As commerce, accounting methods, and technologies have evolved over the years, the finance function has become increasingly fragmented and dispersed. Mergers, acquisitions, globalization, and other forces at work today can complicate the finance picture for many businesses. Financial data can reside in dozens of systems spread out across multiple countries, all with varying degrees of timeliness and accuracy.

The new vision for finance is one that has been seen as an unachievable ideal: having a single source of truth for financial information. The good news for organizations today is that Central Finance, an innovative deployment option for SAP S/4HANA Finance that replicates financial transactions from SAP and non-SAP systems onto a single instance, can help organizations achieve this vision. However, it’s about more than just plugging in a product. Instead, it’s about using Central Finance as a jumping-off point for rethinking business processes and transforming the role of the finance function.

Beyond a Mere Finance Tool

To embrace the full vision of Central Finance, leaders should identify what parts of finance — and the enterprise as a whole — could benefit from centralization. Central Finance brings transactions onto a single platform for reporting and analytics and has centralizing features that open up a path to shared services, which can lead to greater efficiency across the entire enterprise. Central Finance can also provide a foundation for an even larger transformation powered by SAP S/4HANA. With a single source of truth, organizations can begin using real-time financial data to drive new capabilities through SAP S/4HANA — from delivering new efficiencies for logistics to enhancing customer engagement.

The vision of value also extends to the workforce and third parties. With Central Finance, employees across the enterprise can work faster and more effectively, leveraging automation and advanced tools to get the information they need and to make decisions based on real-time data. More importantly, executives can devote more time to strategy and creating value, and less time to chasing numbers. When it comes to third parties, such as suppliers or banks, Central

Finance provides a single view that organizations can use to improve payment management, take advantage of discounts, and manage relationships more effectively. It provides an entry point to greater communication and collaboration while helping to reduce errors and inefficiencies between the company and its partners.

Extending Your Vision of Value

Because Central Finance taps into the real-time power of SAP HANA, leverages an open-API approach, and creates a common reporting structure with minimal disruption, it’s a capable solution for meeting today’s finance needs. But Central Finance does more than just simplify finance. By viewing Central Finance as just another product, many organizations fail to develop a broader vision of how the offering can transform the enterprise. Its centralizing capabilities, combined with the in-memory technology of SAP S/4HANA, can help organizations move beyond improving finance and instead examine ways to improve the organization as a whole.

How else can you extend your vision of value with Central Finance? A conversation with Deloitte Consulting LLP — an SAP global services partner — can serve as a great first step. Contact us on Twitter at @DeloitteSAP to get the conversation started, or visit us at www.deloitte.com/SAP. 

^{As used in this document, “Deloitte” means Deloitte Consulting LLP, a subsidiary of Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.}