The CFO as Business Integrator

* Includes case studies, checklists, and models.
* Written by the former director of PricewaterhouseCoopers and the vanguard MySAP Financials Team.SAP gehört zu den internationalen Marktführern, wenn es um die Entwicklung von Softwarelösungen für eine unternehmensübergreifende Zusammenarbeit geht.

Moderne Unternehmen machen heute ständig strukturelle Veränderungen durch: rasante Veränderungen in den Geschäftsmodellen, Merger/Akquisitionen, De-Merger

CEOs werden mit einer verwirrenden Vielzahl von Problemen konfrontiert:
- Wie kann man das Unternehmen/die Unternehmenskultur umwandeln, um den Shareholder Value zu steigern?
- Wie können Geschäftsprozesse mit Hilfe des Internet rationalisiert werden?
- Wie kann man Prozesse und Systeme von Vorgängerunternehmen integrieren?

Die Lösung vieler dieser Probleme ist jedoch Aufgabe des CFO.

"The CFO as Business Integrator" befasst sich exakt mit dieser Thematik.

Dieses Buch erläutert ausführlich, warum gerade die Finanzfunktion in einer starken Position ist, um die entscheidende Rolle bei der Integration von Finanzstrategie, Geschäftsprozessen und -systemen zu spielen.

Jedes Kapitel beginnt mit einem Interview eines führenden CFO von so renommierten Unternehmen, wie Exxon, Zurich, Nokia, Bosch, Coca Cola, Siemens und Sony.

Diskutiert werden u.a. Kernfragen zur Integration, neue Integrationsmodelle, Aspekte der Financial Supply Chain und strategisches Management.

Der CFO wird zum Business Integrator, der nicht nur Business Systeme integriert, sondern gleichzeitig damit das Unternehmen der Zukunft formt.

Die einzelnen Themenbereiche werden zwar speziell im Hinblick auf SAP-Technologie und -Lösungen diskutiert, doch im allgemeinen wird der Stoff SAP-neutral, weitgehend unabhängig und objektiv behandelt.

1 From Complexity to Simplicity 1

What Issues are Today’s CFOs Grappling With? 6

Best Practices in Finance: What’s Next? 12

The New Finance Value Proposition 16

Integration: What it Means for You as CFO 20

CFO Checklist 25

2 Leveraging your ERP Investment 27

What does Integration Mean for the CFO? 32

Unravelling System Spaghetti 36

Beyond ERP 42

Reducing Complexity 46

A Vision for the Post ERP Era 49

Making Integration Work for You 57

CFO Checklist 60

3 Streamlining the Financial Supply Chain 63

What is the Financial Supply Chain? 66

Leveraging the Benefits 66

In-house Cash and Banking 73

Order-to-cash/Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment 80

Purchase-to-pay 90

Simplifying Billing and Payment: Bill Consolidation 91

e-Financing and e-Settlement: A Promising New Tool 93

The Future: Integration and Collaboration 96

CFO Checklist 100

4 Moving from “Shared” to “Managed” Services 103

Why Move to Shared Services? 106

Shared Services Today 111

Physical versus Virtual SSCs: The Lights Are Still On! 113

To Outsource – or Not to Outsource? 115

Evolving Technology: What’s New, Faster, Better 122

Applications Management and Managed Services 124

Evolving Exchanges: Huge Promise and Tough Reality 130

The Potential for Web Services 137

Making it Happen 144

CFO Checklist 150

5 Connecting Strategy with Operations 153

Introducing Strategic Enterprise Management (SEM) 157

Tracking Corporate Performance 160

Integrated Risk Management 166

Blow Up the Budget! 171

Operational Planning and Simulation 177

Business Consolidation and Integration 179

Implementing Integrated SEM 185

CFO Checklist 194

6 Analytics: Converting Data into Action 197

Broader Bottom-line Demands 202

Integrated Analytics: Transforming Data into Decisions 205

Increasing Customer Value through Analytics 207

Bringing Analytics to Supply Chain Management 214

Analytics: Transforming the Finance Function 220

Enriching Product Life Cycle Management (PLM) 227

Improving Human Resource (HR) Analytics 232

Getting Started: Analytics Critical Success Factors 235

CFO Checklist 241

7 Collaboration via the CFO Portal 243

Doubling Productivity 246

Choosing the Right Portal 249

Integration Outweighs Best-of-breed Technology 254

The Personalized Desktop 255

Why should the CFO Drive Portals? 258

A Journey, not a Destination 265

Growing your Finance Community 272

CFO Checklist 277

8 Managing Intangibles 279

Intangible Assets: The New Value Drivers 282

The Problems with Traditional Accounting 283

A New Approach to Performance Management 287

The Enterprise Control Panel 293

Harnessing Innovation and Customer Relationships 295

Value Creation through Value Networks 299

New Processes, New Skills, New Systems 304

Communicating Value Internally and Externally 305

CFO Checklist 313

9 Integrating for Corporate Integrity 315

Global GAAP and Accountability for Value 319

Rebuilding Public Trust 322

CFO as Independent Business Partner 326

The Corporate Reporting Supply Chain 327

Closing the Information Gap 331

Timely and Accurate Financial Reporting 333

Integrating Processes, People, and Technology 337

CFO Checklist 347

Epilogue 349

Biographies 353

Notes 359

Index 363

Cedric Read currently acts as a strategic advisor to SAP on the impact of eBusiness and technology on the finance function. He also works with Atos KPMG, providing consultancy services to CFOs in leading companies ranging from Shell and BP to Diageo and GlaxoSmithKline. Cedric Read served as a management consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) for close to 25 years. In his position as Global Leader of PwC's Financial Management Consultancy, he wrote two books, CFO: Architect of the Corporation's Future and eCFO: Sustaining Value in the New Corporation.

Hans-Dieter Scheuermann is senior vice president of SAP's General Business Unit Financials group, which has global responsibility for developing leading-edge new software products to support financial and managerial accounting, strategic enterprise management (SEM), and business analytics. Most recently, he has spearheaded an initiative to development sophisticated software solutions in financial supply chain management. Prior to his current position, he coordinated SAP software solutions for the financial services industry. "I believe our finance skills enable us to be great integrators. We are the bridge that connects the organization of today with the vision for tomorrow." STEVE DAVIS, VICE PRESIDENT, DOWNSTREAM BUSINESS SERVICES, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION

From complexity to simplicity - that's where the CFOs of today's world-class companies are headed. Propelled by globalization and new technology, and recent accounting scandals the CFO's role is shifting dramatically, from that of numbers interpreter to business integrator.

What demands will CFOs face now - and in the future?
* Mastering enterprise-wide integration tools

* Extracting ROI from technology investments

* Streamlining finance processes still further

* Improving analytics and decision support

* Managing outsourcing and external alliances

* Ensuring rigorous reporting and transparency
The CFO as Business Integrator addresses all these challenges - and more. It offers timely, practical advice and solutions for reshaping your finance function to exploit real-time information sharing, sophisticated decision support, and true globalization. The book features CFO interviews, original research, case studies, and action plans for creating proactive, value-adding finance initiatives. "This investment is all about integration of processes, data, technology, and, crucially, our culture. Knitting together our people and getting them to share and communicate is critical." PHIL BENTLEY, CFO, CENTRICA

"We look to globally share our information on brands, knowledge, consumer insights...What we need now is outstanding decision-support tools, built around our structured database...We need an analytical environment which will fuel our growth, not just cut our costs." GARY FAYARD, CFO, THE COCA COLA COMPANY

"What differentiates success in this industry is the ability to execute. This, coupled with our installed infrastructure represents our competitive advantage. More and more, we are being asked to build total solutions." JIM DALEY, CFO, EDS

"Our mantra in finance: driving superior performance and being more proactive. What, exactly, does this means? Driving functional excellence, setting standards, and developing KPIs for risk management and decision support. Our priorities in finance? Playing our part in developing our global business approach." WOLFGANG REICHENBERGER, CFO, NESTLE

Today, the CFO's role has moved beyond that of understanding and harnessing the awesome resources of eBusiness to proactively integrating those resources - across business functions, alliance partners, and geographic boundaries to create a truly global company. The CFO as Business Integrator is a practical, results-driven guide to reaping the benefits of new integration technology and shaping a new, forward-driving finance agenda around the financial supply chain, managed services, and advanced analytics and decision-support.