Better Financial Close with GROW with SAP

Mark Panley

Tis the Season for a Better Financial Close

As the year draws to a close, many businesses are gearing up for the annual challenge of closing the books. For many, this time of year is less about holiday cheer and more about long hours, tedious manual processes, and constant rework.

This year, make the financial close season smoother and more efficient with a gift that keeps on giving – GROW with SAP. As a powerful public cloud solution, GROW with SAP enables companies to accelerate their financial close by streamlining processes, automating tasks, and enhancing collaboration across teams. Here’s how it can help you close the books faster and with greater ease:

1. Automation of Repetitive Tasks

Rather than spend hours on mundane administrative tasks, GROW with SAP helps users automate key processes, so they can deliver quality results faster. For example, GROW with SAP can automate the creation and posting of journal entries, reducing manual data entry and minimizing errors to speed up the reconciliation and closing process. Additionally, the system can automatically validate data, ensuring entries are accurate before they’re posted, reducing time spent on error correction.

2. Real-time Data Access

With SAP’s cloud-based platform, all financial data is stored in a single, integrated system, making it easier to access and consolidate data from different business units or systems in real time. This unified data access, along with real-time reporting capabilities, empowers financial teams with faster decision-making and eliminates the need for time-consuming manual adjustments at the end of the period.

3. Cloud-based Collaboration Tools

GROW with SAP promotes collaboration between different departments such as finance, accounting, and operations by offering shared access to real-time data and reports. This reduces bottlenecks and allows teams to address issues and discrepancies as they arise, not at the end of the period. It also drives collaboration, productivity, and business results. In addition, the cloud environment enables seamless workflows between departments, making it easier to handle tasks like reconciliation, intercompany transactions, and approval processes, speeding up the close.

4. Pre-built Financial Close Tools

GROW with SAP provides pre-configured tools, such as the “Financial Close Cockpit,” which helps manage and track the entire financial close process. This allows teams to monitor progress in real time, identify any potential roadblocks, and manage deadlines more effectively. SAP can also automate and schedule closing tasks such as the posting of accruals, intercompany reconciliation, and period-end closings, ensuring they’re completed in a timely manner without delays.

5. Advanced Analytics and Reporting

GROW with SAP comes with embedded analytics that allow financial teams to instantly access insights and key performance indicators (KPIs), reducing the time spent generating reports manually. The system also provides pre-built reports that can be customized to meet the needs of specific stakeholders.

6. Integration with Other SAP and Non-SAP Systems

GROW with SAP integrates seamlessly with other SAP solutions and third-party systems. This is critical to ensure data from across the organization is synchronized – a key element in reducing errors and delays in the close process. GROW with SAP can also integrate across modules like SAP S/4HANA (SAP’s next-generation enterprise resource planning system), SAP SuccessFactors (human resources), SAP Ariba (procurement), and others to ensure financial data is consistent and accurate, eliminating the need for manual data imports or cross-system checks.

7. Reduced IT Overhead

Because GROW with SAP is hosted on the cloud, there is no need for on-premises infrastructure or extensive IT maintenance. This reduces the burden on internal IT teams and allows companies to focus on financial close activities rather than system management.

8. Compliance with Latest Regulations

With regular updates, SAP ensures the software remains compliant with the latest regulations, tax changes, and industry best practices, reducing the need for manual adjustments. Additionally, the system can automatically ensure compliance with local and global accounting standards (like International Financial Reporting Standards and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles), minimizing the need for manual checks and reducing the risk of delays due to compliance issues.

9. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)

GROW with SAP incorporates AI and ML in predictive analytics functionality to identify trends and anomalies in financial data, helping companies to proactively address issues during the close process. Additionally, AI-driven processes can automate complex accounting tasks, such as matching invoices to purchase orders or categorizing transactions, further reducing manual effort during the close.

10. Faster Financial Reporting

The bottom line is, with real-time data access, automation, and embedded analytics, companies can generate financial reports faster, ensuring that the financial close process is more efficient and accurate.

GROW with SAP transforms the financial close process by automating routine tasks, providing real-time insights, fostering cross-department collaboration, and leveraging advanced analytics and AI tools. This enables organizations to close their books more quickly, with greater accuracy, and with minimal manual effort, resulting in more timely and informed financial reporting.

Let Navisite, part of Accenture, help you assess and implement GROW with SAP for your business, and start the new year with a financial close process that’s more efficient, accurate, and future-ready. Contact us today.