Benefits of ERP for the Financial Area

At this time, the main motivation of some companies for choosing ERP is to achieve an improvement in the management of their financial area. Sometimes they rush into the decision without taking into consideration the real contribution of the implementation in relation to the benefits that may provide this section with.

The Field

The high complexity and competitiveness of the market, due to continuous changes in a global environment, requires efficiency and effectiveness in the management of companies. To guarantee minimum levels of profitability it is necessary to contribute with creativity new ways to succeed. The first issue that needs to be understood in this context is the bi-directional relationship of the different areas and processes of the company. If only the financial indexes are considered, it will not reflect the reality. Nowadays team work is required which includes the planning and administrative functions of all the corporate areas.

The use of ERP in the Financial Department is a great way to maintain the accounting updated in a reliable and precise way. As the centre of the financial activities of the system, the General Accounting helps to capture and integrate the transactions made inside the module, allowing you to see the influence in financial terms over the enterprise as a joint system.

Features

The system allows the use of measure units in accountable motions. The register of entry of the Daily are displayed in a complete way. It allows you to record the entries on annual closed terms and to block package entries. This function permits that two users work in different entries in the same accounting package. The MS-Excel is a commonly used source, and ERP provides security in the access of the use macros; through the use of an MS-Excel book it is possible to connect to different companies, and through one single electronic page you can connect to different databases.

In order to maintain a proper order and record of all the activities, all the details related to audits include information regarding who made an entry and when, as well as who created and modified the last time. To make simpler the display according to the needs, there is the option of filtering the details by date of entry. It also is compatible with Microsoft Excel for generating financial status.

One of the general worries of potential users is how to avoid the deletion by mistake with details important for the running. Consequently, you can program it to block the modification of details from auxiliary accounts.

Since the global economy is a generality, the program has the feature to handle double currency, with automatic and flexible conversion. Furthermore, balances could be generated in both currencies.

This system does not require special closing, which allows you to introduce retrospective entries.

It offers the possibility of generating two types of reports: Verification Balance and an Entry Balance.

It has the ability to execute a double accounting closing (local and corporate) and the possibility of registering the motions in new fiscal periods without having closed the previous period.

One of the most important characteristics appreciated by the users is that the accounting information of several years can be maintained online without affecting the performance; and it also has specific features to leave tracks of audits to determine the origin of the transactions.

The systems could be integrated with other modules for the automatic reception of accounting entries and it allows the accounting consolidation of an unlimited number of enterprises, in an unlimited number of levels, which constitute a hierarchical pyramid that could be represented as a tree. All the accounting periods are flexible and totally defined according to particular requirements.

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ERP Specific Benefits

The inclusion of ERP in the Financial Area gives support to decision making since it guarantees reliability and total security on the accounting information. It shows a real and updated outlook of the enterprise.

Another advantage provided by ERP is the great operational flexibility and the fact that it is a very useful tool for multinational companies and corporate bodies since it permits them to execute the fiscal closing. Likewise, it is has another outstanding feature which is to make easier the work of external and internal audits, and gives the flexibility to do research on historical information.

The benefits of an intelligent financial management are the result of a net of independent connections that join a wide range of activities of the enterprise in its daily operation, and a huge range of interlocutors of the financial department.

To achieve integrated business processes, it is necessary to have open access and interconnect the different financial functions: accounting, treasury, management of payments to providers and management of the client’s credit. This does not only involve an improvement in productivity through the automation of the manual treatments, which can be tedious and expensive. The main objective is to open unifying tracks so that the data and real work can flow easily and safely from one compartment to another.

An efficient solution for the financial chain of value management should include the data of the banks, of the financial markets, branches of the company, providers, clients, electronic marketplaces and, investment managers. While this should be done through a simple net, it is useful to reach the whole range of activities of the enterprise at the operational level and at the financial flow level.

One of the most sophisticated and expensive systems is ERP, which goes ahead of the accounting and integrates different departments. An efficient system of financial management becomes the initial point of all the financial information that circulates around the enterprise. It joins and consolidates the information and distributes it to the users that may need it. This means that it not only compiles comprehensive information and delivers it, but also directs the information in the adequate format to the right person that needs that information in a precise moment to perform a task.

ERP also offers better access and more safety. All the components of the financial department will be able to access the chain of flow management. However, each person will only have access to a limited number of functions and will see the details and tasks that are previously authorized for him. On the other hand, the financial director as the main administrator can manage a huge number of processes, and can use the opportunities of communication. An example would to generate reports that could help to justify the results and find a better way to manage the funds.

Another area where the new technologies could improve the management of the funds is the quick cashing of accounts to charge. The result is evident: it charges before, and the DSO and credit risk decreases. The fund investment of the enterprise accounts to charge is minor. Besides, the demanded assets closes before liberating the credit line for posterior sales or additional income.

Advantages

The need to use the communication and workflow to connect to the external financial world situation is especially explicit for the management of the financial risk. The inclusion of the financial management systems for the international accounting rules, and the reporting associated to the same turns ERP into a powerful tool in the communications net. Despite the operations of loans, investments and coverage as classic activities of the financial department, it is also the link in real time with the internal and external systems of the financial market, and it could also be useful for the departments in charge of selling or purchasing merchandise.

Another area where the financial directors could see better benefits is on the management of funds due to the global systems management, as in the multilateral netting. The evolved communication allows the administrator in the centre of netting to visualize all the transactions between the branches and the headquarters of a group.

The financial teams of the enterprises have better reasons to avoid the agreements that could put them at the mercy of a financial entity in particular. The technology has provided them with the key that allows them to cut the ties.

Due to increasing sophistication, interoperation and connectivity, the system can support the creation of a notional bank that can reflex with a considerable precision in running a real bank, complete with the generation of banking statements and liquidations with a detail and professional presentation, in case the enterprise wants that option.

The companies without an intern bank could actually find it profitable to organize one, and the enterprises with an internal bank already running could realize could improve it. In conclusion, the new technologies offer the financial management a sight in real time and an improvement of the management of financial flow through communication systems that satisfy the real needs, which allows for the reduction of funds and therefore, the reduction of costs.

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