account-ing applications in the SAP ERP appli-cation, SAP partner solutions can helpsupport reporting and compliance re-quirements. SAP ERP provides a com-plete analytical platform to consolidatebusiness data, giving you comprehen-

sive and timely insight into critical busi-ness processes. And because SAP ERPis a single, integrated solution, financeprofessionals have access to complete-ly reconciled data across your keyfinancial business processes.

FOCUSED FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

GAINING INDUSTRY-SPECIFIC SUPPORTFOR CORE ACCOUNTING

With SAP ERP, we have realized the complete

automation of our accounting process. Now we

can perform monthly closing within one to two

hours, instead of the one to two days of manual

work required before we implemented the

solution.

Zhenhai Wang, CIO, Phenix Optics Co. Ltd.


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Financial professionals, executives, andmanagers need tools that adapt to theway they work and to the needs of theirbusiness. They want intuitively designedsolutions that require minimal trainingand respond flexibly to the change inev-

itable in the business world today. Andthey require software that supportscomplex business processes in orderto gain greater efficiency and effective-ness. Whether you are a regional busi-ness or a multinational corporation, theSAP ERP Financials solution gives youthat and more. Because it is based onSOA, SAP ERP Financials allows you todeploy business solutions more quicklyto flexibly manage your companys vitalfinancial processes.

Financial and ManagementAccounting

The SAP ERP Financials solution isdesigned to support the most complexfinancial requirements of global compa-nies. It helps ensure accurate financialaccounting and reporting in accordancewith global financial reporting standardssuch as generally accepted accountingprinciples (GAAP) and InternationalFinancial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

It helps streamline financial transactionprocessing. The SAP General Ledgerapplication forms the foundation of ac-counting transaction processing and re-porting, while SAP ERP Financials pro-vides support for accounts receivable,accounts payable, fixed assets, inven-tory, and cash accounting. These sub-ledgers are completely integrated withSAP General Ledger, so your financialdata is always reconciled and your re-ports are completely accurate. This helps

avoid having to restate financial resultsand reduces the cost and effort of the

financial close and reporting cycle.

To support managerial reporting re-quirements, SAP General Ledger letsyou allocate costs to the necessarybusiness segments through documentsplitting. As a result, balanced and rec-oncilable financial statements can begenerated by any dimension of thebusiness unit, profit center, or geo-graphical location. SAP ERP Financialshelps reduce the complexity and cost

of parallel accounting and managingmultiple sets of books by region, in-

dustry, or financial reporting standard.It all rolls up to a single lead ledger, withmanagerial and financial accountingreconciled within a single application.

Financial Supply ChainManagement

Cash is the lifeblood of every company,and to ensure a healthy cash flow fromits commercial operations, a companymust apply rigorous control over

A SOLUTION THAT RESPONDS TO CHANGE

SUPPORTING FINANCIAL BUSINESS PROCESSES

Financial professionals, executives, and managers needtools that adapt to the way they work and to the needs oftheir business. They want intuitively designed solutionsthat require minimal training and respond flexibly to thechange inevitable in the business world today.

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customer trade credit evaluations andaccounts receivable. The SAP FinancialSupply Chain Management (SAP FSCM)set of applications can help your com-pany more effectively manage thecredit-to-cash cycle, reduce days sales

outstanding, and minimize bad debtexpense. Through robust informationsharing, collaboration, and workflow,SAP FSCM helps you optimize workingcapital processes through automatedcredit management, electronic billpresentment and payment, collectionsmanagement, and billing disputemanagement.

Treasury Solutions

Treasury professionals face challengesto optimize liquidity and protect companyrevenue streams and asset values bymanaging cash and financial risk moreeffectively. With treasury applicationsfrom SAP, you can manage the completespectrum of cash, liquidity, and financialrisk though greater transparency, con-trol, and more effective decision mak-ing. Advanced analytics help financeprofessionals accurately assess interestrate, foreign exchange, and commodityprice risk and employ hedging strate-

gies to mitigate them. In addition, SAPtreasury applications are completely in-tegrated with SAP General Ledger tohelp ensure transactions and positionsare accurately recorded and properlyreported in accordance with global fi-nancial reporting standards.

Improve PerformanceManagement

Combine the power of SAPBusinessObjects solutions with theSAP ERP Financials solution tosupport all your performance man-agement requirements. Provide your

executives, managers, and informa-tion workers access to timely, per-sonalized information and key perfor-mance indicators in their own workcontext. Give them the tools theyneed to gain insight for effectivedecision making. Take advantageof SAP ERP Financials, a solutionthat can give broad analytical supportdrawn from a rich selection ofSAP software as well as non-SAPsoftware.

Extend Financial Management

SAP BusinessObjects enterprise per-formance management solutions andSAP BusinessObjects governance,

risk, and compliance solutions extendyour financial management require-ments into critical areas of reporting,compliance, and operational riskmanagement with best-in-classfinancials applications that include: Consolidation and reporting Planning, budgeting, and

forecasting Performance management andscorecards

Governance, risk, and compliance

Put the power of integrated perfor-mance management and enterprise-wide analytic functionality on thedesktops of your information workersto improve decision making on alllevels. Serve the needs of your fi-nance professionals your accoun-tants, financial analysts, credit

managers, and accounts receivablemanagers with embedded analyticalapplications that deliver role-specifickey performance indicators andperformance information.

Financial professionals, executives, and managers needtools that adapt to the way they work and to the needs oftheir business. They want intuitively designed solutionsthat require minimal training and respond flexibly to the

change inevitable in the business world today.

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YOUR KEY BUSINESS ACTIVITIES

SUPPORT FOR THE PERFORMANCEMANAGEMENT CYCLE

The SAP ERP Financials Solution Supports Key Business Activities

Business Area Activity Supported

Performance management Use the SAP ERP Financials solution in combination with SAP BusinessObjects

solutions to:

Define overall company goals and departmental objectives and monitor performance

against them during execution Generate consolidated financial and managerial reports for globally distributed

businesses by aggregating financial data from SAP and third-party software

Perform ad hoc queries and measure operational performance using real-time

transactional data and metrics

Analyze cash and liquidity requirements, forecast cash, and manage financial risks more

effectively

Jump-start operational planning tasks such as cost center planning, sales planning,

traditional budgeting, and collaborative express planning

Financial and management accounting Determine inventory value according to country-specific accounting standards

Record goods movements in up to three currencies and carry inventory values in

two additional currencies

Generate a balanced set of books by business unit, profit center, or any otherorganizational reporting dimension

Analyze profitability by various dimensions such as product, market, customer,

service, or channel

Streamline the financial close and reporting cycle

Financial supply chain management Collaborate effectively to resolve billing disputes and account collections

Streamline and automate customer credit decisions

Automate the receivables and payment processing using Web and electronic payment

standards

Treasury management Forecast cash and manage company liquidity

Reduce the complexity of interunit cash transfers and international banking transactions

Model the current and future market environment, perform thorough risk analysis before

making investment decisions, and measure hedging effectiveness Achieve straight-though processing through electronic payment processes and

cost-effective electronic bank integrations

Corporate governance Use SAP BusinessObjects governance, risk, and compliance solutions to:

Identify internal control gaps to reduce risk of noncompliance

Integrate automated control testing results into control reporting to reduce duplicate work

Provide auditors and management with increased visibility and direct access to control

tests, results, and remediation plans

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SAP ERP Financials provides a com-plete, integrated financial managementsolution to effectively fulfill the mostcomplex accounting, financial supplychain, treasury, and corporate gover-nance requirements. It supports inte-

grated financial and performance man-agement, smart decision making, andcollaboration among financial profes-sionals, executives, and managers. Asa facilitator of financial transformation,SAP ERP Financials reduces transac-tion processing and administrativeworkloads, allowing financial profes-sionals to concentrate on value-addingactivities.

Here are some ways you can maximize

your ROI using SAP ERP Financials.

Increase your insight for betterdecision making and predictability by: Improving managerial accounting

support and your ability to generatereports on any business dimension

Leveraging performance manage-ment tools to deepen your under-standing of activities across theentire value chain

Improving the quality of businessplanning, decision making, and per-

formance analysis Gaining access to relevant and timely

information Identifying performance issues early

and correcting them proactively

Improve the productivity, efficiency,and responsiveness of your businessby: Automating financial and managerial

accounting processes and streamlin-ing the financial close and reporting

cycle

Reducing operating costs of the fi-nance function

Extending the reach of financial busi-ness processes to more people with-in and beyond the enterprise includ-ing customers, suppliers, and partners

Decreasing collections and billing dis-pute processing costs through im-proved collaboration and workflow an improvement that can account for60% of total finance departmentcosts

Optimize your companys cash flow by: Improving credit and collections

processes Making receivables management

more efficient

Utilizing powerful analytics to modelfuture cash flows and financial risks,more accurately forecast liquidity,and reduce banking costs by poolingglobal cash positions

Leveraging enhanced electronic con-nectivity to manage your organiza-tions banking relationships and pay-ment processes

Using streamlined information ex-change to benefit from up-to-the-minute visibility of cash positions andaccelerated cash reporting

Improve financial compliance andcorporate governance by: Giving managers better visibility of

company performance to help themimprove profitability and manage riskbetter

Supporting global financial reportingstandards such as IFRS and GAAP

Providing a mechanism for internalprocess controls for financial report-ing that includes support for docu-

mentation, testing, workflow, andquality sign-off

The Right Application Architecture

The SAP NetWeaver technology plat-form enables organizations of any sizeto implement SOA as the basis for in-novative business processes result-

ing in better planning, improved perfor-mance management, and fasterreactions to changing business require-ments by supporting the followingactions: Deploying analytical applications tai-

lored to the individual users role Integrating electronic payment and in-

voicing services into portals, enablingsecure self-service and collaborationfor customers, partners, andsuppliers

Modifying general ledgers without im-pacting financial consolidation or re-porting processes

Organizing consolidation processesaccording to the needs of individualbusiness units

Coordinating budgeting and planningprocesses intuitively, eliminating theneed for end-user training and simpli-fying individual spreadsheetconsolidation

Enabling process owners and manag-ers to document, test, and report on

the effectiveness of the organiza-tions internal controls

Managing relationships with banks totrack payment life cycle and reducethe number of exceptions

Helping credit managers control cred-it risk by monitoring overall credit lim-its without impacting customerrelationships

A COMPLETE FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

SOLUTION

REDUCING TRANSACTION PROCESSING ANDADMINISTRATIVE WORKLOADS

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A Proven Financial ManagementSolution for Organizations inEvery Geography and Industry

SAP ERP Financials enables you tomanage your business more effectivelyby supporting improved decision mak-ing in financial and managerial account-ing, financial supply chain management,and treasury. With over 26,000 installa-

tions worldwide, SAP ERP Financials isthe proven choice for best-run busi-nesses. Regardless of size or industry,

all companies gain from this robust,integrated financial management solu-tion. It includes a solid foundation forgrowth, better visibility and control overall financial management processes,support for global business require-ments, and a framework for sustainable

corporate governance. For additionalinformation on how SAP ERP Financialscan help your company become a

best-run business, please visitwww.sap.com/financials.

BENEFITS AT A GLANCE

IDENTIFYING OPPORTUNITIES TO SET STRATEGY

The SAP ERP Financials solution is designed to support the most complex financialrequirements of global companies. It helps ensure accurate financial accountingand reporting in accordance with global financial reporting standards such as gener-ally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and International Financial ReportingStandards (IFRS).

Activity Benefit

Financial and management accounting Accelerate financial closes

Increase accuracy of financial reporting

Maintain balanced books reflecting any business dimension

Comply with international and local accounting standards

Financial supply chain management Decrease costs for billing, collections, and payment activities

Reduce receivables risk

Increase customer, partner, and supplier satisfaction

Treasury management Manage financial risk

Forecast liquidity

Measure future cash flows

Maximize investment returns

Performance management Expand the business

Monitor performance against key performance indicators and benchmarks

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SAP ERP Financials Enabling Financial Excellence

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