SAP SE (SAP) announced today that Klarna, one of Europe´s leading payment providers for online stores, has become the first customer to go live with smart accounting for financial instruments (smart AFI), a new functionality based on the SAP® Bank Analyzer set of applications, 9.0 release.
In just three months SAP implemented the solution including accounting rules configuration, data integration and a full setup of the SAP HANA® database environment, proving that up-leveling market and product growth does not have to be a long and arduous process.
Smart AFI helps Klarna retain a competitive edge by offering a centralized subledger solution to allow for rapid expansion into new regions and differentiated product offerings. With this SAP solution Klarna is able to run a fully compliant accounting solution for its business according to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and U.S. GAAP standards while laying the foundation for a centralized accounting, reporting and compliance process. SAP used a "banking factory" approach, pulling in business and technical experts who closely collaborated with development teams on built-in solutions and architectures. Those experts have remained available to Klarna as resources long after the implementation went live.
"Our growth necessitated a centralized accounting system, one that gave us visibility across regional lines of business," said Max Fischer, vice president, Klarna. "We were concerned that getting that visibility would take a substantial amount of time and resources, but with SAP we were able to do it in only three months and with zero lag time in operations. It's had a positive impact on our business."
Built on the structure of SAP Bank Analyzer 9.0, smart AFI is a subledger for financial instruments that integrates directly into a company's accounting documentation chain. Smart AFI replaces the classic AFI as the new flagship of the accounting engine in SAP Bank Analyzer, developed and optimized for SAP HANA. The subledger can handle multiple GAAP policies, making it a smart choice for those companies that operate across geographies. For this project, the smart AFI system from SAP drastically reduced implementation times and cost by simplifying accounting processes, reducing data volume and boosting the speed of business processes.
"The opportunity to partner with Klarna on this work was incredibly exciting for us," said Reto Sager, global head of services for Financial Services Industries, SAP. "We now know that good business outcomes don't always have to be tied to multiyear, multimillion-dollar projects. We learned that monumental change can happen in a short amount of time when there's trust, close collaboration and a commitment to delivering the best technology and expertise."