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ANNOUNCEMENT: On Tuesday, November 12, from approximately 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. CET, notifications will be unavailable for SAP Community. You'll still be able to log in and post as normal, but activity within the community will not trigger notifications during this time.
Welcome back finance experts. I'm happy to share a number of new innovations highlights freshly dropped with our SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Public Edition, 2308 for finance:
Accounting: Manage Journal Entries - New Version with amazing usability enhancements
Entity Close: Automated Supervision of Closing Tasks with Account Balance Validation
Entity Close: Blackline Integration
Asset Accounting: Ability to configure an additional depreciation area for assets and assets under construction
Asset Accounting: SAP Fiori app for asset accounting - post asset retirement
Workflow: Approval Workflows for Supplier Down Payment Requests
Cash Management: Managing Memo Records with Upload Capability
Bank Statement Processing: Intraday Bank Statement Processing
Payment Factory: Enhancements in In-House Banking for Advanced Payment Management
Group Reporting: Relating questions and answers to numbers shown in a form
Group Reporting: Customer-coded Exchange Rate Determination in Currency Translation and Enhancements for the Task API
Financial Services Industry: Enabling financial accounting for U.S. banks with additional posting dimensions and specific chart of accounts
Video 1: Release Highlight Video for Finance in SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Public Edition 2308
Here are the topics covered in the video:
Manage Journal Entries App - New Version
We deliver an optimizeduser experienceinone of the most used apps in finance: theManageJournalEntriesapp. Afterinitial userresearch and intenseusabilitytesting with endusers from multiple companies we are proud to present the new Manage Journal EntriesApp. It has an improved page structure for better overview and more efficient navigation between journal entries as well as to related apps. The change log provided within the app makes it easier to overview what changes were made and by whom. These and many more improvements boost the productivity of General Ledger accounts.
Value Proposition
The new version offers significantly enhanced usability based on user research, including:
Direct access to more related apps and functions
More fields to filter for and display
Greater detail in the list of journal entries
Clearer navigation between journal entries and line items
The ability to display parked documents, workflow status, and related documents. You can also display predictive journal entries if you use predictive accounting.
Capabilities
Display journal entries and their line items
Create, copy, & edit journal entries
Upload journal entries using templates
Reverse journal entries individually or through mass reversals.
View reversal logs and change logs
See related documents, such as purchase orders or incoming invoices
Display amounts in different currencies
Display intercompany journal entries
See an overview of the customer and supplier accounting document data
Post notes and add attachments to journal entries
Display predictive journal entries if you use predictive accounting
Automated Supervision of Closing Tasks with Account Balance Validation
During the financial close process, accountants need to validate data quality to ensure the accuracy, completeness and compliance of financial results. As part of this process, they need to validate account balances on various financial positions and other dimensions such as cost object, profit center or segment. They need to run preventive validations prior to closing tasks (for example, validity of assets balances to prevent incorrect depreciation runs), validations after closing tasks (for example, validate zero-balance accounts after settlement runs), milestone validations (for example, balance sheet account variances between current and previous periods are within a predefined threshold), and more.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud provides the new Fiori apps Manage Balance Validation Rules and Groups (F6386) and View Balance Validation Results (F6387) to enable maintenance and execution of validation rules. In addition, these are seamlessly integrated with SAP S/4HANA Cloud for Advanced Financial Closing to further increase automation and accelerate entity close by executing validations when the preceding steps are completed, initiating follow-up steps if no errors are found and triggering notifications for prompt actions in case of errors or threshold violations.
Value Proposition
Improve entity closing process governance with full visibility of validations.
Reduce manual effort on closing tasks through automating manual validations.
Accelerate the closing by automating error detection and notifying users for prompt actions.
Higher financial statement quality via early data qualification.
Capabilities
Define account balance validation rules and groups for validation tasks.
Execute the validations and analyze the validation results to take required actions.
Plan and orchestrate validation tasks as part of entity close*.
Control closing process according to validation results*.
Demo 2: Automated Supervision of Closing Tasks with Account Balance Validation
*SAP S/4HANA Cloud for Advanced Financial Closing is needed. Integration planned with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Public Edition planned with 2308.1
Enhancements in SAP S/4HANA Cloud for Advanced Payment Management, Public Edition
With the new version of in-house banking, new features are included. Features included are among other things withholding taxes and the calculation of fees. The withholding taxes feature allows for the calculation of credit, debit and overdraft interests, since these may be subject to withholding taxes depending on local legal requirements. The calculation of fees allows for the calculation of transaction- or account maintenance-based fees.
Value Proposition
Fulfilment of legal requirement for calculation of withholding taxes.
In house banking can pass on incurred expenses resulting from payments for example, foreign payments, domestic payments, and others to their account holders also known as subsidiaries.
Capabilities
Withholding tax types and codes are determined in dependency of the country related to the in-house bank and the country where the subsidiary is located.
Based on the calculated interests, withholding taxes are posted on the corresponding in-house bank account.
Demo 5: Cash Pooling in SAP S/4HANA Cloud for Advanced Payment Management, Public Edition
Here are the topics not covered in the video
BlackLine Integration
The SAP Solution Extensions by BlackLine provide additional automation for key tasks during the financial close, especially the account substantiation process. Account line items or balances are extracted to the BlackLine Cloud, and accountants can verify and/or certify that they are correct.
Ability to configure an additional depreciation area for assets and assets under construction
The new scope items 5HG and 5KF are available that provide an additional depreciation area on top of the custom-specific valuation of the asset.
Value Proposition
Consistent customer-specific parallel valuation for the entire life of the asset
Comparison of the asset’s values in an additional depreciation area also for future fiscal years and in different currencies using the asset valuation display in the ‘Manage Fixed Assets’ app
Insights into asset values of the additional depreciation area using analytical apps. Immediate reflection of asset values in analytical reports
Capabilities
Optional scope items that can be activated based on customer-specific requirements in addition to the standard Asset Accounting scope items
Separate depreciation area to calculate asset values for further local or industry-specific depreciation and reporting rules in parallel
Out-of-the-box use of preconfigured additional depreciation keys and easy configuration of depreciation terms such as useful life and maximum amount for low-value assets for fixed assets in this depreciation area
Immediate reflection of asset values in analytical reports
SAP Fiori App for Asset Accounting - Post Asset Retirement
The new SAP Fiori app 'Post Asset Retirement' (F7107) is available. You can use the app for asset retirements with revenue and for scrapping. The new app is intended to replace the two existing apps ‘Post Retirement (Non-Integrated) – Without Customer’ (ABAON) and ‘Post Retirement – By Scrapping’ (ABAVN).
Value Proposition
Revised and optimized SAP Fiori app for asset retirement postings
Capabilities
Selection of all ledgers or individual ledgers or depreciation areas
Representation of the types of postings using business transaction types
The app ‘Create Supplier Invoice – Advanced’ (MIRO) provides specific features for integrated posted asset acquisitions. The MIRO app will replace the existing app ‘Post Acquisition (Integrated AP) - Without Purchase Order‘ (F-90).
Value Proposition
Posting of asset acquisition and corresponding payable to a supplier in the same app
One single app supporting both acquisition with and without purchase order for fixed assets
Reduced data entry
Capabilities
Integrated asset acquisition posting for all valuations in parallel
Figure 4: AP Integrated Asset Aquisition with 'Create Supplier Invoice - Advanced' App
Approval Workflows for Supplier Down Payment Requests
When a supplier requests a down payment, it is necessary for the cost center responsible, such as the AP manager, to check whether the down payment request details are complete and error-free. To ensure that down payments are made correctly to your suppliers and to optimize supplier down payment processes, you can implement an approval workflow in which authorized personnel can review and verify a supplier down payment request before it is paid.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud provides the following Fiori apps for setting up approval workflows for verifying supplier down payment requests:
Manage Teams and Responsibilities - Supplier Down Payment Requests
Manage Workflows - Supplier Down Payment Requests
Verify Supplier Down Payment Requests
Verify Supplier Down Payment Requests - Approver Inbox
Verify Supplier Down Payment Requests - Approver Outbox
Value Proposition
Optimize supplier down payment processes
Require a second or third party from inside the company to review and verify a supplier down payment request before payment is made.
Help mitigate manual errors and internal fraud.
Capabilities
Enable approval workflows for supplier down payment requests based on user configurations.
Allow requesters to create, display, edit, and submit supplier down payment requests for verification and approval.
Allow designated approvers to view and process submitted supplier down payment requests. Approvers can choose to approve, reject, or send back a submitted request, and then the system changes the request status accordingly in the requester’s worklist.
Figure 5: Verify Supplier Down Payment Request Inbox
Memo Records 2.0 provides a more flexible and efficiently way for cash managers to manage memo records for both forecasted and actual cash flows. The memo record type has been reintroduced, and an important attribute, memo record category, has been introduced to enable different field status controls and lifecycle management. Additionally, mass import from spreadsheet is now supported, allowing for the processing of large numbers of memo records across systems. The memo records are displayed in the cash management apps to provide an up-to-date and more accurate view of your organization's cash position, such as Short-Term Cash Positioning, Cash Flow Analyzer, and Check Cash Flow Items.
Value Proposition
Efficient handling of memo record creation via import jobs
Dynamic field status control and lifecycle management based on predefined memo record categories and user-defined memo record types
Flexible use of memo records in representing actual and forecasted cash flows
Transparent data control with separate database table and source tracking
Finer granularity in reporting with attributes such as source application and certainty level
Capabilities
Create memo records manually or import memo records from a spreadsheet
Manage different types of memo records for both forecasted and actual cash flows
Implement dynamic field status controls based on user-defined memo record types and predefined memo record categories
With this feature, you can now post intraday bank statement items. That means, you don’t have to wait for your end-of-day bank statement to enter your system in order to post and clear items, but you can already start processing your payments during the day.
Value Proposition
Quick update of your bank transfers and cash flow by posting your bank statement items immediately and clearing the open items in your system as soon as you receive an intraday bank statement
Avoid duplicate postings of items referring to the same bank transfer by identifying them automatically via the account servicer reference (related items) and by assigning them to specific processing categories
Capabilities
Posting of intraday bank statements in the CAMT.052 format (together with end-of-day bank statements in the CAMT.053 format)
Automated identification of items referring to the same bank transfer in case of multiple intraday bank statements (related items)
Relating questions and answers to numbers shown in a form (SAP Group Reporting Data Collection)
Notes to the annual statement, but also tax and sustainability reports require manual collection of explanatory notes. SAP Group Reporting Data Collection now enables customers to collect, analyse and summarize these via forms:
Value Proposition
Form designers can ask questions within a form that optionally refer to numbers, such as:
How do you explain the deviation >5%?
List contracts, projects, etc.
Share an assessment of key figures
Capabilities
Questions and answers:
Ask a question with answers for each item in a list
Expand number of answers with the dimensionality of the form
Relate to numbers or sets of numbers shown in the form
Combine with visual controls including number-based conditions (for example, explain why a threshold of 5% between numbers A and B is exceeded)
Figure 8: Explanatory Notes in Group Reporting Data Collection
Group Reporting Extensibility: Customer-coded exchange rate determination in currency translation and enhancements for the Task API
Allows customers to write their own program logic in the following areas:
Use custom code to determine alternative exchange rates for the specific translation in the currency translation task
Provide more options in the Task API (continuation of previous release development):
Run asynchronous task actions for data monitor tasks in group reporting such update or test run
Retrieve configuration settings on the task definition
Provide information to construct a task log URL
This requires to create and debug a BAdI Implementation in the SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition, ABAP Environment. Please read the great blog from dsada "Group Reporting: BAdI for Currency Transltion Deviating Rates" that guides you step-by-step thru an example implementation
Enabling Financial Accounting for U.S. Banks with Additional Posting Dimensions and Specific Chart of Accounts
Financial accounting for U.S. banks offers additional posting dimensions and a U.S.-specific chart of accounts to ensure a U.S. GAAP-compliant multidimensional accounting approach resulting in correct balance sheets and income statements for U.S. banks.
Value Proposition
Enable a multidimensional accounting approach for U.S. banks based on reporting dimensions instead of additional accounts
Easy-to-use as banking-specific enhancements are directly and seamlessly integrated into the core financial processes
Help ensure the accuracy of the balance sheets and income statements of U.S. banks
Capabilities
Enable balance sheets and income statements for banks operating in the U.S. based on U.S. GAAP:
Addition of new accounts to the default chart of accounts YCOA that are relevant only for banks
New field status groups to control the visibility and editability of these fields and dimensions
Banking-specific accounts each taken into account in a financial statement version tailored to the requirements of banks
Enable new additional accounting dimensions in general ledger line items and analytical reports needed for banks: product group, branch, data source, customer country/region, customer group, customer industry
Support flexible hierarchies for the dimension product group for analytics and reporting
Enable balance carryforwards for balance sheet and P&L accounts including the dimensions product group, customer group, country/region of customer, and trading partner
Watch the Replays of Our SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Public Edition 2308 Early Release Series!
This July, we hosted a series of compelling live sessions from the heart of the SAP S/4HANA Engineering organization. Missed the live sessions? Watch our replays on demand!
Here, you can find the recording and a presentation for finance as well as 19 other topics as part of the SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition 2308 release. For more information on the SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Public Edition Early Release Series and how to sign up for it, check out this blog post.
Inside SAP S/4HANA Podcast
As always, I would like to encourage you to subscribe to our podcast “Inside SAP S/4HANA”. This podcast leverages the unique knowledge and expertise of SAP S/4HANA product experts, partners and customers to address objects of interest by sharing product insights and project best practice. There is no customer success without product success and project success; we share all ingredients with you to get to the next level and make your SAP S/4HANA project a success. Subscribe now and benefit from the shared knowledge!
openSAP microlearnings for SAP S/4HANA
Our openSAP microlearnings for SAP S/4HANA offer an exciting new learning opportunity. What began with a small batch of 20 videos, has now become a channel with more than 50 microlearnings that have generated over 20,000 views since then. Today we cover multiple lines of business such as finance, manufacturing, and supply chain, and key technology topics like Master Data Management, key user extensibility, SAP User Experience, and upgrade management. We are continuously adding new microlearnings to the SAP S/4HANA channel, so make sure you check them out.
Your Voice Matters!
If you want to learn more and actively engage with SAP subject matter experts on SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition, join our SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition community–now fully integrated with SAP Community. The community brings together customers, partners, and SAP experts and has a clear mission: deliver an interactive community to engage with one another about best practices and product solutions. We invite you to explore the SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition community ‘one-stop shop’ as the central place for all resources, tools, content questions, answers and connect with experts to guide you through your journey to SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition.
Other SAP S/4HANA Cloud and SAP S/4HANA Enablement Assets
SAP S/4HANA is the foundation of the intelligent enterprise and is an innovative, robust, and scalable ERP. We at Cloud ERP Product Success and Cloud Co-Innovation offer a service as versatile as our product itself. Check out the numerous offerings our Enablement team has created for you below:
Feel free to ask your questions on SAP Community here. Follow the SAP S/4HANA Cloud tag and the PSCC_Enablement tag to stay up to date with the latest blog posts.