Streamlining Financial Reporting with SAP S/4 HANA Finance

SAP S/4HANA finance has made significant advancements in data handling, allowing companies like Woolworths and Telstra to streamline their financial reporting processes. The platform provides a single source of truth for all financial data, eliminating the need for manual consolidation and reconciliation. With SAP S/4HANA finance, companies can gain real-time insights into their financial performance, making it easier to make informed business decisions.

RESEARCH REPORT
1

Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Analysis......................................................................................................................................3
Historical overview of SAP S/4HANA Finance....................................................................3
Difference between current SAP ERP FICO and SAP S/4HANA Finance...........................5
Benefits of SAP S/4HANA Finance for businesses...............................................................7
Case Studies of companies...................................................................................................10
Conclusion................................................................................................................................11
Reference list............................................................................................................................12
Appendices...............................................................................................................................14
2

Introduction
It is important to evolve with time according to the need of the organization. Every company
needs to be flexible in order to cover the best out of their operational activities. similarly, in
the case of big firms, data are also present in a huge amount. It is not possible to manually
handed the data of the organization efficiently. The major requirement is in the field of
handling the financial data of the organization. It helps in easy reporting of the finical and
operational activities by combining the results of both the activities. It makes the reporting
process east and reliable which is the major demand of the financial reporting of the
companies. It provides analysis on the basis of real-time forecasting and simulation with
significant user experience. This paper will cover the historical analysis of SAP S/4HANA
Finance. The difference between the SAP S/4HANA Finance and the current SAP ERP FICO
will also be discussed in this section. After considering this, the benefits of the SAP
S/4HANA will also be taken into consideration. The case study of the companies who have
adopted this method over any issue will also be discussed. The companies involve
Woolworth and Telstra were the leading business in their respective industries. The summary
of this task will help to get a clear knowledge of the entire task performed so far.
Analysis
Historical overview of SAP S/4HANA Finance
SAP S/4 HANA is turned to be the most effective tool to solve the financial problems of the
organizations. It is a suite if SAP ERP 6.0 which enables you to run on the database of SAP
Hana. SAP Hana finance is one way more advanced than the previous one. It tends to prove
the solution to the financial background of the organizations by dealing with the historical
data also. The comments of the FICO have been integrated into this system. this is being
done to take full advantage of the SAP HANA. The simple version of the SAP finance which
is 1.0 was released in the year 2014 (Walz et al. 2017). This was the optimized version of the
SAP HANA for the business suite. The SAP HANA finance version 2.0 in an integral part of
the SAP S/4 HANA. This was released in the year 2015. SAP HANA finance version 2.0 is a
redesigned successor if the SAP simple finance 1.0. the latest version of the SAP S/4 HANA
is present on the cloud version as well as the recorded successor. [Referred to appendix 1]
3

SAP S/4 HANA is considered to be the part of the S/4 HANA suite. This suite consists s the
constituents if the SAP S/4 HANA. The four components kept by SAP S/4 HANA are:
The core or functional component- SAP provides several enhancements and finance
capabilities which the functional or core part of it. The person needs to be net weaver 7.4 and
version 2.0 of sap gateway. The ECC component or ERP central component 6.0
enhancement package needs to be kept by the user. The SAP HANA 1.0 version could
upgrade to SAP S/4 HANA (Hoang and Ruckes, 2018). The functional upgrade is the SAP
S/4 HANA that is evolved from ECC 6.0 has the capability of the transactional tables.
The user or presentation experience component- GUI component of the SAP Flori based
allows the users to get interact with the major or core component. This is being done by the
under friendly screen known to be the flori. The version which is required for this feature is
7.4 version of the SAP weaver. The version 2.0 of the Sap gateway is also required. The
major thing to note that it is an optional component that could be continued with the GUI
SAP and the business client who is using the net weaver option of the SAP. This provides the
opportunity for the user interface.
The analytics or reporting component- This is the major component under the SAP S/4
HANA. It provides reporting on a real-time basis. This is being done by the pre-packaged
HANA. This enables the live views for the users. This is proved to be the major innovation in
the field of managing real-time information. Users could get connected with the data
providers o the same time. The perquisites that are required for availing this service are SAP
HANA, SAP HANA LIVE 1.0 for SAP ERP (Mathew, 2015). It could be said that it is
optional requirements to get connected with this service of live views.
App component- this is the major component final analyst. This could be said that it is the
collective of the application based on an analytical background. This is needed with regard to
the financial suite. the requirements are from the background of the financial analysts that
need to be required for making the process happen (Nica et al. 2017). The internet connection
and a developed system is required to complete the entire process
SAP S/4 HANA finance version is said to be the power pack version. It is all in one function
of the SAP developed so far. The posting in the several ledgers like a material ledger, CO
and asset accounting has been moved to posting in one ledger. All the ledgers are getting
4

prepared in the ACDOCA. The exceptional case is the analysis of the cost base profit. The
chances of the data redundancy have been mitigated by this integrated process of the SAP.
The duplication of the module of the FI has been removed by the introduction of this system.
The coding block facility is also available for the ACDOCA. The posting of their CO to FI is
the most painful part for the many organizations. This has been removed by the new version
of the SAP that is SAP S/4 HANA (Walz et al. 2017). The reporting is not more being
delayed. This is with the help of the real-time reporting process added by the company. It
helps the company to get rid of the untimely reporting if the financial information. This
happens due to the big management of the data in the posting of the transactions.
Difference between current SAP ERP FICO and SAP S/4HANA Finance
Figure 1: SAP ERP FICO and SAP S/4HANA Finance
(source: self-created)
The evolution process of the SAP has evolved to a great new extent. It has all the features
that are required for business organizations. Apart from this, there has been a certain
difference between the facilities provided to the users. There are many tables that have been
upgraded in the FI/CO. SAP ERP FICO is termed to be the financial accounting and the
controlling proves for the organization. It helps the organization to keep control over the
organizational practice. This is the best option for organizations. It helps to manage the
resources of the organizations. The financial accounting and the controlling process of the
5
SAP S/4HANA Finance
SAP ERP FICO

companies (Prifti et al. 2017). It helps to provide the information to be served in the FI and
CO stores of the module. It is necessary for the organizations as it helps to deal with the same
kind of data entry at the same time. On the other hand, SAP S/4HANA Finance is a
comprehensive plan based in the SAP Hana. It provides the cloud-based facility to the users.
The major user of this facility is the industries that are trying to contact each other on one
single platform. This is the major practice dine in the SAP S/4HANA Finance which is
missing in the SAP ERP FICO. It only deals with the ERP practice under which FI and CO
store the data of the monetary transactions of the company (Hoang and Ruckes, 2018). It is to
take care if the transactions that are necessary to be managed within the organization with
immense care.
Both the process has emerged as the major tool under the SAP. One provides the medium to
store financial transactions. It helps make the monetary transactions of the company. SAP
S/4HANA, on the other hand, is a cloud-based tool that will help to take care of several
things related to the SAP HANA process. It is mainly in terms of the SAP HANA that used to
provide several cloud-based solutions. It is to manage the financial transactions that provide
several solutions for the financial management of the company (Eilers, 2016). it provides the
data models in an innovative way. It solves the problem of the conventional ERP system.
data sprawl, batch latency and process that re driven manually. It provides better stability,
less IT cost and less disruption in financial management. It helps people to develop their
requirements. Therefore, it is important for business organizations to take control of the
financial decisions. Their software is itself developed that it is not disrupted by the small
inventions. It is required for businesses to upgrade the system periodically. It will help their
companies to focus on the several complications that came into the way of business
transactions. It helps to take aces if financial stability of the businesses. Most of the
applications of the business required to be done with proper compliance. This is being served
in both the SAP services. The financial accounting and the controlling process if the
companies. It helps to provide the information to be served in the FI and CO stores of the
module. It is necessary for the organizations as it helps to deal with the same kind of data
entry at the same time (Prifti et al. 2017). On the other hand, SAP S/4HANA Finance is a
comprehensive plan based in the SAP Hana.
Thus, both aspects of the SAP are enough in their background. It provides a way to solve the
problem of the several financial transactions of the company. It will help to solve the several
problems of the organizations. This is the most important criteria in the business background.
6

It serves clients with the required area of knowledge. There are several factors that help the
company to deal with financial reporting with the help of the facilities provided under the
software. There has been continuous development in this practice (Brunswig et al. 2018).
This has helped the companies to take care of the financial stability of their organization.
SAP Fiori is the major innovation under the SAP S/4HANA is an integral part of the
innovation. It helps the companies to interact with the help of the application host. Case
related benefits could also be entertained under this process. This is a major missing un the
SAP ERP FICO. It helps the users to deal with the particular transactions by recording it into
the FI and CI modules. It solves the problem of the conventional ERP system. data sprawl,
batch latency and process that re driven manually. It provides better stability, less IT cost and
less disruption in financial management. It helps people to develop their requirements. There
is a significant impact of using this software (Hamerman et al. 2015). Both are compatible in
their own way and are under friendly also. The end to end process if all the industries could
be performed in a significant way. It helps the organizations to take care of financial
reporting. The delay in financial reporting is not mote a bigger excuse for the companies. All
the confined that there is a support system that could be used to showcase the financial
efficacy of the business. It is the higher value if the SAP software that almost all the bigger
organization attached to it. It is not confined to a particular field. All the industries ate
familiar and with software and are taking advantage. Both the innovation systems are
collectively handling the financial resources of the organization optimally. Their software is
itself developed that it is not disrupted by the small inventions. It is required for businesses to
upgrade the system periodically. It has provided great advantages to the companies. There
could not be any more effective tool than this (Foerster-Metz et al. 2018). organizations like
Coles, Telstra, BHP all ate engaged with this tool to manage their resources in the
organizations. [Referred to appendix 2]
Benefits of SAP S/4HANA Finance for businesses
SAP has been evolved in a very beneficial way. It has all the features that are helping the
accountants to maintain the timeline of the work. It has helped the companies to solve the
problem of delay in financial reporting. It has a very efficient platform to solve the problems
of monetary transactions posting in the ledger. The making of final books of accounts is
being easy for the users of the SAP S/4 HANA. The cloud-based solutions provide easy
transfer of the files. It has made a major contribution to the real-time data maintenance (Al
Oqayyel, 2017). It could be checked on any device. It has helped the industries to solve the
7

maintenance of big data for inventory management. It has helped the companies in
performing the best audit work based on the recording of the financial transactions. The data
model has become very easy. In other words, it could be said that it has become simple that
could be understood by anyone. It has helped in solving the problems of understanding the
several items listed in the model. There is a collective platform for all the major activities in
the business. It will help the companies to solve all the problems in a common platform
(Franke et al. 2019). The benefits of the SAP S/4 HANA are summarized below:
Figure 2: Benefits of SAP S/4HANA Finance for businesses
(source: self-created)
Data handling- It has become very easy for the users to handle data of the companies. It
helps with reducing the data footprint in a huge amount. In other words, it has made
everything simple. Users have found it simple to understand the terms of data modeling. The
online submission of the files has made a list of histories (Adiguzel, 2018). This has helped
the users to get managed with the data footprint. It has provided solutions in handling the data
of the companies. The flow of information within the intra network of the company has
become easier. These are the basic things which have solved the day to day problems of the
companies. There are basic needs that have fulfilled by this upgradation along with major
task handling facilities. There are several things which are now just a dine on a single click
8
Data
handling
Single
platform
Reporting
and business
insights
Advanced
analytics

(Zhang e al. 2019). The advancement in the SAP has made everyone get reliable on the
output of the work done by it.
Single platform- There is a single platform for all the major activities done in financial
management. OLAP and OLTP re in the same single system. This is the major achievement f
this advancement. It has helped the companies in handling in all the major activities
collectively. The major activities could be said as the planning, forecasting, close and
reporting. In other words, it has made the easy the financial reporting of the companies. The
initial step towards financial reporting could be taken from this platform. Along with this, it
solves the problem of handling the same task in several other platforms (Wu et al. 2015).
This means that after taking the step of the handling it was not easy to manage the rest of the
process on the other platforms. The rest process is the closing the final accounts is also not an
easy task. It needs to be done on the same platform if it is not done so it could create a
problem in data handling. Accuracy could not be achieved from the works; therefore, this has
become easy to perform all the task at the same time.
Reporting and business insights- There is instant access for the user to stream data
anywhere and at any place. There is no restriction for the device to be used. It has made the
task easy for the understand to find their solutions at the point of time. There is a basic
requirement for avoiding data access. This was met by the SAP which provides the uses to
handle data anywhere with ease. There is always a reconciled financial process for real-time
financial data analysis. The analysis has made the companies solve the major issues in
reporting at a particular time. The analysis has been made easy ass all the data are available at
the same place (Tan, 2017). This is the major achievement un the real-time handling of the
data available for the study.
Advanced analytics- The decision-making process has been made easy by the SAP S/4
HANA. It has been made easy by the predictions and simulation process which are always
available on a fly. It is all the achievement if the digitization of the work. Users do not have
to travel for making the analysis based on collecting the data from different backgrounds. It
has helped in understanding the problem and providing specific solutions for that particular
problem. It could be said that data handling has become easy that low access to all other
facilities. There are easy development options (Honhon and Pan, 2015). This means that the
cloud-based solution provided to the users. It has managed to seek the advantage of several
tasks. The cloud option is available on the premise only. It serves to be the best feature until
9

this date. It has provided a solution and is helpful in saving the time and cost of the users.
There are hybrid deployment options available to the users. It has sorted the problem of the
data handling in a one-word answer to the major benefits. [Referred to appendix 3]
Case Studies of companies
Figure 3: Case Studies of companies
(source: self-created)
There are many companies who have been involved in using this particular feature, it has
helped the companies to come out of best as financial reporting. It has provided a solution for
the easy data handling process. There is a major requirement of this as big data are not easy
to handle. There is a specific need for this as day by day the competition is increasing. It will
help the companies in making easy access to financial informatics. There are two major
companies that have been involved in using SAP S/4 HANA finance. The companies are
discussed below:
Woolworth- “High performance people strategy” is being achieved by the company after
shifting to SAP S/4 HANA finance. This is the significant company in the retail industry of
Australia, it has managed to evolve from the previous version of the SAP to the all-new SAP
S/4 HANA finance. This was the need of the time for the company handing has become
difficult as it does not serve the cloud-based system to handle the data at any point time. This
has made the company shift to other services. This is the major criterion for shifting to this
10
Woolworth Telstra

service of the SAP. It has made easy access to the data fur the company. There was a
problem with sharing the data within the network of the originations. Woolworth has
managed to take advantage of the SAP S/4 HANA finance. There has been a smart analysis
of the work that could be performed using this advance facility. (Woolworths, 2019)
Telstra- It is the greatest company in the telecommunication sector. The company was facing
the problem of sharing information with several users at the same time. On the other hand,
the OLAP and OLTP were not available in the same system. The movement towards the SAP
S/4 HANA finance has solved all the above-mentioned problems. The clients were also
happy with the real-time reporting of the company. The multidimensional queries of the
company are now solved by the software swiftly. There is an advancement in the data
handling process which was majorly required by the company. the problem is solved in a
single click and is providing an easy to solve the queries of the company. OLTP provides
storing the data in the entity model. This was missing in the OLAP and the combination of
both the platform has made the data handling process easy. There is an advancement in
storing transactions and using it for other purposes. Therefore, it could be said that the all-
new advancement in the SAP has made the company move to the SAP S/4 HANA finance.
(Telstra, 2019)
Conclusion
Thus, it could be concluded that advancement in the data handling process has made the
company to be more reliable on SAP. It has provided al the solutions fur the issues faced by
the company. This has helped the company in handling the major problem of sharing the data
among the users. It is all the achievement if the digitization of the work. Users do not have to
travel for making the analysis based on collecting the data from different backgrounds. It has
helped in understanding the problem and providing a specific solution for that particular
problem. It could be said that data handling has become easy that low access to all other
facilities. Companies like Woolworth and Telstra are being involved in using this facility of
the SAP provided by them. SAP S/4 HANA finance has proved to be the solution for all the
problems faced by the companies in financial reporting. This will help the companies in
handling the major problem of data modeling. It helps to provide the information to be served
in the FI and CO stores of the module. It is necessary for the organizations as it helps to deal
with the same kind of data entry at the same time.
11

12

Reference list
Book
Mathew, B., 2015. Beginning SAP Fiori .UK: Routledge
journals
Adiguzel, Ç., 2018. Building an embedded enterprise performance management solution: an
exploratory case study(Doctoral dissertation), 51(4), pp.662-667.
Al Oqayyel, A.S., 2017. Exploration of logistics information technology (IT) solutions for the
Royal Saudi Naval Force within the Saudi Naval Expansion Program II (SNEP II). Naval
Postgraduate School Monterey United States, 177(2), pp.1197-1217
Brunswig, F., Chatterjee, S., Gayathri, D., Ebner, R., Hebling, N., Goeppert, J.,
Grammatikakis, I., Hall, C., Herter, K., Huester, S. and Jann, F., 2017. Dynamic workflow
assistant with shared application context. U.S. Patent Application 15/362,731.
Eilers, C., 2016. SAP S/4HANA: Neue Funktionen, Einsatzszenarien und Auswirkungen auf
das Finanzberichtswesen. Konzerncontrolling, 2020, pp.183-200.
Foerster-Metz, U.S.F.P. and Golowko, N., 2018. The need for digital and soft skills in the
Romanian business service industry. Management & Marketing, 13(1), pp.831-847.
Franke, J., Crumbach, M., Zhou, H., Liu, H., Mao, W., Nan, L.U.O. and Cen, J., SAP SE,
2019. Flexible organizational hierarchy. U.S. Patent Application 15/794,864.
Hamerman, P.D., Andrews, C., Miller, J. and Glazer, L., 2015. The SaaS ERP Applications
Landscape. Forrester Research, Sept, 5(5), pp.435-445
Hoang, D. and Ruckes, M., 2018. T Course: Financial Intermediation [T-WIWI-
102623]. Module Handbook Information Engineering and Management (B. Sc.), , 34(02),
p.1750007.
Nica, A., Sherkat, R., Andrei, M., Cheng, X., Heidel, M., Bensberg, C. and Gerwens, H.,
2017. Statisticum: Data statistics management in SAP HANA. Proceedings of the VLDB
Endowment, 10(12), pp.1658-1669.
13

Prifti, L., Knigge, M., Löffler, A., Hecht, S. and Krcmar, H., 2017. Emerging Business
Models in Education Provisioning: A Case Study on Providing Learning Support as
Education-as-a-Service. International Journal of Engineering Pedagogy, 7(3), pp.92-108.
Walz, S., Tritschler, J. and Rupp, R., 2017. Expanded management reporting with SAP S /
4HANA on the basis of the Universal Journal: Real-time result reporting with extensive
evaluation options through the further development of financials functionality (No.
164). Contributions of the University of Pforzheim, 19(2), pp.513-544.
Zhang, X., Yue, W.T. and Hui, W., 2019. Software piracy and bundling in the cloud-based
software era. Information Technology & People, 5(5), pp.435-445.
online article
Honhon, D. and Pan, X., 2015. Improving retail profitability by bundling vertically
differentiated products. Working paper, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.
Tan, Y., 2017. Bundling Information Goods: The Case of E-Journals.
Wu, W., Ma, R.T. and Lui, J.C., 2015, April. Exploring bundling sale strategy in online
service markets with network effects. In IEEE INFOCOM 2014-IEEE Conference on
Computer Communications (pp. 442-450). IEEE, 51(4), pp.662-667.
websites
telstra, (2019), about us, available at: http://www.telstra.com.au/, [accessed on 1.05.2019]
woolworths, (2019), about us, available at: http://www.woolworths.com.au/, [accessed on
30.05.2019]
14

Appendices
Appendix 1
(source: https://blogs.sap.com/2017/09/05/hana-s4-hana-suite-on-hana-soh-simple-finance-
s4-hana-finance-lets-have-the-right-wording/)
15

Appendix 2
(Source: https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-SAP-FICO-and-SAP-
HANA-Simple-Finance)
16