When companies adopt Agile methods and an organisation-wide Agile mindset, one of the biggest challenges is to change the way Finance and Controlling departments work. However, even without a company-wide transformation, it makes sense to take a closer look at agility from a finance perspective.

• Why do current (controlling) methods in finance fail?
• How does complexity change the way we work?
• What is "Agile" and how can it help?
• How can finance departments reinvent themselves and become true business partners?

The ability to carry out situation-specific, quicker and more accurate credit assessments is becoming more and more crucial for businesses. Integrated solutions with real-time information provide assistance in supporting credit and cash flow management by identifying and reducing risks effectively. Using practical examples from the SOA People Credit Management Suite, the presentation specifically demonstrates:

• how to avoid bad debts
• how SAP can save you time with credit risk evaluations
• how you can combine internal and external information in credit risk assessments
• which manual processes can be automatized for your credit risk assessments

The growing complexity of accounting, internationalisation, increasingly tight deadlines for financial reports and quickly changing market situations are just some of the challenges that finance departments today are confronted with. We want to demonstrate why it is so important to meet these challenges with "Financial Performance Management Systems" and not with Excel. Learn from the first-hand experiences of speaker Raimund Hackenberger, chief financial officer of Hawesko GmbH, how the processes related to financial statements, planning and reporting have improved in just a short time thanks to LucaNet!

Agility, flexibility, speed: This is how finance departments are transforming from roadblockers to drivers of business transformation.

Finance managers are increasingly faced with the difficult task of supporting new, digital business models, including subscriptions, usage-based services and e-commerce orders. In addition to the underlying complex contractual relationships, mapping has to be carried out on digital payment methods, vouchers, country-specific accounting requirements, international sales tax regulation and reporting. In this masterclass, you will learn how innovative finance departments overcome these challenges and enable digital transformation.

Some studies predict that the classic profession of the accountant will die out due to digitization and automation. Not even close. Even if technical progress will make many of the traditional activities of the accountant redundant, completely new areas of responsibility will be added in parallel: In the future, he will take over the control and monitoring of computer-controlled systems and processes as well as digital maintenance. In addition, he will use the data and analysis to develop strategic concepts, formulate forecasts for future corporate development and take on strategic financial advice. But what new skills will an accountant need in the future to be prepared for the transformation in accounting? This is to be explained in more detail in the masterclass, especially how the accountant's profession will change exactly, which new skills are needed in the team, how employees need to be supported and trained in this process.

Accounting in e-commerce finds itself in a unique area of tension. It should be mandatory that mass data in different formats and from numerous sales channels, such as marketplaces and web shops, should be prepared and processed for accounting in an automatic form. Both the legal obligation to maintain individual records as well as financial management’s desire to document the life cycle of each transaction must be considered. Cross-border transactions also encompass additional challenges, such as complex VAT law. Solutions will be presented and discussed using the example of a large corporation that carries out more than a million transactions throughout the EU every month via Amazon and its own web shop.

How large are the capital assets of your business? What if you were able to obtain even 5% tax savings for your company? During this lecture, discover how to implement consistent digital processes with the help of intelligent automatization. Practical examples will show how you can improve the return on investment for your capital assets and thereby avoid discrepancies with the help of a complete audit trail.

What role does artificial intelligence play here? Why should you as a CFO or Head of Accounting already deal with this topic right now? Where is this heading? What does AI enable for the accounting of the future? Answers will be provided by our CAIO (Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer) Martin Rückert. In addition, you will discover which concrete possibilities artificial intelligence already provides for accounting and controlling in the present.

In this masterclass we look at the financial close, its challenges and potential. We take a further look at the current processes and present case studies on how you can optimize your close through standardization and automation.

The AQOUNT Order-to-Cash-Operating System allows merchants to roll out their online business models in a fast, international and compliant manner. How does this work? AQOUNT offers preconfigured bundles which can assist companies in implementing complex business requirements out of the box, for example, subscription models as well as the integration and reconciliation of local payment methods in international environments. Our industry experts offer support in choosing the correct Order-to-Cash-setup for companies from traditional e-commerce, streaming platforms and companies in the mobility industry. What could this look like? In his Masterclass, Michael Rogge will provide a demonstration with the aid of practical examples.

• Invoice processing without active intervention thanks to fully automated processes
• Increase in acceptance from suppliers due to the availability of multiple invoice options
• Invoice automatization with progressive KI-based matching functions
• Continuous improvement through predictive analysis

Automated processes allow finance departments more time for strategic tasks. Thanks to smart technologies such as Robotic Accounting and Optical Character Recognition (OCR), business transactions can be digitally captured, automatically checked, booked without any further processing and supplier invoices can be released for payment. One company that has been successfully using the solutions since 2013 is Hilton Food Group. Over 2,500 incoming invoices are processed here every week. The group-wide accounts payable department manages complex invoices quickly, effectively and cost-efficiently. Over 80% of invoices are read immediately and reconciled automatically. Hilton uses Onventis digital invoice processing solutions in seamlessly integrated interaction with S4/HANA. Learn how to increase your spend ROI with invoice automation in the Onventis Master Class.

The accounting scandal of former DAX-listed company Wirecard rocked the world of finance. The "German Enron case", as Wirecard has been called, is undoubtedly a special case. Nevertheless, accounts continue to be manipulated. In order to detect this faster, awareness needs to be raised among employees and management.

• How are accounts falsified these days?
• How were accounts falsified in current cases (e.g., Wirecard)?
• What are the typical warning signs of manipulation?
• How can account manipulations be detected sooner?