Real Time Consolidated Financial Reporting
Using SAP Consolidation to prepare a concern’s consolidated financial statements is generally a long and protracted undertaking. For each reporting date, the relevant data must first be extracted from the individual vouchers on the various upstream ERP systems, harmonized and then exported to a separate consolidation tool for reconciliation. This is not only time-consuming, but data quality diminishes and has to be restored in lengthy reconciliation loops. Moreover, companies lack the necessary agility to create e.g. reports with management-relevant, group-wide consolidated financial data at short notice.
The SAP S/4HANA for Group Reporting solution revolutionizes SAP Consolidation by enabling consolidated financial statements to be prepared directly in the operational ERP system, thereby making system breaks a thing of the past. Moreover, direct access to all relevant voucher data now means that, for the first time, consolidated financial statements can be prepared in a single system in real time. Companies are also able to establish a centralized financial system with a uniform data model as a single point of truth, thus eliminating the need for redundant data storage and significantly reducing the overheads associated with maintaining the master data.
Are you looking for a suitable solution for your consolidation requirements? Book an appointment for a free workshop now!
SAP Consolidation 4.0: Continuous Accounting Process
By integrating Group Reporting into SAP S/4HANA, SAP Consolidation is no longer an isolated process for preparing consolidated financial statements, but rather an extension of the individual financial statement process at Group level. As the final component in preparing the monthly financial statements, the consolidation runs as a sub-process of the overall financial statement process (continuous accounting), with data integration, validation and currency translation occurring non-stop, end-to-end in SAP S/4HANA. Additionally to this, the system allows the elimination of all intercompany (IC) information as well as the preparation of consolidated financial statements in parallel with the individual financial statements.
SAP S/4HANA for Group Reporting offers automated rule- and event-based consolidation of investments and IC elimination as well as management consolidation (matrix consolidation). Its connectivity with SAP S/4HANA Finance ensures end-to-end harmonized master data, while its integrated reporting features allows ad hoc analyses and evaluations of the individual and consolidated financial statements.
Intelligent Control Based on Constantly Consolidated Data
SAP S/4HANA for Group Reporting allows companies to enjoy the advantages of a fully integrated system. Besides high data quality and the expedited preparation of consolidated financial statements, they can also retrieve up-to-date, group-wide consolidated figures at any time and use the drill-through function to access details of accounting vouchers from within the consolidation group. All this provides for transparency and intelligibility down to the voucher level of the individual financial statements, and is facilitated by the uniform Fiori user interface that supports users through its intuitive, ergonomic design.
SAP S/4HANA for Group Reporting is a leap forward for companies seeking a platform-based IT landscape. It allows them to manage and immediately access constantly up-to-date, consolidated data, thereby improving their decision making and furthering intelligent group management.
Choosing the Right Consolidation Solution
Many companies ask themselves which tool is best suited to their individual consolidation needs. SAP S/4HANA for Group Reporting lends itself as an attractive option, especially in the context of, or following, a SAP S/4HANA implementation. The reason for this is simple: The group reporting functionality is already integrated into the SAP S/4HANA installation, thereby avoiding additional implementation overheads. Also, as SAP’s strategic solution for the future, SAP Group Reporting will foreseeably replace all of SAP’s legacy consolidation tools – such as SAP EC-CS, SAP SEM-BCS, and SAP BPC – whose support and maintenance will end in 2027. SAP S/4HANA for Group Reporting is available as a cloud model or as an on-premises version.
Comprehensive Consulting for SAP Consolidation
You’re looking for the right solution for your consolidation needs? You want to optimally coordinate all aspects of SAP S/4HANA and SAP Group Reporting when developing your IT roadmap? Get in touch with us! As experts for intelligent end-to-end processes, valantic will advise you on all questions concerning SAP Consolidation and your implementation scenarios. Our specialist consultants will introduce the various options for SAP Consolidation in detail, support your decision-making, and design and implement your entire financial statement process.
