The perfect internal auditor
What makes an internal auditor perfect? I share a piece from a decade or two again and ask how expectations have changed, especially given changes in technology. Norman Marks in Business Process Expert, Financial Excellence, Governance, Risk and Compliance [Feb. 07, 2012 03:14 PM | 3 Comments | Permalink]

If They’re Happy and They Tweet It, Buy the Stock
Trading based on the collective mood of social media users may seem like science fiction, but one hedge fund has already beat the market using this technology. Derek Klobucher in Analytics, Emerging Technologies, Financial Excellence, Governance, Risk and Compliance, Social Media and Social Networks [Feb. 06, 2012 01:45 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

SAP Master Data Governance Videos on youtube
Nice flashdemos featuring SAP Master Data Governance now on youtube. Markus Ganser in CRM, ERP, Financial Excellence, Governance, Risk and Compliance, Manufacturing [Feb. 02, 2012 02:20 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Blog posts about internal audit and risk management
If you are interested in risk management and/or internal audit, you might be interested in these posts. They were the most popular of my posts on the Internal Auditor (IIA) Online web site last year. If you are interested only in discussions around GRC, have a look at #13 which includes commentary on what the term should mean to executives, practitioners, and others. Norman Marks in Business Process Expert, Financial Excellence, Governance, Risk and Compliance [Jan. 31, 2012 01:50 PM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Profitability Analysis Tools You Can Use to Substantiate Your Needed Investment in SAP HANA™
The focus here is to share some tools that you already have available in your ERP systems that can help you understand your current CO-PA system performance and to obtain facts needed for your SAP HANA investment analysis. Jeffrey Holdeman in Analytics, Business Process Expert, ERP, Financial Excellence, In-Memory Business Data Management [Jan. 30, 2012 01:29 PM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Might HANA Help? Use Transaction KEDZ to View the CO-PA Read Interface Log
The focus here is to share some tools that you already have available in your ERP systems that can help you understand your current CO-PA system performance and to obtain facts needed for your SAP HANA investment analysis. Jeffrey Holdeman in Analytics, Business Process Expert, ERP, Financial Excellence, In-Memory Business Data Management [Jan. 30, 2012 01:29 PM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Might HANA Help? Use Transaction KEUD to View CO-PA Assessment Cycle Overview
The focus here is to share some tools that you already have available in your ERP systems that can help you understand your current CO-PA system performance and to obtain facts needed for your SAP HANA investment analysis. Jeffrey Holdeman in Business Process Expert, Analytics, ERP, Financial Excellence, In-Memory Business Data Management [Jan. 30, 2012 01:29 PM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Might HANA Help? Use Transaction KE28L to View the CO-PA Top-Down Distribution Log
The focus here is to share some tools that you already have available in your ERP systems that can help you understand your current CO-PA system performance and to obtain facts needed for your SAP HANA investment analysis. Jeffrey Holdeman in Analytics, Business Process Expert, ERP, Financial Excellence, In-Memory Business Data Management [Jan. 30, 2012 01:28 PM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Might HANA Help? Use Transaction KEU5 CO-PA Assessment Cycle Analysis Tools
The focus here is to share some tools that you already have available in your ERP systems that can help you understand your current CO-PA system performance and to obtain facts needed for your SAP HANA investment analysis. Jeffrey Holdeman in Analytics, Business Process Expert, ERP, Financial Excellence, In-Memory Business Data Management [Jan. 30, 2012 01:26 PM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Join the Conversation in Accounts Payable
If you are going to reduce paper in your business processes, you have to give people a better alternative. You can improve your procure-to-pay process and move ahead on your path to become a more sustainable organization. Bill Morton in Application Lifecycle Management, ERP, Financial Excellence, Green IT, Sustainability [Jan. 29, 2012 01:37 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Rapid Data Growth and Stress Testing Are Still Problems, Survey Shows
Rapid data growth data is a significant risk management challenge, while more than eight in 10 are uneasy about stress testing, according to a new Sybase survey. Derek Klobucher in Analytics, Banking, Business Solutions, Financial Excellence, Governance, Risk and Compliance [Jan. 29, 2012 01:11 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Risk Can Be a Good Thing
Risk is neither inherently good nor inherently bad. Quant, risk manager and professional poker player Aaron Brown balances risk with danger and opportunity. Derek Klobucher in Banking, Enterprise Performance Management, Financial Excellence, Governance, Risk and Compliance [Jan. 23, 2012 09:17 AM | 6 Comments | Permalink]

A more radical view of what the Audit Committee should worry about in 2012
What should be on the audit committee agenda in the new year? Do we stay with the traditional set of questions, or should we take a more strategic view - such as the adequacy of information, the maturity of risk management, the quality of the external auditor, the adequacy of enterprise systems, etc? Norman Marks in Business Process Expert, Financial Excellence, Governance, Risk and Compliance [Jan. 22, 2012 08:13 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Can Finance People Learn to Love the Cloud?
International standards prvoide internal controls assurances for both cloud providers and the firms who use them to safeguard their financial reporting data Jim Daddario in Business Process Expert, Financial Excellence, Governance, Risk and Compliance, On Demand and Software as a Service (SaaS), SAP Business ByDesign [Jan. 19, 2012 04:32 PM | 1 Comments | Permalink]

An Industry Win Over Liquidity Buffers
The financial services industry won a Basel III victory last weekend when authorities agreed to let lenders dip into liquidity buffers during times of crisis. Derek Klobucher in Analytics, Banking, Financial Excellence, Governance, Risk and Compliance, International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) [Jan. 19, 2012 04:17 PM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Integrating business planning, performance management, and risk management
An article about integrated business planning and performance management talks about surprises but fails to mention risk management. Don't you need to integrate risk management if you are to optimize performance? Norman Marks in Business Process Expert, Enterprise Performance Management, Financial Excellence, Governance, Risk and Compliance [Jan. 16, 2012 10:21 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

The Big Data Crossroads of 2012
"Inside Market Data" and Sybase CTO Irfan Khan explore how Big Data, as well as emerging markets and technologies could profoundly shape investments in 2012. Derek Klobucher in Analytics, Enterprise Data Warehousing/Business Warehouse, Financial Excellence, Governance, Risk and Compliance, In-Memory Business Data Management [Jan. 10, 2012 05:15 PM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

How to assess the effectiveness of internal control
The new draft internal control framework from COSO includes guidance on how to assess whether the system of internal control is effective. In this post, I summarize what the document says. I then ask your views on whether you agree with this way of assessing the adequacy of internal control. Why is this important? The COSO framework is globally accepted and affects every risk, control, assurance, and governance professional. Norman Marks in Business Process Expert, Financial Excellence, Governance, Risk and Compliance [Jan. 10, 2012 02:41 PM | 2 Comments | Permalink]

Examining the Total Cost of Relational Database Management Systems
The true cost of a relational database management system is more than what’s on the price tag. Users should regularly evaluate their total cost of ownership. Derek Klobucher in Business Solutions, Enterprise Data Warehousing/Business Warehouse, Financial Excellence [Jan. 06, 2012 02:55 PM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Mastering Big Data with Advanced Analysis
Mastering Big Data requires more than just sifting relevant points from streams of information. It requires advanced analytics. Derek Klobucher in Analytics, Event Processing (Operational BI), Financial Excellence, In-Memory Business Data Management, SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand [Jan. 06, 2012 08:45 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Norman’s most popular 2011 posts on GRC, risk management, audit, and more
Norman Marks in Business Intelligence (BusinessObjects), Business Process Expert, Financial Excellence, Governance, Risk and Compliance [Jan. 05, 2012 03:36 PM | 5 Comments | Permalink]

Happy Last Year!
Closing the financial books does not have to be so painful! Have a Happy New Year by ensuring a Happy Last Year. Thomas Walker in Business Solutions, ERP, Financial Excellence, Partnership, SAP EcoHub [Jan. 04, 2012 08:53 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

My governance, risk, and assurance wish list for 2012
Norman Marks in Business Process Expert, Financial Excellence, Governance, Risk and Compliance [Jan. 02, 2012 02:04 PM | 6 Comments | Permalink]

Finance focus areas for 2012
2012 seems like it will be a challenge to most clients in most countries. This blog looks at the main focus points a Finance Director should look at to improve the efficiency of their team. Mark Chalfen in Financial Excellence, SAP Business Suite, Shared Services Center (AIC, EIC) [Dec. 21, 2011 01:38 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

IFRS Update – Standards published in 2011
As IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) are evolving fast, we are continuing our focus on the latest IASB's (International Accounting Standards Board) updates. The following synthesis aims to help SAP Customers and Partners anticipate the potential impact of short-term IFRS evolution both on their business processes and SAP BusinessObjects' Consolidation solution. This blog presents the new or revised standards issued by the IASB through 2011. Patricia Meteil-Dutartre in Enterprise Performance Management, Business Intelligence (BusinessObjects), Financial Excellence, International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) [Dec. 15, 2011 03:05 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Do We Know Too Much?
Do we fully utilize the information we have available to make financial decisions or do we only use what is "close at hand"? Thomas Walker in Business Process Management, ERP, Financial Excellence, SAP EcoHub [Dec. 13, 2011 07:15 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Looking for BPC demos, customer references, roadmaps, performance and sizing information, training, documentation or tips & tricks?
…if you are looking for to any of the items in the title then this blog might be holding the answer for you. We will provide links to all the valuable resources such as demos, sizing guides, customer video testimonials etc. Jens Koerner in Analytics, Business Intelligence (BusinessObjects), Enterprise Data Warehousing/Business Warehouse, Enterprise Performance Management, Financial Excellence [Dec. 12, 2011 10:28 PM | 5 Comments | Permalink]

Goodwill Automation in SAP® BusinessObjectsTM Financial Consolidation, Starter Kit for IFRS
Accelerating companies'financial close processes through innovation is our main goal for Enterprise Performance Management. Over the past few months we have been interacting with SAP® BusinessObjectsTM Financial Consolidation customers and came to the decision that automating the goodwill calculation should be considered as a high innovation priority in 2011. Available now, customers can benefit from a brand new release of the IFRS Starter Kit including an Automated Calculation of Goodwill feature. This blog introduces a working document, which explains why and how Financial Consolidation Starter Kit for IFRS has been enhanced to offer this automatic calculation of goodwill. Patricia Meteil-Dutartre in Enterprise Performance Management, Financial Excellence, International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) [Dec. 08, 2011 02:02 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

SAP Invoice Management: Implementation lessons learned
After doing about 10 SAP Invoice Management implementations it is about time to share some lessons learned. Martin Nooteboom in Beginner, Business Solutions, ERP, Financial Excellence, SAP Business Workflow [Nov. 28, 2011 07:20 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Demystifying Financial Consolidation Part VII (Final Part)
This is the last part in the series covering different methods of consolidation with examples. In this part we will cover equity method and one scenario based on it. Archit Agrawal in Banking, Business Process Expert, Business Process Management, Enterprise Performance Management, Financial Excellence [Nov. 27, 2011 05:34 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Mobile will brings both risks and opportunities. Is your company’s strategy optimized?
Norman Marks in Business Process Expert, Financial Excellence, Governance, Risk and Compliance, Mobile [Nov. 26, 2011 11:07 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

SAP Rapid Deployment Solution - A consultants view
There has been some debate going on about SAP’s new implementation methodology or offering Rapid Deployment Solutions (RDS). I would try to provide a neutral stand point without any sales pitch. Will provide what works in RDS mode and what does not.. Ravishankar Ramamurthy in Emerging Technologies, ERP, Financial Excellence, Human Capital Management, SAP xApps [Nov. 21, 2011 12:51 AM | 3 Comments | Permalink]

FSCM: Configuration Scenario Sap Netweaver PI 7.1
In this blog I will describe you step by step how to configure a FSCM scenario on Sap Netweaver PI 7.1 Patrizia0103 in Financial Excellence, SAP Process Integration (PI) [Nov. 18, 2011 02:30 PM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Assessing EPM: Rethinking the Traditional ROI Approach
An organization may spend time establishing direct relationships between performance management and planning improvements and revenues - making board assumptions, arriving at a questionable ROI analysis, and potentially missing the forest for the trees. Often overlooked, yet equally compelling, are the intangible benefits of EPM: bringing data and analytics to drive better decisions; creating a framework to better manage the supplier, customer, and profitability performance; and encouraging an open and honest dialogue about performance drivers Edwin Geel in Analytics, Business Intelligence (BusinessObjects), Business Process Expert, Enterprise Performance Management, Financial Excellence [Nov. 17, 2011 03:17 PM | 1 Comments | Permalink]

Repeat Delta Elucidate From OLTP to BW System
In some business process data loading will be conducted on hourly bases through Timestamp Field, are often required as delta criteria for generic delta extraction. However, in many tables such the timestamp field is not available; instead the creation/change date and time are available. Generic delta needs to function on one field. This article explains how exactly request are processed BW system to at OLPT server and vice verse and what are the dependent fields are interlinked to fill the TIMESTAMP field on runtime extractor. vijayGM in Beginner, Business Process Expert, Business Process Modeling, CRM, Financial Excellence [Nov. 11, 2011 03:34 AM | 1 Comments | Permalink]

SAP Master Data Governance in SAP Business Suite 7 Innovations 2011
This blog explains general concepts of SAP Master Data Governance with a special focus on the enhancements coming with Suite 7 Innovations 2011 Markus Kuppe in Enhancement Packages, Financial Excellence, Master Data Management (MDM), Procurement and SRM, Product Lifecycle Management [Nov. 10, 2011 12:10 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

Simple GRC
I've been reading a lot on GRC lately, and to me, the solution (but not its implementation) is simple. Jamie Oswald in Business Intelligence (BusinessObjects), Financial Excellence, Governance, Risk and Compliance [Nov. 09, 2011 03:33 AM | 2 Comments | Permalink]

SAP® Asset Retirement Obligation Management - Manage the Financial Lifecycle of Your Long-Lived Assets
Managing asset retirement obligations is challenging for companies in asset-intensive industries. Learn how the SAP® Asset Retirement Obligation Management application can automate many of the calculations required to meet these requirements – all while complying with relevant accounting principles. Kenneth Schieffer in SAP Education, Best-Built Applications, Business Solutions, ERP, Financial Excellence [Nov. 02, 2011 10:04 AM | 1 Comments | Permalink]

Demystifying Financial Consolidation Part VI
In the proportional method, we take into account only the percentage stake of assets or the liabilities of the target company. If we own 80 percent stake in the target company, we will only add 80 percent asset/liabilities of the target company to the acquirer’s company. When the acquirer company stake is 100 percent in the target company then this method will be equivalent to purchase method, because then there won’t be NCI even in purchase method. Archit Agrawal in Business Process Management, Enterprise Performance Management, Financial Excellence [Oct. 24, 2011 02:58 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

PwC Global Information Security Study
Norman Marks in Security, Governance, Risk and Compliance, Financial Excellence, Business Process Expert [Oct. 21, 2011 11:47 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

SPED PIS/COFINS - IPI PAUTA
There’s a special scenario of taxes in Brazil called IPI PAUTA. In this scenario, from the Fiscal point of view, the materials should not have the rate declared in the file for SPED PIS/COFINS. Alexandre Carvalho in Business Process Expert, ERP, Financial Excellence, Governance, Risk and Compliance, Retail [Oct. 20, 2011 04:41 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

BPC Elite 10 Consolidations Handson in India
BPC Elite is proud to have our global BPC consolidation expert Murali do deep dive 3 days BPC 10.0 NW consolidation focused training in bangalore, india. Don't miss it Muthu Ranganathan in Analytics, Enterprise Performance Management, ERP, Financial Excellence, International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) [Sep. 30, 2011 03:42 AM | 8 Comments | Permalink]

Getting the Rythm of the Business with SAP Business ByDesign
A follow up to last month's post about why CFO's should love CRM, I walk you through a revenue and cash flow forecasting primer in SAP Business ByDesign Jim Daddario in Business Process Expert, CRM, Financial Excellence, SAP Business ByDesign [Sep. 29, 2011 02:41 PM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

News From The Board – An Updated Work Plan For The IASB
As IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) are evolving fast, we are continuing our focus on the latest IASB’s (International Accounting Standards Board) updates. The following synthesis aims to help SAP Customers and Partners anticipate the potential impact of short-term IFRS evolution both on their business processes and SAP® BusinessObjects™ Consolidation solution. At the end of 2010, the IASB and the FASB (Financial Accounting Standards Board) decided to amend their common work plan. Their goal was to refocus on the priority projects. The main objective was to complete the most important convergence projects by 30 June 2011, in time for the SEC’s (Securities Exchange Commission) planned 2011 vote on the adoption of IFRS. We are now three months after the due date and the objective is not achieved: nearly half of the projects are still in progress. This blog sums up the current status of the priority projects and the updated work plan for the IASB. Patricia Meteil-Dutartre in Business Intelligence (BusinessObjects), Enterprise Performance Management, Financial Excellence, International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) [Sep. 29, 2011 04:28 AM | 1 Comments | Permalink]

Demystifying Financial Consolidation Part V
In the last blog, we have already discussed the theoretical concepts related to purchase method. In this blog, we will see one scenario which will make concepts clear. Archit Agrawal in Banking, Business Process Expert, Business Process Management, Enterprise Performance Management, Financial Excellence [Sep. 27, 2011 05:50 PM | 4 Comments | Permalink]

Why Built-in vs. bolt-on for XBRL and Disclosure management
95 of fortune 100 companies in North America are looking at moving to built-in approach as they have realized challenges of bolt-on to solve the XBRL needs. Had the privilege of speaking alongside thought leader and LastMile topic guru Mike Willis, trying to highlight few aspects of this in this post Muthu Ranganathan in Analytics, Business Process Expert, Enterprise Performance Management, Financial Excellence, International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) [Sep. 18, 2011 11:07 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

An other event
This blog entry is for describing an event for SAP Disclosure Management that is being offered by SAP in collaboration with Cundus, FEI, and PwC. Gregory Misiorek in Analytics, Financial Excellence, International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) [Sep. 15, 2011 10:09 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]

How to manage scope changes with SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation 10.0, Version for SAP Netweaver Starter Kit for IFRS? Part 4
This is the fourth of a series of seven blogs dedicated to handling scope changes using “SAP® BusinessObjectsTM Planning and Consolidation 10.0, Version for SAP Netweaver Starter Kit for IFRS". The objective is to illustrate in the BPC Starter kit for IFRS some of the most frequent scope changes. Here this blog is dedicated to the partial disposal of an investment while control is retained (equity transaction) Fabienne Rojo in Enterprise Performance Management, Financial Excellence, International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) [Sep. 15, 2011 07:01 AM | 3 Comments | Permalink]

Demystifying Financial Consolidation Part III
In this blog, we will cover various scenarios in which we calculate Non Controlling Interest. Non Controlling Interest (Minority Interest) is calculated when acquirer doesn’t acquire 100 percent stake in the company but more than 50 percent stake. This concept will be relevant in BPC or BoFC implementations. Archit Agrawal in Banking, Business Process Expert, Enterprise Performance Management, Financial Excellence, International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) [Sep. 12, 2011 11:28 AM | 2 Comments | Permalink]

EPM @ TechEd Las Vegas
There will be plenty of EPM content at next week's SAP TechEd in Las Vegas. Here's a one-stop shop of all the sessions. James Link in Business Process Expert, Enterprise Performance Management, Financial Excellence, SAP TechEd [Sep. 09, 2011 11:48 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink]