Anna Meehan

There’s a new reality in Manufacturing: to stay competitive, you need to treat your suppliers like gold. Traditional methods of driving down costs, such as squeezing payment terms or negotiating rock-bottom pricing, are no longer sustainable because they strain supplier relationships and increase the risk of disruption. Finance teams are seeing an increasing need for better supplier experiences as well as financial control and cost efficiency.

By managing vendor relationships, maintaining cash flow and providing accurate financial reporting, Accounts Payable plays a central role in keeping businesses running smoothly. That’s why AP departments need a good mix of precision, speed and strong internal controls.

AP teams upgrade to S/4 HANA for improvements in performance, automation and invoice processing. As they evaluate their tech stack and prepare to migrate, many teams assume this upgrade will also include better controls against costly errors like duplicate and overpayments. Our research shows that isn’t the case. We analysed our customers' data — both pre- and post-S/4 HANA migration — and we found a consistent truth: even the most modern ERP systems, including S/4 HANA, still need additional ...

For too long, Accounts Payable teams have relied on standard controls for common problems such as fraud risks or payment errors. However, these methods consistently fall short. Some organisations still lose a whopping 5% of their revenue to fraud and overpayments each year.

This edition of The AP Arms is all about how to measure success in Finance Transformation projects. David Willis, Regional Director at OJC Consulting, joins Xelix Partnerships Lead Fred Leeming to have a conversation about the challenges finance teams face, how to define success and why user adoption and change management are critical for long-term success.

With the 2027 deadline to upgrade to S4 HANA fast approaching, it's important to start your ERP migration as soon as possible or at the very least, have a plan in place.