R2R Series Blog #1: Record to Report Blog Series K...

elizabeth_milne · ‎2021 Aug 04

Welcome to the 2021 Record to Report (R2R) blog series!!!! This is the first of 20ish blogs all focused on the process. See the end of this blog for links to all the blogs in the series, updated weekly.

The R2R process is an ever-changing mandatory process. Some call it R2R, some call it close to disclose, some call it accounting and financial close, some don’t call it anything but just do it. Given the crazy disruption in our lives in the recent past the R2R process has, in many cases, finally gotten that compelling event to rethink the process. We have been forced to improve processes based on new requirements and have had to figure out how to close the books remotely, with new policies and procedures.

There are many dimensions to the financial close, three of which are people, process, and technology. While analyzing areas for change and improvement, each of these areas needs to be assessed. Do my people have the right skills for the tasks they are doing? Could they be better utilized doing other tasks? Are my processes documented? Are they effective and efficient? Am I leveraging technology to automate tasks where possible? How are we going to do this all remotely? Will we continue to do so in the future?

The R2R process has many different steps. This blog series will break down the steps in the R2R process into consumable pieces. A broad overview:

And all of these depend on each other. As Bill Gates so eloquently put it, “The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.”

So let’s discuss efficiency!! We will walk you through each of these various steps of the R2R process in detail. We’ll also include suggested ways of improving each, thus transforming your finance department and delivering a more efficient, transparent, and auditable process.

I, with a little (a lot of) help from my friends, will deliver weekly blogs to discuss many facets of the R2R process.

Our weekly series will include the following topics:

Financial Recording – SAP S/4HANA & The Universal Journal

Financial Recording – Central Finance

Financial Accounting – Revenue Recognition

Financial Accounting – Account Substantiation

Financial Accounting – Intercompany Accounting

Financial Closing – Financial Consolidation

Financial Reporting – Reporting and Analysis

R2R Recap

R2R Series Blog #1: Record to Report Blog Series Kick Off

Useful documents on SCN

Evolution of ABAP

Analytics in S/4HANA - real shape of embedded analytics and beyond embedded analytics