7 concrete benefits S/4HANA Finance Cloud offers CFOs


benefits S/4HANA Finance CloudERP is complicated. Let’s just start by agreeing on that. It’s technical. It’s complex. And it is rife with acronyms and jargon. On top of that, the acronyms and jargon keep changing. New products and services keep “shifting the paradigm.” Don’t you just hate it when the paradigm gets shifted? SAP S/4HANA Finance Cloud is one of those paradigm shifts. But what does that mean for the CFO who is looking to improve his department’s performance not have his “paradigm shifted”? Recently, I read an article by Jawad Akhtar, IBM’s SAP leader for Pakistan, where he raises this exact issue. In his article, he lays out seven concrete benefits S/4HANA Finance Cloud offers CFOs in search of optimized performance for the finance function (click here to read his article). Let’s dig in!

The benefits S/4HANA Finance Cloud can provide

As Jawad points out in his article, today’s CFO is under constant pressure. Both internally from the business and externally from regulators and shareholders. There’s pressure to get financial closings done on time and correctly. There is also constant pressure to improve strategy, processes, and procedures to produce better bottom-line results. Here are seven benefits S/4HANA Finance Cloud can provide to reduce that pressure by streamlining processes and providing decision support.

  1. Universal journal. This tool combines the features and data from Financial Accounting and Managerial Accounting (old SAP ECC components) to speed up period-end reconciliation and closing. All while using real-time data.
  2. Streamlined reporting. The S/4HANA database table holds all required financial information and uses the power of in-memory computing to generate detailed, real-time reports. This feature also eliminates the need for batch jobs and data replication in other systems, such as business intelligence.
  3. Accelerated financial close. S/4HANA radically redefines the process of preparing monthly, quarterly, biannual or annual financial closes. S/4HANA Finance Cloud provides almost instant visibility on P&L, therefore augmenting your ability to make decisions based on analysis of real-time trends and numbers.
  4. Integrated business planning. Access through a Microsoft Excel-based interface streamlines the financial planning process. Automating the transfer of financial data (e.g., cost center, profit center, internal order and P&L planning) into S/4HANA Finance Cloud simplifies and quickens the process. It also makes real-time reporting and analysis a reality.
  5. New asset accounting. The new asset accounting functionality included in the Finance Cloud platform is also a major step forward. You can now manage parallel valuation of assets via ledgers and accounts. So the days of recording depreciation areas are over. And again, it’s all done in real-time across all valuations.
  6. Cash management. The innovative cash management feature in S/4HANA Finance Cloud can manage bank accounts, short-term cash position, liquidity forecasting, and provide liquidity planning. All using real-time data. The platform provides finance with a toolset that allows you to fine-tune cash management and maximize working capital.
  7. Financial reporting. The new financial reports are one of the most appreciated features of this platform. They are lightning fast and provide access to a comprehensive suite of analytical tools. To quote Jawad, “This feature replaces many of SAP’s traditional drill-down reports that are not only notoriously slow, but also do not dive deep enough to provide in-depth analytics on significant financial key performance indicators.”

Transform your finance function

So there we have it. Seven concrete, real-world benefits S/4HANA Finance Cloud provides to CFO’s considering a move to the cloud. With Jawad’s help, we’ve cut through all the layers of terminology and techno-marketing speak. We’ve laid out seven ways SAP’s public Finance Cloud offering can streamline and supercharge your finance function. These are not minor tweaks or boosts. This is transformation. If you want to see S/4HANA Finance Cloud with your own eyes and see what it can do with your data, click on the graphic below for an accompanied free trial.

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About the author

David Gosselin is an SAP Cloud Solution Advisor for S/4HANA Cloud at Beyond Technologies. Focusing on the financial aspects of the S/4HANA Cloud system, David has developed a strong knowledge and expertise in the professional service industry. Find David on LinkedIn

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