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.

109 results

  1. Alex-Hanway

    Securing Finance and ERP Data with Encryption, Tokenization and Key Management

    SAP’s Finance and ERP applications contain some of the most sensitive data in the organization which make them attractive targets for hackers and privileged insiders. Additionally, industry groups and governments often regulate the data in these applications by articulating the level of security organizations must wrap around their sensitive information. In fact, from GDPR to…

  2. Magnitude-insightsoftware deal

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    Reading time: 5 mins

    By Ogo Nwanyanwu, Research Director, SAPinsider   Bas Kamphuis Talks Growth Opportunity for Magnitude after insightsoftware Deal insightsoftware, a provider of financial reporting and performance management solutions, recently closed the acquisition of Magnitude, a global provider of operational reporting and continuous intelligence solutions. The financial terms were not disclosed. The two companies are coming together…...…

  3. OgoNwanyanwu headshot image

    Demand for Cloud-based Finance Technology

    Reading time: 5 mins

    In his article “Complexity Drives Demand for Cloud-based Finance Technology,” SAPinsider’s Research Director Ogo Nwanyanwu shares insights from his latest research and interactions with the SAP finance community. Nwanyanwu explains that transforming core finance functions and moving to cloud-based SAP ERP deployments are top priorities for organizations he surveyed. Pressure to reduce the cost and…

  4. E2E Finance Automation Growth image

    Trintech and Planful Partnership

    Reading time: 3 mins

    by Ogo Nwanyanwu, SAPinsider, Research Director, Financial Management & Technology   Trintech and Planful Announce Strategic Global Partnership Trintech, a financial close automation software company, and Planful, a cloud financial planning & analysis (FP&A) software company, recently announced a strategic global partnership. The agreement provides mid-sized organizations with integrated, automation solutions for end-to-end finance and accounting processes.    Grant Halloran, CEO of Planful, comments on the opportunity with Trintech, “This…

  5. Are We There Yet – or Not? Strategies for driving and supporting finance automation with SAP S/4HANA

    The move to SAP S/4HANA has motivated many organizations to reexamine their current portfolio of highly customized and inefficient processes. Many are considering a combination of standardization and automation to take their processes to the next level especially in the finance function which historically incudes many repetitive tasks. This session will explore how SAP S/4HANA…

  6. Tips and tricks to ease SAP S/4HANA Finance migration challenges

    Your SAP S/4HANA Finance budget is approved, but are you ready to start your SAP S/4HANA Finance project? Are your existing processes consistent for you to successfully migrate? Understand the key data objects (such as customers/vendors, consistent items and balances, consistent FICO setup and more) that you need for clean and safe transition. Attend this…

  7. Tips and Tricks to Ease SAP S/4HANA Finance Migration Challenges

    Your SAP S/4HANA Finance budget is approved, but are you ready to start your SAP S/4HANA Finance project? Is your existing data consistent enough for you to successfully migrate? Understand the key data objects (including customers/vendors, consistent items and balances, and consistent FICO setup) that you need for a clean and safe transition. By attending,…

  8. The State of the Market of Financial Management

    Join this session to hear the latest results and analysis from SAPinsider's Head of Research on the state of the art of financial management and SAP's feedback. Learn from Martin Naraschewski about how SAP innovations are helping customers transform their finance functions – and how the powerful insights finance can provide can help steer businesses…

  9. SAP Solution Roadmap for Supporting Financial Management

    The state-of-the-art financial management applications are always evolving with the availability of new technologies. Join this session to learn about the key areas of investment and innovation for the SAP engineering team, across the record-to-report and financial planning and analysis processes in SAP S/4HANA. Understand how the latest solutions related to SAP S/4HANA (Group Reporting,…

  10. Drive Optimized Planning & Analysis powered by SAP S/4HANA and SAP Analytics Cloud

    Financial Planning and Analysis is one of the biggest pain points of SAP customers according to recent SAPinsider research, and is also one of the largest areas of investment that organizations are undertaking, as they realize how critical this discipline is to their overall success. Attend this interactive session to gain an understanding of how…