In a study of 320 controllers, Excel beat every specialist close and consolidation tool. 80% of close work still happens in spreadsheets. Less than 20% of time is spent inside ERPs or specialist R2R platforms. 

Why? Because the tools built to “automate” close never touched the real work- they wrapped workflows around tribal logic buried in 2,000+ spreadsheets.

The result? Month-end chaos disguised as structure. “Continuous close” that never materialized. And close the books in 10 Days. But fix them for the next 20

What You’ll Learn:

• The structural bottlenecks in financial close that no checklist can solve.
  Understand why most tools organize work but don’t automate or validate the logic behind journal entries, recons, and eliminations.
  
   
• How spreadsheets became the de facto R2R system architecture.
  Journal entries, recons, consolidations, everything critical runs through tribal Excel logic that no tool ever replaced.
  
   
• Why continuous close never worked and what’s finally making it real.
  Real-time anomaly detection now resolves 70% of issues mid-month, shrinking the close window before it even begins.
  
   

What a scalable, modern R2R model looks like with finance in control.
See how no-code tools and pre-built apps let accounting teams automate and manage logic-heavy tasks themselves without waiting on IT.

Increasing regulatory requirements, different e-invoicing formats and international standards such as ViDA present companies with complex challenges. The SAP integrated solutions and services of AFI Solutions enable the smooth processing of incoming and outgoing invoices - including conversion, mapping and connection to national and international e-invoicing networks such as PEPPOL. Find out in our presentation how you can future-proof your e-invoicing process in and with SAP and rely on proven solutions and innovative services.

AI Agents are transforming the financial world: 

They understand content, make decisions, and work like virtual colleagues side by side with human teams. The end-to-end automation of complex procure-to-pay processes is no longer a vision of the future – it is already a lived reality in leading enterprises. 

AI agents can fully automate back-office tasks across the entire procure-to-pay process – from accounting and contract validation to LZB, Intrastat, and customs reporting, all the way to ESG classifications. 

But what does this mean in practice for modern finance and accounting departments? Which tasks can AI agents completely take over – and how can the added value in terms of efficiency, compliance, and cost reduction be quantified? 

In this masterclass, you will learn: 

• How AI agents work – and what sets them apart from traditional automation solutions 
• How they integrate seamlessly into ERP systems and existing IT landscapes 
• Which data sources they leverage to make reliable decisions 
• Where the biggest opportunities for automation in the procure-to-pay process lie 
• How leading enterprises achieve seven-figure savings 

And as a highlight: a live demo where you will experience the technology in action!

The challenge: Ten companies with individual process structures. The goal: A uniform travel and expense management system for the entire Unzer GmbH. The result: A successful rollout with a significantly simplified process for travel and entertainment expenses—including more flexibility for users with company cards, reimbursements, and per diems.

In our masterclass, we show how we successfully implement strategic decisions, organizational measures, and technical solutions—and what makes the decisive difference. We also provide exclusive insights into the introduction of innovative features and their successful user acceptance.

Agentic Automation is fundamentally transforming finance by enabling AI-powered agents to collaborate with humans and software robots to identify, plan, and execute complex tasks—a paradigm shift from traditional rule-based automation. Finance executives benefit from a significant increase in capacity, freeing up valuable resources for strategic decision-making. The technology enables real-time analysis and shortens decision-making processes from weeks to minutes, while built-in control mechanisms ensure maximum accuracy and compliance. With proven successes such as massive time savings in report generation, Agentic Automation positions the CFO as a strategic innovation driver and optimal sparring partner for every business leader with a direct influence on the company's success. For forward-thinking financial decision-makers, this technology is not just an option, but a decisive competitive advantage in a rapidly evolving business world.

Discover how DeepL, a leading Language AI company, used Workday to build a world-class finance function from the ground up. This session will explore how strong leadership, teamwork, and training enabled their team to challenge conventional wisdom and create innovative solutions, like a new Workday Extend-based Supplier Portal and an automated customer payment matching solution, moving from external dependency to self-sufficiency.

Invoices, delivery notes, receipts – they arrive at your company every day. And your accounting department? Sorts, checks, forwards. Again and again. But how much time do you want to continue investing in manual processes? With the easy Mail Gateway and AI-supported document extraction, you can automate invoice receipt – intelligently, efficiently, and securely. Using dedicated invoice mailboxes, the system automatically recognizes incoming documents, extracts the relevant information, and transfers it to the system in a structured manner. In our presentation, we will show you how this combination can help you streamline your accounting processes, free up resources, and lay the foundation for future-oriented, strategic accounting.

When experienced employees leave, a gap often stays - processes come to a halt, innovations stagnate and the onboarding of new team members becomes a challenge. But there are solutions! In our masterclass, we show how companies can use strategic documentation and targeted knowledge management to preserve their expertise, increase efficiency and actively manage change. We also provide an outlook on AI tools that you can use to support you.

In a time where finance teams are stretched thin and expectations are rising, collaboration between accounting firms and clients is more crucial than ever. This session explores how smarter spend processes - not just tools - can create real efficiencies, reduce end-of-month stress, and strengthen the advisor-client relationship. You’ll hear what’s working in the field: practical workflow adjustments, lessons learned from digital transitions, and insights into building stronger financial ecosystems between SMEs and their accounting teams.

How can the change from classic reporting to an integrated real-time view of finance and controlling and a contemporary user experience be achieved? In this masterclass, GNS Gesellschaft für Nuklear-Service mbH and GAMBIT Consulting will provide a practical insight into a current transformation project: the development of a modern financial system based on the SAP Fiori design interface and the SAP Analytics Cloud analysis and planning solution. The focus is on the connection of financial and controlling data, concrete implementation steps as well as challenges and initial learnings on the way to future-oriented reporting and a modern UX - in real time and at a glance.

In our master class, we show how Tokai Cobex transitioned from an Excel-based planning process to integrated planning with SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC).

We provide insights into:

The challenges in Tokai Cobex's planning process
SAC Business Content and process adjustments made
Project approach and concrete results

Experience how planning can evolve from a complex Excel process to an integrated control tool.

Discover how Process Bionics can elevate your financial controls to the next level: by utilizing process mining and optimized internal control measures, your Internal Control System (ICS) management becomes a highly automated process. In our Masterclass, we will showcase the power of Deloitte’s Process Bionics Financial Controls Cockpit in a live demo. By reducing manual effort and compliance risks, our cockpit provides a smarter way to manage internal controls and gain valuable data-based insights to optimize your business and financial processes. 

What impact does e-invoicing have on the accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable (AR) process? How can an automated tax engine optimize the invoice-to-payment process? And what
are the key challenges and benefits of the VAT regulation in the area of
accounts payable?
We will answer these and many other crucial questions in our presentation - with a special focus on the rapidly evolving e-invoicing landscape in Germany and the requirements for VAT compliance.
An automated process in real time not only eliminates manual work steps, but also ensures
compliance with German tax regulations while saving costs, risks and
time. The e-invoice thus becomes your competitive advantage by significantly contributing to compliance with
regulations and supporting the automatic determination of the correct VAT treatment.
Find out more about a global platform for e-invoicing, VAT determination and
VAT compliance from a single source.

Instead of just looking to the past, these approaches allow us to look to the future: What will happen? And what should we do?

Predictive analytics identifies patterns, trends and deviations at an early stage - an intelligent look into the future that reduces uncertainty. Prescriptive analytics goes even further and shows concrete options for action: Which scenario leads to the best result?

In planning, this means less routine and more focus on what counts. Suggested values, automated plan details and the data-based mapping of standard business take the pressure off - and create space for real value creation by people.

The result: faster, more informed decisions, more resilient management - and a clear competitive edge.

Find out in this presentation how forward-looking approaches and methods contribute to increasing efficiency in the Record-2-Report area. The presentation will focus on three core areas: Financial Business Insights, the Group Reporting Review Booklet and AI-assisted error handling in individual financial statements. In the Financial Business Insights area, we will present the latest findings and trends in financial analysis and discuss how they can be used to optimize the Record-2-Report process. The Group Reporting Review booklet provides a comprehensive overview of best practices in group reporting and serves as a valuable tool for optimizing and standardizing reporting processes. Finally, we highlight the possibilities of artificial intelligence for faster identification and elimination of error sources in individual financial statements. We cordially invite you to attend this informative event and gain valuable insights to optimize your processes.

Excel is still the number one tool in controlling and Power BI continues to spread. Excel is unsurpassed in its flexibility but has many disadvantages such as the lack of data governance and security. Attempts to replace Microsoft tools usually fail. We discuss how
companies can solve this dilemma by supplementing Microsoft products rather than trying to replace them. Centralized data management and increasingly AI functions are the key to success. Look forward to 30 minutes of discussion with a few slides and many live examples!

Over 80% of companies recognize untapped potential in their net working capital (NWC) – but how can this potential be exploited in a targeted manner? In this masterclass, you will learn why traditional optimization approaches often reach their limits and how you can instead achieve real efficiency gains by taking a holistic view of order-to-cash and source-to-pay processes. Discover innovative strategies for securing your liquidity, shortening your cash conversion cycle, and making intelligent use of automation. Practical, future-oriented, and with direct added value for your company.