Process – e.g. Monthly Fixed Asset Calculations  including NBV of Assets and monthly posting of depreciation to the P&L Account. E.g. manual line by line calculation with the use of spread sheets – SAP allows automated calculation to be completed.

 

System – i.e. whereas separate business units /subsidiaries were using different accounts with SAP you create a standard chart of accounts (with some exceptions due to country or market  variations. The format of Purchase Orders used for Requisitioning changes and the business has to adapt to the new formats.

 

Cultural /Change Management – e.g. whereas a business units used to have a certain amount of autonomy for example for stock valuations and NBV of Assets and payment of Vendors and dealing with any mismatches,  now there will be the creation of a central Financial Shared Service Centre that will undertake these activities on behalf of the different business areas/units.

Another example to stop the creation of retrospective PO creation – which has benefits in terms of viewing company spend in any area.

 

How financial transformation looks practically

​

Some practical examples of the changes finance teams can expect from finance transformation include:

​

• Your finance processes and systems are standardised to avoid error and increase efficiency. (e.g. Month end Stock and Asset Valuations)

• Your month-end reporting becomes automated, instead of a week or more spent creating a board pack. 

• Further automation across business functions will ensure cost-saving opportunities across your departments.

• Collaboration across the team becomes far easier: you're equipped with a centralised finance data hub which enables collaboration.

• Opportunities to operate as a remote team – this means potentially lower wages and more savvy payroll planning.

​​

Companies need a quick, reliable and thorough service. Their team requires training, on boarding, consultation and a ‘people element’ which is often missing from finance transformation offers – it’s a change in attitude as well as a physical process.

​

Who needs to look at finance transformation processes?

 

It’s impossible to give a closed answer to this question: there is no specific industry, size or budget that should make one company think about finance transformation more than another. It’s common for SMEs to think they’re too small for finance transformation and that it’s a domain for larger enterprises. Rather, it comes down to factors such as:

​

• The current day-to-day running of your business

• How you regulate workload across the month

• The accuracy and efficiency of your reporting tools

• How easily your team shares data and collaborates together

• The physical and mental wellbeing of you and your staff.

​​

The misconception about budget and who finance transformation “is right for” is a question Edge Consulting are asked time and time again.

In terms of the SAP Systems Required for Finance transformations there are numerous areas that a business can opt to bring on board from the more general areas of SAP i.e. Financial Accounting (that focuses on the statutory aspects of finance) the preparation of the final set of accounts that a company is legally obliged to prepare.

​

Controlling which looks at the internal aspects of the financial process i.e. Budgeting and forecasting of different areas of the business in the form of cost and profit centres.

​

Materials Management which looks at the procurement to payment process, from inventory through final invoice receipt and verification.

 

Sales and Distribution which looks at managing customer relationship starting from raising a quotation to sales order and billing of the product or service.

 

Project Systems – looks at the complete management of projects in a company including budgeting , forecasting , procurement and settlement of project costs via the creation of an asset and its subsequent depreciation (Capitalisation)  or expensed to a cost centre (Opex).

 

Business Intelligence the tools and processes used to analyse and report on data from different heterogeneous data sources. SAP Business Warehouse (BW) integrates data from different sources, transforms and consolidates the data, does data cleansing, and storing of data as well. Using the most up to date front end tools such as Analysis for Microsoft Office which is a Microsoft Office Add-In that allows users to slice dice data to assist in the decision making process .

 

To the more specialised SAP system areas such as Flexible Real Estate which helps a business manage buying, selling, leasing or renting land or buildings from a Landlord or Tenant view point.

 

Edge consulting have had numerous years of experience of the above areas of SAP which all come with integration touch points with one another.

 

Edge consulting do not just focus on the technologies that can help transform a business we also have numerous years of experience with dealing with the change management and training aspects of any Finance Transformation process which are arguably as important if not more so than the systems being implemented .

​

Finance Transformation

 

This encompasses managing end to end changes within an organisation across processes, systems and business culture with the use of SAP Technologies.

 

When most people define finance transformation, they think about technology. There's a popular move towards consultancies  claiming that it’s a combination of new technology and a process overhaul, but what isn’t always clear is the kind of services offered to train teams and help them engage with these changes.

 

Transformation doesn’t come from technology alone

 

Many consultancies  claim to offer finance transformation, but what this often means is that they’ll sell you the technologies to update your internal finance systems, without the operations training that your team requires. Without enabling strategic change, this means that businesses might have spent a lot of their budget on the latest technology, without actually being provided with a complete roadmap to transform their systems. They often don’t feel the benefit of their investment.