---

SAP ERP customers, take note: If you install SAP S/4HANA Finance but keep running your accounting practices as before, you´ll be missing out.

---

... Foreword ... 15

... Preface ... 17

... Objective of This Book ... 17

... How to Read This Book ... 18

... Acknowledgments ... 23

... Introduction ... 25

... The Changing Role of Finance ... 26

... Finance with SAP ... 37

... Summary ... 48

1 ... The Universal Journal: Designing a Steering Model for the Business ... 49

1.1 ... Designing a Steering Model for Your Business ... 50

1.2 ... The Universal Journal ... 55

1.3 ... Reporting Dimensions in Detail ... 61

1.4 ... Extending the Steering Model ... 79

1.5 ... Changing the Steering Model ... 83

1.6 ... Summary ... 87

2 ... Local and Global Accounting: Changing Organizational Structures to Satisfy Various Requirements ... 89

2.1 ... Controlling and Global Business Management ... 91

2.2 ... Accounting and Local Business Management ... 104

2.3 ... Global Value Chains and Local Reporting ... 108

2.4 ... Summary ... 117

3 ... From Products to Services: Unifying Approaches to Controlling and Financial Operations ... 119

3.1 ... Industry Solutions and SAP S/4HANA ... 120

3.2 ... Controlling ... 122

3.3 ... Financial Operations ... 131

3.4 ... Summary ... 147

4 ... Financial Process Optimization: Standardizing and Automating Processes ... 149

4.1 ... Rethinking Business Processes ... 150

4.2 ... Automating Finance Processes ... 163

4.3 ... Redesigning Applications ... 174

4.4 ... Summary ... 182

5 ... SAP Fiori and Live Data: Merging Transactional and Analytics Data ... 183

5.1 ... What Is SAP Fiori? ... 184

5.2 ... First Steps in SAP Fiori ... 187

5.3 ... Using a Virtual Data Model to Access Live Data ... 203

5.4 ... SAP Fiori and the Intelligent Enterprise ... 219

5.5 ... Summary ... 221

6 ... Key Figures for Operational Reporting: Measuring Financial Performance ... 223

6.1 ... Driving Insight to Action ... 224

6.2 ... Using Semantic Tags to Link Accounts with Key Figures ... 231

6.3 ... Redesigning for 360-Degree Reporting ... 238

6.4 ... Summary ... 246

7 ... Real-Time Financial Close: Providing Timely Information ... 247

7.1 ... Improving the Hard Close ... 248

7.2 ... New Approaches for a Soft Close ... 258

7.3 ... Summary ... 280

8 ... Predictive Accounting: Providing Forward-Looking Insights ... 281

8.1 ... Accounting for Incoming Sales Orders ... 285

8.2 ... Accounting for Statistical Sales Conditions ... 295

8.3 ... Commitment Accounting for Purchase Orders ... 299

8.4 ... Summary ... 301

9 ... Unified Planning Model: Moving from Financial Budgeting to Driver-Based Forecasting ... 303

9.1 ... Moving toward a Unified Planning Model ... 306

9.2 ... SAP Analytics Cloud for Planning ... 313

9.3 ... SAP BPC for SAP S/4HANA ... 319

9.4 ... Planning for the Operational Processes ... 327

9.5 ... Summary ... 341

10 ... Asset Accounting: Making Real-Time Postings for Multiple Accounting Principles ... 343

10.1 ... New Data Structure in Asset Accounting ... 344

10.2 ... Key Figures for Asset Accounting ... 355

10.3 ... Asset Accounting and Controlling ... 357

10.4 ... Summary ... 363

11 ... Inventory Accounting: Simplifying Material Valuation, Production Cost Analysis, and Actual Costing ... 365

11.1 ... New Data Structure in Inventory Accounting ... 366

11.2 ... Production Cost Analysis ... 379

11.3 ... New Data Structure in Actual Costing ... 388

11.4 ... Summary ... 393

12 ... Group Reporting: Producing Consolidated Financial Statements ... 395

12.1 ... Consolidation Solutions ... 396

12.2 ... Group Reporting Dimensions ... 405

12.3 ... Consolidation Data Sources ... 410

12.4 ... Summary ... 413

13 ... Cash Management: Improving Cash Operations ... 415

13.1 ... Bank Account Management ... 417

13.2 ... Cash Operations ... 420

13.3 ... Liquidity Management ... 427

13.4 ... Summary ... 435

14 ... Tax and Legal Reporting: Ensuring Compliance with Key Requi

---