The big costs test: Do you have unallocated costs in SAP?
In this blog post, we look at the basic relationships between external and internal accounting in SAP, and, more precisely: between expenses in external accounting and their allocation to elements in cost accounting, such as cost centers or cost objects. A simple analysis consists of looking to see whether there are expenses in accounting that […]
Who’s been fiddling around with my SAP system? – this is how you can tell!
For SAP to work the way you need it to in your company, you have to adjust the system extensively to the individual requirements of your organization – this is also known as “customizing”. If the customizing is changed, the way your SAP system behaves is also changed. Therefore, you should always be able to […]
3-Way-Match Part 2: Cheap to order, but expensive to buy – When can something like that happen?
In this blog post, we are going to take another look at the 3-Way Match. This time it’s about an order being placed at the beginning of a purchase process and there of course being an invoice at the other end. Things start to get interesting when the amounts on the order suddenly turn out […]
3-Way Match Part 1: Delivered as ordered? – Here’s how to find out!
Our topic today looks at a “classic” in the area of internal controls in purchasing: the 3-Way Match. The 3-Way Match as a control assumes that order quantities, incoming goods quantities and quantities invoiced by the supplier must correspond. As usual, we want to take a data-oriented approach. So I’ll be showing you how you […]
Cash is King – 3 steps for finding payments made “by roundabout means”
Disbursements in SAP should follow strictly defined processes in accounting. A good internal control system can only be based on a well-defined process. Since outgoing payments have a direct effect on the assets of every company, every auditor – and of course every accounting manager too – should have a major interest in ensuring a […]
Overdelivery made easy
You pay for what you ordered! That’s usually the simple rule. However, some companies place so many orders that it is difficult to keep track of all of them and the SAP system is there to help ensure that vendors do not deliver more than was actually ordered. In this blog post, you can find […]
When the cat might as well have eaten the balance sheet
In fact, when reading the cases described below, you would probably not be surprised if even some cats would prefer to pull the covers back up over their heads again. Still, the following scandals from the recent past show that balance sheet manipulation is by no means a phenomenon of the past and one company […]
How to discover dubious posting structures in SAP
In today’s blog post, we are going to take a look at how to identify “dubious” posting structures within SAP’s financial accounting. I will show you how to quickly find posting structures in SAP and how to know which ones you should perhaps take a closer look at, because they do not meet the usual […]
Balance sheet cosmetics or manipulation?
Balance sheet manipulations have made quite an impact in the media in recent years with cases like Enron and WorldCom. But, beyond that, there has been a series of inconsistencies in the more recent past that have affected almost every industry. Recent cases include the Serie A in Italy, where two clubs are currently threatened […]
Is someone giving your sales revenues a “haircut”?
Giving sales revenues a “haircut” is often a way of helping managing directors and sales managers when their targets are slipping away from them. We look at this specific pattern of manipulation of sales revenues and how you can identify it in your SAP data. The sales revenue “haircut” with no effect on net income […]