CFOs facing 'perfect storm' of accounting regulation

Enterprise application software provider SAP today announced enhancements to its revenue accounting platform designed to help CFOs and chief accounting officers master new IFRS standards.

Commenting on the changes, SAP Australia and New Zealand CFO Gina McNamara said: “CFOs are facing a perfect storm of accounting regulation, with three major IFRS standards converging in rapid succession. Time to implement these new processes is running out."

"It takes approximately 18 months for the average Fortune 1,000 company to make a change of this magnitude, and we just passed that point in the countdown to the mandatory effective date of the new standards. Corporate finance departments should act now to ensure that they are prepared for the transition and have the right tools to automate and simplify the process.”

These newly implemented accounting standards apply to all entities — public, private and not-for-profit — that have contracts with customers, and will supersede virtually all current revenue accounting requirements.

New features in the SAP Revenue Accounting and Reporting 1.2 release include cost recognition, capitalised costs integration with project systems and results analysis from SAP, improved contract combination and modification capabilities, and integration with service and billing scenarios in the SAP Customer Relationship Management application, plus advanced features for transition to the new IFRS 15/ASC 606 accounting standards.