SAP® Business Consolidation for SAP BW/4HANA
Future-proof consolidation solutionAnyone who has to prepare consolidated financial statements as a company or within a group of companies must comply with various accounting standards. These include, above all, IFRS and HGB. In order to do this efficiently and audit-proof, professional group accounting relies on modern solutions such as SAP BCS/4HANA. The tool allows individual companies to be consolidated while managing complex reporting requirements.
What is SAP BCS/4HANA?
BCS stands for Business Consolidation. This is the actual tool used to prepare consolidated financial statements. HANA stands for SAP’s database system, on which the current product portfolio is based. The data usually comes from a source system such as S/4HANA.
Many companies are currently facing the challenge of having to decide on a new system for consolidation because SAP BW NetWeaver is to be discontinued by 2027. BW/4HANA is regarded as the strategic successor product and is one of the most modern data warehouse solutions currently available on the market. Migrating to SAP BCS/4HANA is therefore an obvious choice.
What can SAP BCS/4HANA be used for?
SAP BCS4/HANA enables group-wide consolidation. This includes reconciling receivables and payables, eliminating interim results and taking internal business transactions into account. Both IFRS and HGB financial statements can also be created in the SAP world, including specific requirements such as the treatment of goodwill in the course of company acquisitions. SAP BCS/4HANA is considered to be particularly flexible for mapping complex corporate structures.
SAP BCS/4HANA is based on the SAP BW/4HANA business warehouse, which goes far beyond the standard when complex logics need to be mapped. In addition, SAP BCS/4HANA can be linked to the existing SAP ERP infrastructure because both solutions draw on the data in the S/4HANA upstream systems. At the same time, SAP BCS/4HANA fulfills all current requirements of auditors and thus guarantees transparent and audit-proof financial statements.
Range of functions in detail
Administration
- Upload and download of individual selections
- Method assignment dependent on master data of the consolidation units
- Version-dependent assignment of account assignment categories to items
- Adjustment of deferred taxes for tax rate changes
- Status changes of the monitor with numerous selection options
- Cleaning up incorrect monitor statuses
Consolidation
- Discontinuation of cross-period predecessor measures
- Simplified implementation of a rolling forecast via restatements
- Assignment of special hierarchy versions for each hierarchy-capable characteristic using restatements
- Option to suppress the immediate automatic inversion of documents by means of restatements
- Adjustment of first-time consolidation in the attributes of the consolidation unit hierarchy
Data transfer
- Direct reading of reporting data from BW info providers, without replication in the totals record aDSO
- Direct copying of documents, i.e. an improved copy function for journal entries
- Improved usability when entering manual documents
- Consistency checks when reversing and inverting documents (activated by new settings in the consolidation area)
Reporting
- Multiple selection of consolidation groups in the listing of line items
- Data streaming in InfoProvider for reporting
- New possibilities for matrix consolidations (e.g. profit centers or segments) by using appropriate hierarchies
The challenges of migration
If you want to migrate from SAP BW NetWeaver to SAP BCS/4HANA, you must first decide on S/4HANA as the data provider and then BCS/4HANA to create the consolidated financial statements. A reliable project plan that clarifies how long the migration will take and whether the add-on license offered by SAP is sufficient to meet the requirements is crucial.
What do you need for the change?
- BW/4HANA must be available.
- You must obtain a license for BCS/4HANA, even if you previously used the SAP® Strategic Enterprise Management Business Consolidation System.
SAP® Business Consolidation for SAP BW/4HANA or SAP S/4HANA® Finance for Group Reporting
Alternatively, SAP offers Group Reporting , another solution for consolidation that, as a strategic product, is increasingly being delivered via the cloud. Group Reporting is optimized for IFRS-compliant companies. However, companies that follow the German Commercial Code (HGB) or have complex consolidation requirements—such as the elimination of intercompany results—will find this tool has its limitations. Here, SAP BCS/4HANA offers decisive advantages thanks to its flexibility and greater adaptability.
With concellens: Choosing the Right SAP Setup
concellens is synonymous with excellent consulting services in corporate consolidation. We help you find the right SAP setup for your company. To do so, we rely on a clearly structured approach:
Preliminary Meeting
What systems and licenses are you currently using? What are your goals?
Strategic Workshop
Together, we’ll analyze the complexity of your group consolidation requirements and determine whether BCS/4HANA or Group Reporting is the best solution for you.
System Preview
In a demo system, we’ll show you live how the system works and what features you can expect. We’ll provide the necessary sample data for this.
Minutes of the Results
To help you make an informed decision, we will provide you with a detailed decision-making template that includes specific recommendations for action.
Why concellens?
With our expertise in SAP consolidation solutions and a clearly structured consulting process, we help you find the optimal solution for your needs—whether you’re migrating from a non-SAP system, streamlining your existing SAP environment, or implementing a completely new consolidation system.
Patrick Feldmann
Senior Business Consultant
Philipp Benz
Project manager
Your contact persons
If your company is facing the challenge of introducing a new consolidation system or optimizing existing processes, arrange a non-binding preliminary meeting today. Let’s work together to ensure that your group consolidation is future-proof and efficient.
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