One Finance: Putting an end to the proliferation

From my customer base, this example comes to mind: A machine manufacturer from northern Germany harmonizes the 13 charts of accounts and 13 controlling areas for 34 national companies.

Booking processes need to be standardized globally and reporting needs to be set up according to a uniform standard. This starting position is almost typical for European industrial companies that operate in international markets.

In dialog with the customer, I am now trying to build bridges: between the control concepts based on old, heterogeneous system landscapes, which have long been outdated, and the diverse possibilities in the new SAP world.

The customer's wish is clear: a globally standardized finance & reporting platform. At the beginning, there is always the same question: Where is the journey going? Actually, everyone knows that they need a harmonized target picture, but they don't know what it should look like in concrete terms and how to achieve the goal.

Which control instruments do I need? Do I use the cost of sales method or the total cost method? How do I report? How do I run the month-end closing process? What does a future, sustainable governance structure look like? These questions must be clarified so that we can derive a One Finance target picture.

S/4 Finance is mature

And I already have to think in the direction of S/4! Word of the advantages of S/4 Hana has long since spread, and the maturity level is there. S/4 Finance is now running smoothly, with hardly any changes to the core structure.

Many features are new to the customer, even though they shipped with the New G/L years ago. The benefits: Month-end closing is accelerated - thanks to increased system performance and more automation.

New leading indicators give warning signs: In the USA, purchasing costs for aluminum are rising! In Russia, sales revenues fall due to currency effects!

This means that the management team consisting of the CEO and CFO receives more and better data, enabling them to manage the company more actively and precisely. But be careful: This added value does not just happen with S/4!

Before that, the processes must be harmonized and global transparency created. The new concept must be mapped in master data such as accounts, cost centers, profit centers and materials.

All the details of the new One Finance approach are broken down by the company management and taken to the specialist departments. We compare our target picture with the status quo and then develop a transformation plan using our special software cbs ET.

By the way, different projects can be combined in one approach. Thus, the New G/L or the new S/4 Hana Universal Journal can be introduced at the same time as a chart of accounts and controlling area transformation.

Litigation is the task of the department

The One Finance approach must be a corporate goal. Because you can only adapt governance structures if you have the backing from the top! Mapping old structures to new ones is a major challenge. Companies don't do this once, but on a rolling basis over and over again.

And: It is fundamentally important to use the expertise of the business department. Process management must be based in the business department and not in IT. Change management should not be underestimated either.

It always helps to demonstrate the added value: globally standardized processes in finance and accounting, a higher degree of automation, real-time analyses at every level of detail and information, greater efficiency, lower costs.

Last but not least, it's also about the topic of innovation capability in the direction of S/4. Can I make optimal use of new technologies and new functions? How quickly and how agile can I react to future changes? So that accounting becomes just as modern and efficient as the customer's products, which are in demand worldwide.