SAP is constantly evolving, and the increasing requirements of the customers and S4 HANA are evidence of that. There are many articles about the innovations and improvements in SAP S4 HANA; however, we believe the practical opinion of a CO expert is essential as knowledge.
Here is what Mrs. Nina Begazheva, Senior CO consultant at Orka BG, shares based on the implementations performed during the last years.
Budget Availability Control for Cost Centers
From CO point of view, the most significant innovation is the Budget Availability Control for Cost Centers that is available as of SAP S/4HANA 1909 on-premises. It is definitely one of the much-awaited functionalities of SAP S/4HANA.
We all know budgeting and cost control are fundamentals for controlling. Every company organizes its overheads based on the budget. With S4, our clients are benefiting from the possibility to perform real-time budget availability control on their spending.
What I found very exciting is that this new functionality makes it possible to perform a budget check at the time of Purchase Requisition / Purchase Order creation against a Cost Center and the actual expense booking directly to the Cost Center.
In contrast to the other budget functionalities in CO/PS modules (internal orders and projects), Cost Center Budget Control is much more detailed now. It is imported per account group and a cost center and can be split on a monthly basis.
Budget Availability Control Check
Another important advantage is the budget availability check performed per budget position (account group and cost center). Like the other budget functionalities in CO /PS modules, in terms of time, the Cost Center Budget Availability control checks the available budget amounts on an annual basis. It is something that can be improved in the future.
The economic environment forces the business to be extremely careful with costs spending. Carrying out budget controls on a monthly basis is an option that’s great to be developed.
The Cost Center Budget Report is a FIORI app that enables the monitoring of what has been spent, the commitments, and what is left of the budget for each budget position. Line-item detailed report is also available.
Overall, Cost Center Budget Control is an excellent tool for those companies not using Fund Management but looking to have tight control on direct/indirect overheads.