ERP Transformation Is Moving Deeper Into the CFO’s Office

ERP transformation used to have a relatively clear division of labor. IT owned the program, business teams provided requirements, and finance approved the budget.

That model is harder to sustain as ERP and analytics systems carry more of the work behind finance decision-making. Finance teams now depend on these platforms to steer performance, not only to process transactions or produce reports.

This shift gives CFOs a larger role in transformation design. They need to define how finance should steer the business before those decisions are translated into systems. Horváth’s Financial Excellence practice reflects that connection, combining CFO advisory, finance process design, organization, and systems implementation.

Finance Systems Shape Decision-Making

Finance teams need forecasts that can adjust as market conditions change, liquidity views that give leaders time to act, and reporting that connects financial performance with operational decisions. Those demands are difficult to meet when critical processes still depend on spreadsheets and disconnected tools.

When Dräger, the German medical and safety technology group, engaged Horváth to modernize its finance operations, Group Controlling was managing an 18-month liquidity forecast through an Excel-based solution. The limitations were structural: limited transparency, no scenario simulation, and a planning process that consumed resources without producing the visibility modern liquidity management requires.

Horváth and Dräger implemented a rolling indirect cash flow and balance sheet forecast in SAP Analytics Cloud. The change delivered automated cash flow and balance sheet planning, increased transparency, and the ability to simulate scenarios proactively — outcomes that become difficult to sustain when critical finance processes remain spreadsheet-dependent.

The Dräger case points to a wider finance transformation pattern. Many organizations have outgrown manual planning processes but have not yet moved to integrated, system-driven financial management. That transition is becoming more urgent as SAP BW 7.5 exits mainstream maintenance on December 31, 2027, with extended maintenance available only until December 31, 2030, at additional cost.

For organizations that have not defined their next-generation finance, data, and analytics platform, that deadline is now part of the active planning horizon.

The Steering Model Comes Before Implementation

The CFO’s expanded role in transformation creates a sequencing challenge. Technology programs often move into system selection and implementation before finance has defined the strategic and organizational work the system needs to support.

That is where transformation scope can narrow too quickly. ERP and analytics programs may begin with ambitions around better steering, faster planning, and stronger performance management, then drift toward configuration, deadlines, and technical delivery. The result can be a modernized platform that still carries the old operating logic.

Horváth’s work with Merck, the global science and technology company, shows a different sequence. The engagement centered on LEAP, a best-practice initiative designed to establish what Horváth calls a High-Impact Culture in financial management. The goal was to give managers new processes and tools for market agility, flexible resource allocation, unbiased forecasting, and stronger focus on relevant business projects and initiatives.

That example gives the sequencing argument a practical form. Finance transformation starts with how the organization wants to manage value, allocate resources, and steer performance. System work then has a clearer job: encode that model rather than preserve the habits the transformation was meant to change.

Risk, Compliance, and Planning Need a Shared Foundation

Finance transformation also changes how companies manage risk and compliance.

CFOs are being asked to protect liquidity and cost discipline while supporting digitalization, automation, and AI investment. That expands finance’s role beyond financial control. It has to help the business understand uncertainty, allocate resources, and decide where automation can improve performance without weakening governance.

Horváth’s Risk & Compliance work fits into that broader finance agenda. The firm focuses on risk and compliance frameworks, process design, organizational structures, and the use of automation, analytics, and AI to support risk-based performance management. Its CoRi Business Confidence Dashboard gives that argument a technology expression, using AI-supported analytics to help turn risk data into management insight.

Risk and compliance now depend on the same data foundations and management processes that shape planning, reporting, controls, and liquidity management. CFOs who treat those areas separately may modernize individual functions while leaving the enterprise without a shared model for managing uncertainty.

That is where Horváth’s Financial Excellence practice connects back to the larger transformation question. CFO strategy, planning, systems, and risk all shape how finance steers the business. Treating them as one management problem gives technology programs a clearer model to implement.

What This Means for SAPinsiders

• CFO governance now starts before configuration. Once finance logic is embedded in ERP and analytics systems, it becomes harder to change without operational disruption. CFOs need earlier control over design decisions because technology governance is increasingly finance governance.
• Spreadsheet replacement is a leadership signal. Moving from manual planning to integrated finance systems shows whether the organization is ready to manage performance continuously. The harder change is behavioral: getting teams to trust shared data, common workflows, and scenario-based decisions.
• Risk data is becoming planning data. Risk and compliance information can no longer remain separate from performance management when uncertainty affects liquidity, investment, and resource allocation. Finance teams that connect those data streams can respond faster without treating governance as a reporting afterthought.