Integrated Consolidation with SEM-BCS
OLAP-based consolidated financial statements with SEM-BCS – founded on SAP® BW
With its SEM-BCS (Strategic Enterprise Management Business Consolidation Services) solution, SAP® offers a flexible consolidation tool that becomes an information basis for all management accounting data through its integration with SEM Management Cockpit. This anchoring in the central SAP management information suite SEM enables mutual synergies among the SEM components. For example, you can use SEM-BCS to process, analyze, and compare planning data generated in SEM-BPS (Business Planning and Simulation) with actual figures from the results of consolidation. SEM-BCS improves on its predecessor, the SAP® system EC-CS (Enterprise Controlling-Consolidation), by offering profit center consolidation and multidimensionality based on OLAP data storage.
SEM-BCS features a high level of flexibility thanks to:
- Integration of legal reporting and management reporting based on common data
- Various versions for different reporting requirements (US-GAAP, IFRS, HGB, management reporting, etc.)
- OLAP functionality
- Freely definable parallel hierarchies
- Option of time-dependent hierarchies
- Option of version-dependent hierarchies
- At cundus, we simplify the demanding consolidation process with integrated all-inclusive solutions for consolidated financial statements.
Integration of legal reporting and management reporting
In keeping with the philosophy behind having a "single version of the truth" – or of financial figures, in this case – US-GAAP, IAS/IFRS, HGB, and management reporting should all be based on the same data to avoid confusion and the need for additional coordination of group reporting. With SEM-BCS, SAP® meets this exact requirement by following a concept that calls for one software solution, one system, and one database with uniform group-wide financial bases. This treats legal reporting as an aspect of standardized financial statements that also include management reporting, which makes diverse forms of evaluation possible from various perspectives in a single workflow. SEM-BCS thus facilitates consolidation in two organizational dimensions, as well as mapping of a matrix organization for both legal and management reporting. Meanwhile, you can freely choose data categories and set up parallel company codes.
In addition, OLAP functionality enables you to define a data model tailored to your situation. As a result, it's possible to depict the freely definable time-dependent, version-dependent, and parallel hierarchies often required in management reporting. OLAP functionality also offers a level of reporting flexibility that generates considerable additional advantages over consolidation systems based on relational databases.
Fast closing, even faster
In multilevel and globally active groups in particular, faster decision-making and financial-reporting processes are becoming increasingly important in maintaining a competitive edge. SEM-BCS provides essential utilities for fast closing that accelerate the complex work processes involved in consolidation and guarantee rapid access to overviews:
- The consolidation process can be monitored at a glance and controlled in the consolidation monitor. Intuitive icons inform those in consolidation at the group’s headquarters about the processing status and the quality of the incoming reporting data. Once all necessary data has been received, those involved can use it to initiate consolidation processes.
- SEM-BCS supports decentralized responsibilities of reporting units and local subgroups. This relieves company headquarters of the time-consuming work involved in creating financial statements by passing it on to local controllers capable of more effective processing.
- Automated postings can also be mapped for complex operations, which can relieve employees in central consolidation roles of some tasks and give them time for other work.
- SEM-BCS guarantees optimal integration into SAP® financial systems, resulting in smooth data transfers from upstream ERP systems and ensuring standardized data formats.
Support of corporate governance requirements
Germany's Corporate Governance Code has instituted extended reporting and auditing obligations. Reporting processes must now be documented in detail so that they are sufficiently transparent for audits. SEM-BCS supports these corporate governance requirements with audit-proof posting logs, the documentation principle, and document comments. By defining customer-specific validation rules, quality problems in reporting can be caught before they violate the Corporate Governance Code. The user authorization concept, meanwhile, provides for precise system-access control.
Why entrust cundus with your SEM-BCS implementation?
As a proven specialist in the field of SAP® BW, cundus can leverage its extensive expertise to come up with scenarios that take full advantage of the OLAP-based consolidation solution SEM-BCS. The projects we have successfully completed at leading German companies are a testament to our quality work. Our SEM-BCS implementation consultants focus on realizing compelling solutions by combining their technical prowess with competence in business and consolidation (IAS/IFRS and HGB). Meanwhile, business content enables us to carry out fast, efficient implementations of SEM-BCS. The cundus SEM-BCS implementation concept ensures effective, technically flawless installations of the solution as a central information management system.
