SAP supports CFOs and their teams by simplifying financial processes, including invoicing, accounting, and cash flow management. This increased efficiency allows teams to focus more on strategic tasks. Compliance is a priority in SAP’s system, integrating regulatory requirements into these processes to ensure each transaction is both auditable and traceable. The shift towards automated finance operations is facilitated by SAP, providing professionals with real-time data from a single-source, S/4HANA's universal journal, for faster planning and business performance analysis. SAP's financial transformation leverages modern technology to automate processes, embed compliance and risk data, and utilize transactional data for business guidance, while ensuring a balance between profitability, tax efficiency, and sustainability, alongside maintaining financial stability.
Key innovations SAP delivers:
- Boost operational efficiency:
User experience is crucial for operational efficiency. SAP's Fiori enhances user experience by integrating process redesign and improvements. For example, users can start by examining KPIs to assess receivables and determine necessary actions. Optimized processes, many available out-of-the-box, can then be further automated using embedded AI. In receivables management, AI can interpret emails, record disputes, and manage communications, boosting efficiency but leaving final decisions to users. Finance operations, often managed by shared service centers, benefit from SAP's framework for centralized monitoring and execution, leveraging embedded AI.
- Drive effective business steering:
Access to accurate, granular data across the organization, is crucial for effective steering. The universal journal in SAP S/4HANA Cloud provides a single financial source ensuring everyone views the same data, eliminating discrepancies. This foundation supports analysis, simulation, and prediction, using common KPIs and master data definitions. Intelligent automation, predictive modeling, and AI-generated dashboards enhance steering effectiveness and drive efficiency improvements.
- Make compliance available 24/7:
Historically, compliance has often been managed separately from daily operations. SAP transforms this by integrating compliance into real-time operational execution. This shift ensures continuous adherence to regulations rather than periodic checks.
Key areas of focus include:
- Accounting Standards: SAP embeds support for local and international accounting standards, tax regulations, and sustainability disclosures into the record-to-report process.
- Revenue Recognition: Compliance with revenue recognition is achieved through event-based integration within the order-to-cash process, ensuring 24/7 compliance.
- Operational Controls: SAP embeds compliance into operational processes, including access controls, process controls, and global trade services, turning compliance into a strategic advantage.
Additionally, SAP integrates risk management into business operations, making potential risks transparent and enabling effective mitigation strategies. This holistic approach ensures compliance and risk management are integral to business steering and operational efficiency.