SAP S/4HANA Finance


What is SAP S/4HANA Finance?

Initially released in 2014, SAP S/4HANA Finance is the core financial solution for SAP customers, designed to leverage the SAP Fiori user interface and in-memory computing power of HANA. Previously referred to as SAP Simple Finance and SAP ERP Financials, SAP S/4HANA Finance provides multiple innovations, such as the Universal Journal single source of truth, allowing organizations to streamline financial processes, with real-time updates and reporting, across a simplified data model for storing financial and managerial accounting information.

What is SAP S/4HANA Finance?

Initially released in 2014, SAP S/4HANA Finance is the core financial solution for SAP customers, designed to leverage the SAP Fiori user interface and in-memory computing power of HANA. Previously referred to as SAP Simple Finance and SAP ERP Financials, SAP S/4HANA Finance provides multiple innovations, such as the Universal Journal single source of truth, allowing organizations to streamline financial processes, with real-time updates and reporting, across a simplified data model for storing financial and managerial accounting information.

Many SAP ERP customers utilize SAP S/4HANA to manage core business functions that enable timely and accurate financial operations and reporting, such as accounting and finance, financial planning and analysis, financial risk management, and risk and compliance management. SAP S/4HANA Finance is a powerful and versatile system that can be deployed in multiple ways to suit your organization’s needs.

Key features of SAP S/4HANA Finance include:

  • Unified real-time data model for storing all finance-related information
  • Enhanced financial closing capability
  • Centralization of account payables and account receivables
  • Predictive accounting
  • Embedded analytics

Key Considerations for SAPinsiders 

Start thinking about your SAP S/4HANA Finance journey now. In 2027, SAP expects to cease all new development for the core ERP and sunset support, requiring organizations to transition to S/4HANA Finance. Organizations that have yet to make the move to SAP S/4HANA Finance need to begin planning and develop a viable roadmap or risk falling behind their peers.

Reduce compliance risks by properly archiving financial information prior to SAP S/4HANA Finance transition. The size of your financial database directly impacts both the complexity and cost, which often leads to long timelines for moving everything over as well potential compliance risks that need addressing before they can be done. Achieve a high level of data protection by archiving critical financial information before it impacts performance, cost, or availability. Evaluate requirements for data cleanup to transfer historical data securely.

Leverage Central Finance in transition to SAP S/4HANA Finance as an opportunity to optimize core finance functions.Consolidating data from multiple sources and creating a single summary of the information is difficult. Central Finance can make this process easier, as it simplifies everything into one easily accessible place for greater visibility. Organizations can empower SAP S/4HANA Finance modules, applications, and extensions end-to-end with more accessible financial information.

107 results

  1. intercompany operations

    Strategies for Success: SAP S/4HANA Summit Key Takeaways

    Reading time: 1 mins

    The SAP S/4HANA Summit 2023 provided an immersive educational experience for SAP end-users to explore key topics and ideas on SAP S/4HANA finance, platform and technology. Whether you are just starting planning for the move to S/4HANA, speaking with consultants about change management or are in the weeds of data transfers, this event gave valuable…
  2. intercompany operations

    Strategies for Success: SAP S/4HANA Summit Key Takeaways

    November 30, 2023

    The SAP S/4HANA Summit 2023 provided an immersive educational experience for SAP end-users to explore key topics and ideas on SAP S/4HANA finance, platform and technology. Whether you are just starting planning for the move to S/4HANA, speaking with consultants about change management or are in the weeds of data transfers, this event gave valuable…
  3. Enable a Successful Move to SAP S/4HANA with Smart Close

    October 24, 2023

    Moving to SAP S/4HANA is a strategic decision for most organizations and a key component of a broader digital transformation. Finance and accounting expertise is critical to success, yet many F&A teams struggle tofind adequate resources to support, as traditional financial close and compliance responsibilities, coupled withother demands on their time, limit capacity. In this…
  4. Hilti’s Journey to S/4HANA with Serrala’s AR Automation

    October 25, 2023

    In this webinar Hilti Group will delve into their remarkable experience in optimizing the most critical AR (Accounts Receivable) process during the transition to SAP S/4HANA. This will be a unique opportunity to learn how Hilti used Serrala’s automation to take their AR process to the next level while also completing the largest, single day,…
  5. on-premise

    Enhancing Financial Operating Efficiency with Finance4U Regulatory Accounting and Reporting on SAP S/4HANA

    Reading time: 3 mins

    Organizations that work in industries that face the burden of heavy regulations face an uphill battle in their day-to-day business. These companies, spanning industries such as utilities, energy, telecommunications, and railways, face ever-increasing borrowing costs, which increases the costs for asset construction. This also makes it more complicated for these companies to maintain target rates…
  6. The Future of Finance

    Emmaleigh spoke about the evolution, and more excitingly, the future of finance departments. She also discussed how finance teams can transform from ‘keeping the lights on’ to delivering the necessary insights for efficient business steering, and how managers can enable and empower the future generation of accountants. As well as discussing the transformation of finance…
  7. S/4HANA Finance

    Webinar: End of Maintenance Drives Next Wave of SAP S/4HANA Adoption

    May 03, 2023

    Findings from our SAP S/4HANA Finance and Central Finance benchmark report point to significant surge in SAP S/4HANA adoption is already underway, fueled by the end of maintenance. This webinar will provide key data points and insights into how this wave of adoption impacts SAP customers. This content is for SAPinsider Premium Access members only.Log…
  8. Association-rule mining

    Empowering FP&A Teams: Building a Culture of Analytics for Adapting to the ‘New Normal’

    Reading time: 1 mins

    For organizations, the definition of ‘normal’ is constantly changing. Access to data is no longer enough for organizations. Organizations need to convert data into insights to create enough knowledge to make better, faster, and smarter decisions. However, traditional data analytics methodology, forecasting, and scenario planning are rendered useless by the pace of change that the…
  9. customization

    Customizations Challenge SAP S/4HANA Finance Adoption

    Reading time: 3 mins

    Data from our recent research on SAP S/4HANA Finance and Central Finance shows SAPinsider organizations increasingly recognize the potential benefits of SAP S/4HANA Finance, and we expect to see continued adoption in the coming years. SAP S/4HANA Finance offers many advantages over traditional SAP ERP financial accounting and reporting methods, including improved accuracy, transparency, and…...…
  10. SAP S/4HANA Finance and Central Finance State of the Market 2022 Research

    SAP S/4HANA Finance and Central Finance: State of the Market 2022 Research

    May 23, 2022

    As the operating environment grows more complex, it becomes even more important to have a clear and well-defined strategy for finance and accounting innovation. Our research shows that finance and accounting teams are accelerating their embrace of innovation. We found implementation increased across all technologies that support finance and accounting strategy, relative to our 2021…...…