ERP finance: what do you need to know as a finance manager?

As a CFO, you have an obligation to be able to guarantee the accuracy of your company’s financial information. You typically need to integrate data from multiple business applications and from different departments, such as purchasing or inventory management. This heterogeneity does not make your job any easier. An ERP finance system provides integrated management of all your company’s financial data flows in real time. Management control is thus greatly facilitated, even if integrating ERP finance software into the information system often requires a rethink of existing processes.

The implications of integrating an ERP finance system

For an ERP finance to be fully effective in business operations, it must be based on real data flow models. Internal processes therefore need to be known, described, modeled… and often reviewed.

Indeed, the audit (essential before any integration of an ERP system) can highlight opportunities for improvement and optimization of processes. It’s an opportunity for companies looking to make the transformations they need to grow.

The administrative and financial director must be aware of the impacts that the arrival of an ERP finance system can generate in the company. You need to allow for the time needed to deploy the solution, as it impacts all business processes, in all areas and activities. A budget is also needed, as training is undoubtedly required for employees and chartered accountants to get to grips with the software. It will take some time after the implementation of the ERP system for the company to reap the full benefits.

Choosing an ERP solution

Choosing among the many management software packages is not easy. The financial manager will have to define the exact needs of the company in order to compare them with the functionalities offered by the management tools. There’s little chance of finding a product that exactly matches your needs.

Depending on the size of the company, its commercial management, its budget and its activity, choices are essential to obtain a productivity gain. A small organization can find a simple solution that covers 90% of its needs and can be parameterized to take into account the remaining 10%. A large company, on the other hand, will have to take into account different processes and will have to opt for a more complex and complete solution. Specific developments will be required in many cases.

A small organization working mainly at the local level may be better off investing in hardware and software to host the solution on its premises, provided it has a sufficient team to maintain the management tools. Cloud hosting will be more suitable for a large group or multinational company, whose needs may change and differ from one country to another.

Integration of the ERP solution

ERP integration requires special skills. If a team has the skills in-house or talent found through human resources, they can take on the job. However, the involvement of a specialized external service provider has the advantage of providing sufficient hindsight on the processes to be modeled, and thus making it easier to identify any desirable optimizations.

Also in our "ERP Finance" section

• ERP software definition: what is an ERP?
• What is the use of an ERP solution for the finance function?
• ERP finance: what do you need to know as a finance manager?
• CFO: what are the advantages of an ERP for the finance function?
• Finance software: which ERP to choose for your company?
• The challenges of a post modern ERP
• Optimize the management of administrative processes with an ERP solution
• Big data, data management, data analytics and ERP: what are we talking about?
• ERP finance: how to ensure data security?
• CFO and CIO: how to implement a successful finance ERP project?
• ERP finance project: who should be involved in the company?
• The different implementation phases of an ERP project