financial management software
TRANSCRIPT
Financial Management Software.inddFinancial Management
Software
Introduction Financial Management Software (FMS) solutions are used by organisations that need direct access to all finance and accounting data so that they can make rapid, robust business decisions.
The power of FMS lies in its ability to control all aspects of financial management, budgeting and planning, purchasing, sales management and fixed asset management – all with powerful user friendly reporting.
For organisations that have outgrown their existing accounts package and are considering a move to a future proof, enterprise financial management solution, this guide will help you to understand how Sapphire can help your business move forward faster.
“A major shift is taking place in how enterprises select their financial management applications, with a migration to cloud applications happening faster than expected”. *Gartner, 2017
The Business Challenges Addressed By FMS When clients approach us to discuss the implementation of FMS, they speak of issues around visibility, control and agility. Regardless of their industry, they report that these issues prevent them from competing effectively in today’s digital economy. In what follows, we have summarised the six key challenges that you are likely to be facing and that can be addressed using financial management software.
1. Inadequate systems: existing systems cannot manage current or projected levels of activity
The accounts package that you implemented when you had outgrown Excel seemed wonderful at the time, but it simply cannot keep pace with the growth that your business is experiencing.
Your entry level application now needs to be replaced with a single FMS solution that can give you a centralised, real-time view of data across your entire organisation.
The required functionality includes:
• Fixed asset management
• Reporting and analysis
With all of this capability provided in a single solution and supported by powerful reporting and analytics, an FMS solution will give you a detailed understanding of how your business is performing at any point in time.
2. Manual processes: finance has to waste valuable time on tasks that add no value
As your business has grown, you have had to come up with creative workarounds to cope with new processes that your old systems couldn’t handle.
These time-consuming workarounds have been effective, but what was originally intended as a short-term fix has become a permanent feature of your department’s workload.
On a related issue, you have had to use a number of different systems to complete the full workload of the department – or perhaps you haven’t fully escaped from Excel yet. These different systems rarely talk to each other and, as a consequence, your team has to waste valuable time re-keying data, exporting .csv files, or maintaining paper files.
The deployment of an FMS solution will resolve these costly frustrations and stop the waste of your team’s time. When freed from these non-value-adding tasks, your finance team can concentrate on its primary purpose of enabling and controlling prudent business growth.
3. Complexity: the growing “multi” impact on financial management
Whether your growth has been organic or fueled by acquisition, national or international, you are likely to have encountered the increasing layers of complexity associated with the “multi” challenges: multi-user, multi-currency, multi- entity or multi-national.
The multi-user challenge is relatively easy to overcome but, with expansion, you are likely to face the need to manage consolidations for the accounts of multiple locations or multiple entities. Add in the international dimension and you are likely to need multi- jurisdiction reporting or at the very least, multi-currency accounting.
With an FMS solution, you can tackle all the “multi” challenges. You can add new entities or open new territories without having to add new systems. You can implement standardised financial management across the whole business and achieve compliance with the multiple regulatory and reporting requirements that you are likely to face.
4. Compliance and control: a growing number of standards, both internal and external, need to be enforced
The informal practices, the improvisations and the adaptability that were important in the early stages of your development now need to be reined in. Maverick spending, for example, can grow unchecked without an approach to procurement that can be executed within individual business units but using processes that are centrally defined, controlled and reported upon.
In addition to internal governance, external standards need to be complied with. Reporting requirements for HMRC, IFRS, GAAP etc. are onerous but also are evolving and it becomes a challenge for already stretched finance departments to ensure continued adherence to a changing regulatory environment.
Your FMS solution will ensure that your statutory and management reporting requirements are met and exceeded both in-country and across territories. With all of your data in one place you have the assurance of a consistent, unified solution, with built-in audit trails, alerts and reconciliations.
5. Reporting: it’s hard to get at the data you need to make robust business decisions
All of the challenges that we have discussed earlier, manifest themselves when it comes time to prepare reports: disparate systems, manual processes and multiple entities and no single view of the truth.
Because an FMS solution amalgamates information from across the business, it can support both the reporting requirements of the finance function and also the operational reporting, that the management team needs, to make robust business decisions within departments or across business units. Key data is available where it’s needed most, with role-based information flows delivered via pixel-perfect dashboards or in-context to desktop or mobile devices, ensuring the right people have the right information, at the right time and in the right format.
Query and analysis functionality will give you anytime access to real-time information, simplifying reporting structures for increased efficiency. And with unified ledgers at the heart the solution, you can make better decisions, faster, safe in the knowledge that the comprehensive information you are working with is both up-to-date and accurate.
6. Strategic Perspective: with the department stretched to its limits, it’s impossible to focus on the future
Finally, the Finance Directors we meet are working so hard to deliver excellence with inadequate systems and processes, that it requires a special effort to take the strategic perspective.
They are keen to ensure that they don’t repeat the mistakes of their predecessors – that the solutions they implement today can meet the challenges of tomorrow.
Where do they deploy the solution – on premise or in the Cloud? What are the implications for data security? What are their obligations as data owners under GDPR?
When you are deploying enterprise financial management solutions that support complex business requirements, it is important to work with a partner with the expertise to assist with these strategic considerations.
This is how you can optimise your software investment at every step of the way, from designing the right solution through to deployment and support.
FMS Adding Value Across The Entire Enterprise Finance and Accounting Includes nominal ledgers, payable and receivable ledgers, consolidation, corporate allocations, multiple currencies, dual-base currencies, fixed assets, and debtor management.
Budgeting and Planning Simplified budgeting, forecasting and planning tools and processes to significantly reduce financial planning time.
Purchasing Management End-to-end procure-to-pay functionality, including requisitions, orders, contracts and receipts, invoice processing and reconciliation.
Sales Management Complete control over your sales, purchasing and inventory management, tailored to suit the specific needs of your business.
Fixed Asset Management Record acquisitions and disposals, update asset values and quantities, calculate depreciation and post to the relevant Profit & Loss and Balance Sheets.
Reporting and Analysis Actionable insights with the ability to drill back from reports to the source transactions. Proactive alerts enable you to react quickly to any potential red flags that may arise.
Case Study: Intrum and Infor SunSystems Context Intrum (formerly 1st Credit) has been established since 2001. Intrum strives to be the UK’s most ethical debt purchase and collection company and in 2017 were recognised with Best Conduct and Compliance Culture, and Best Customer Service awards, together and also with Investors in Customers and Investors in People Gold accreditations. Intrum deployed Infor SunSystems to replace Sage.
Process After outgrowing their old system, Intrum were looking for an appropriately sized solution to meet their business needs and chose SunSystems because it offered the best combination of product capabilities and price.
Working with Sapphire Systems, “a clear project plan was provided and all timescales were either adhered to or amended within scope…..and the consultants were flexible and accommodated all our needs”.
Payback With the new system in place, Intrum has experienced significant improvements in the quality and completeness of their data.
But more than that, they have reduced the man-time required in processes such as month-end reporting, automated client remittances and budget data preparation by anywhere between 75% and 85%.
“It’s easy to deal with Sapphire, the front line staff are not only friendly but supportive and are always helpful, both during project implementation and in after-sale support”. *Finance Project Manager, Intrum
The Sapphire Difference Why choose Sapphire for your new business or financial management solution?
At Sapphire our ethos is simple: To drive customer success through partnerships, technology and innovation. We pride ourselves on our core values of innovation, agility, excellence and integrity.
Customer service plays a huge role in the success of a project. As a Sapphire Systems partner, you will benefit from our industry-leading level of service.
Find out for yourself how our clients rate us. View our most recent testimonials and case studies at: www.sapphiresystems.com.
Sapphire provides a range of solutions and services to a variety of industries. Find out more about the specific areas we operate. Visit: www.sapphiresystems.com
Sapphire Systems supports your industry
Chemicals Manufacturing Sport & Leisure Energy
Media & Entertainment Technology Fashion & Apparel Not for Profit
Transportation Financial Services & Insurance
Food & Beverage Professional Services Wholesale & Distribution Retail
Industry leading enterprise software from Sapphire Systems Sapphire Systems is a leading global provider of cloud and on premise enterprise software delivering organisations with industry specific solutions. With over 1,000 customers worldwide, Sapphire partners with market leading software authors, develops unique customisations, and offers unrivalled customer service and support. Headquartered in London with offices across the United Kingdom, United States, Latin America and Asia, Sapphire offers 24-hour support and has extensive knowledge and experience in helping clients to achieve a measurable return on investment.
For more information visit: www.sapphiresystems.com
Introduction Financial Management Software (FMS) solutions are used by organisations that need direct access to all finance and accounting data so that they can make rapid, robust business decisions.
The power of FMS lies in its ability to control all aspects of financial management, budgeting and planning, purchasing, sales management and fixed asset management – all with powerful user friendly reporting.
For organisations that have outgrown their existing accounts package and are considering a move to a future proof, enterprise financial management solution, this guide will help you to understand how Sapphire can help your business move forward faster.
“A major shift is taking place in how enterprises select their financial management applications, with a migration to cloud applications happening faster than expected”. *Gartner, 2017
The Business Challenges Addressed By FMS When clients approach us to discuss the implementation of FMS, they speak of issues around visibility, control and agility. Regardless of their industry, they report that these issues prevent them from competing effectively in today’s digital economy. In what follows, we have summarised the six key challenges that you are likely to be facing and that can be addressed using financial management software.
1. Inadequate systems: existing systems cannot manage current or projected levels of activity
The accounts package that you implemented when you had outgrown Excel seemed wonderful at the time, but it simply cannot keep pace with the growth that your business is experiencing.
Your entry level application now needs to be replaced with a single FMS solution that can give you a centralised, real-time view of data across your entire organisation.
The required functionality includes:
• Fixed asset management
• Reporting and analysis
With all of this capability provided in a single solution and supported by powerful reporting and analytics, an FMS solution will give you a detailed understanding of how your business is performing at any point in time.
2. Manual processes: finance has to waste valuable time on tasks that add no value
As your business has grown, you have had to come up with creative workarounds to cope with new processes that your old systems couldn’t handle.
These time-consuming workarounds have been effective, but what was originally intended as a short-term fix has become a permanent feature of your department’s workload.
On a related issue, you have had to use a number of different systems to complete the full workload of the department – or perhaps you haven’t fully escaped from Excel yet. These different systems rarely talk to each other and, as a consequence, your team has to waste valuable time re-keying data, exporting .csv files, or maintaining paper files.
The deployment of an FMS solution will resolve these costly frustrations and stop the waste of your team’s time. When freed from these non-value-adding tasks, your finance team can concentrate on its primary purpose of enabling and controlling prudent business growth.
3. Complexity: the growing “multi” impact on financial management
Whether your growth has been organic or fueled by acquisition, national or international, you are likely to have encountered the increasing layers of complexity associated with the “multi” challenges: multi-user, multi-currency, multi- entity or multi-national.
The multi-user challenge is relatively easy to overcome but, with expansion, you are likely to face the need to manage consolidations for the accounts of multiple locations or multiple entities. Add in the international dimension and you are likely to need multi- jurisdiction reporting or at the very least, multi-currency accounting.
With an FMS solution, you can tackle all the “multi” challenges. You can add new entities or open new territories without having to add new systems. You can implement standardised financial management across the whole business and achieve compliance with the multiple regulatory and reporting requirements that you are likely to face.
4. Compliance and control: a growing number of standards, both internal and external, need to be enforced
The informal practices, the improvisations and the adaptability that were important in the early stages of your development now need to be reined in. Maverick spending, for example, can grow unchecked without an approach to procurement that can be executed within individual business units but using processes that are centrally defined, controlled and reported upon.
In addition to internal governance, external standards need to be complied with. Reporting requirements for HMRC, IFRS, GAAP etc. are onerous but also are evolving and it becomes a challenge for already stretched finance departments to ensure continued adherence to a changing regulatory environment.
Your FMS solution will ensure that your statutory and management reporting requirements are met and exceeded both in-country and across territories. With all of your data in one place you have the assurance of a consistent, unified solution, with built-in audit trails, alerts and reconciliations.
5. Reporting: it’s hard to get at the data you need to make robust business decisions
All of the challenges that we have discussed earlier, manifest themselves when it comes time to prepare reports: disparate systems, manual processes and multiple entities and no single view of the truth.
Because an FMS solution amalgamates information from across the business, it can support both the reporting requirements of the finance function and also the operational reporting, that the management team needs, to make robust business decisions within departments or across business units. Key data is available where it’s needed most, with role-based information flows delivered via pixel-perfect dashboards or in-context to desktop or mobile devices, ensuring the right people have the right information, at the right time and in the right format.
Query and analysis functionality will give you anytime access to real-time information, simplifying reporting structures for increased efficiency. And with unified ledgers at the heart the solution, you can make better decisions, faster, safe in the knowledge that the comprehensive information you are working with is both up-to-date and accurate.
6. Strategic Perspective: with the department stretched to its limits, it’s impossible to focus on the future
Finally, the Finance Directors we meet are working so hard to deliver excellence with inadequate systems and processes, that it requires a special effort to take the strategic perspective.
They are keen to ensure that they don’t repeat the mistakes of their predecessors – that the solutions they implement today can meet the challenges of tomorrow.
Where do they deploy the solution – on premise or in the Cloud? What are the implications for data security? What are their obligations as data owners under GDPR?
When you are deploying enterprise financial management solutions that support complex business requirements, it is important to work with a partner with the expertise to assist with these strategic considerations.
This is how you can optimise your software investment at every step of the way, from designing the right solution through to deployment and support.
FMS Adding Value Across The Entire Enterprise Finance and Accounting Includes nominal ledgers, payable and receivable ledgers, consolidation, corporate allocations, multiple currencies, dual-base currencies, fixed assets, and debtor management.
Budgeting and Planning Simplified budgeting, forecasting and planning tools and processes to significantly reduce financial planning time.
Purchasing Management End-to-end procure-to-pay functionality, including requisitions, orders, contracts and receipts, invoice processing and reconciliation.
Sales Management Complete control over your sales, purchasing and inventory management, tailored to suit the specific needs of your business.
Fixed Asset Management Record acquisitions and disposals, update asset values and quantities, calculate depreciation and post to the relevant Profit & Loss and Balance Sheets.
Reporting and Analysis Actionable insights with the ability to drill back from reports to the source transactions. Proactive alerts enable you to react quickly to any potential red flags that may arise.
Case Study: Intrum and Infor SunSystems Context Intrum (formerly 1st Credit) has been established since 2001. Intrum strives to be the UK’s most ethical debt purchase and collection company and in 2017 were recognised with Best Conduct and Compliance Culture, and Best Customer Service awards, together and also with Investors in Customers and Investors in People Gold accreditations. Intrum deployed Infor SunSystems to replace Sage.
Process After outgrowing their old system, Intrum were looking for an appropriately sized solution to meet their business needs and chose SunSystems because it offered the best combination of product capabilities and price.
Working with Sapphire Systems, “a clear project plan was provided and all timescales were either adhered to or amended within scope…..and the consultants were flexible and accommodated all our needs”.
Payback With the new system in place, Intrum has experienced significant improvements in the quality and completeness of their data.
But more than that, they have reduced the man-time required in processes such as month-end reporting, automated client remittances and budget data preparation by anywhere between 75% and 85%.
“It’s easy to deal with Sapphire, the front line staff are not only friendly but supportive and are always helpful, both during project implementation and in after-sale support”. *Finance Project Manager, Intrum
The Sapphire Difference Why choose Sapphire for your new business or financial management solution?
At Sapphire our ethos is simple: To drive customer success through partnerships, technology and innovation. We pride ourselves on our core values of innovation, agility, excellence and integrity.
Customer service plays a huge role in the success of a project. As a Sapphire Systems partner, you will benefit from our industry-leading level of service.
Find out for yourself how our clients rate us. View our most recent testimonials and case studies at: www.sapphiresystems.com.
Sapphire provides a range of solutions and services to a variety of industries. Find out more about the specific areas we operate. Visit: www.sapphiresystems.com
Sapphire Systems supports your industry
Chemicals Manufacturing Sport & Leisure Energy
Media & Entertainment Technology Fashion & Apparel Not for Profit
Transportation Financial Services & Insurance
Food & Beverage Professional Services Wholesale & Distribution Retail
Industry leading enterprise software from Sapphire Systems Sapphire Systems is a leading global provider of cloud and on premise enterprise software delivering organisations with industry specific solutions. With over 1,000 customers worldwide, Sapphire partners with market leading software authors, develops unique customisations, and offers unrivalled customer service and support. Headquartered in London with offices across the United Kingdom, United States, Latin America and Asia, Sapphire offers 24-hour support and has extensive knowledge and experience in helping clients to achieve a measurable return on investment.
For more information visit: www.sapphiresystems.com