Processes for financial accounting and controlling become more complex and intricate each year. Long gone are the days of paper filing and manual paperwork, mainframe computing, and early ERP systems. Even today’s fully cloud-based ERP systems are barely sufficient to handle the needs of evolving business practices, competitive global markets, and new AI and blockchain technologies. That’s why experienced SAP FICO Architects like
The Challenge of Integration
SAP finance module integration is certainly not as simple as flipping a switch. With over twenty years of experience in SAP FICO, Parveen Singh has found that most major bottlenecks occur in general ledger reconciliations and data conversion, a topic he has written about extensively, including in
In two decades of helping companies automate their financial accounting and controlling processes, Singh has found that companies frequently see a high rate of financial reconciliation errors before migrating their data into an integrated SAP FICO system. This is especially the case for businesses still relying on a functional yet inefficient hodgepodge of obsolete manual systems and various software applications that do not communicate with each other.
In one such case, Singh found that before data migration, 15% of the company’s total financial transactions contained reconciliation errors. Shockingly, different balances appeared in three places in the company’s records: the general ledger, accounts payable, and accounts receivable.
“Most of these errors required considerable time to detect and rectify,” Singh notes, “while they undermined the credibility of the financial reports produced by the legacy system.”
How FICO Bottlenecks Cost Companies
These inefficiencies meant that financial reports were not always delivered on time, and personnel hours were wasted adjusting the numbers for month-end close. Besides the cost of personnel hours and the delays in reporting, the high error rate meant that executives could not always be confident in the accuracy of their financial data. This led senior management to question whether they could make informed decisions. In a competitive and rapidly changing market, this lack of confidence can be a critical weakness.
One additional hidden cost of an unintegrated system is the IT expenditure required to keep outdated legacy systems running. A company cannot afford to let a system that houses crucial financials crash, but each year, the cost of maintaining the system grows. In one case, Singh found that a full quarter of the firm’s IT budget was allocated to maintaining legacy systems. In situations like this, the cost of outdated systems reduces the company’s ability to invest in technology infrastructure and future growth.
How SAP FICO Makes a Difference
Moving to an automated FICO solution solves these bottlenecks in several ways. First, it streamlines financial operations—especially accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, and financial reporting—so that a business can automate its invoicing, payments, and reconciliations. This reduces the cost of both time and human error. Second, the business realizes cost savings through the reduction of the number of tasks required and the amount of separate paperwork and approvals needed.
Third, real-time preparation of more accurate reports provides the executive team with the business intelligence needed to act. This allows the company to manage cash flows, evaluate profitability, and optimize how it allocates its resources. It also allows for more strategic planning and forecasting.
Fourth, sharing data seamlessly across departments makes meaningful collaboration both more possible and more likely. Fifth, an automated FICO solution improves compliance. Sixth, it supports seamless global operations, automating currency exchange, tax reporting in varied jurisdictions, and consolidation of financial statements from geographically dispersed subsidiary firms.
The Need for Expertise
Such situations leave companies in a catch-22. They increasingly need to upgrade their systems and move to an automated FICO solution, but they don’t necessarily know how to manage that integration and data migration effectively.
Selecting the right architect can be crucial. Ideally, a company needs an SAP FICO or similar professional with extensive experience in general ledger reconciliation and resolving data conversion bottlenecks. Parveen Singh Hoshiar Singh, with experience in finance, treasury, and FP&A, has managed many such integrations over the years and has established himself as a leader in SAP finance automation.
