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Consultant News from Sapphire

Welcome to the latest edition of our Sapphire Consultants Newsletter.

I would like to thank all of you who joined us at  the recent Consultant Market Update for your positive feedback on the event... and I very much hope that you found Gary's presentation a worthwhile and informative session.  We will shortly be announcing the program of consultant events for the first quarter of 2008 so please check our consultant seminar page regularly for updates.

For those of you that did attend you will know that David Singh has recently joined the Sapphire team as Sales and Marketing Director.  We are very pleased to have David on board at Sapphire as he is highly regarded in our industry as a product and customer champion.  David is a certified accountant with a wealth of knowledge acquired over 20 years in the business solutions market.  The newest member of the Sapphire team, David brings with him 15 years of experience working with SunSystems.  He has held senior roles, as both an end user of SunSystems and in support and consultancy positions with SunSystems providers. 

I am always keen find out what you think of the Sapphire newsletter, as well as any feedback you may have on Sapphire’s service to you as a whole, so please email me your thoughts at ian.caswell@sapphiresystems.co.uk.

Implementing ERP - Lessons Learned from the Front

Click here to download your free copy

Executive Summary:

With ERP expertise that spans 30 years, SAP talks about these experiences and particularly the following four important principles:

• Successful implementations start and end with the involvement and contribution of senior executive leaders. It is they who provide the governance and management necessary to achieve organisational buy-in throughout the process - and ensure that goals are achieved.

• Success also requires confidence that implementing ERP software achieves true value for the organisation – value measured in substantial process improvement.

• Implementation has a lifecycle, with some of the most important phases at the start – requirements gathering, business case development, and solution design.

• Implementation programs with the set goal of “replacing systems” – without mentioning process improvement – are doomed to failure.

Best practice indicates that a successful implementation can in fact force an organisation to re-evaluate its business practices and processes, focus on clearly defined goals and objectives, create a higher understanding of the need for data accuracy, emphasise time phased material planning, and enable a more effective data-sharing environment.

The SAP Insight draws lessons about what has been done well, what has yet to be done well, best practices from large commercial company implementations, and best practices for the governance of implementations that achieve the results and benefits foreseen.  Click here to download your free copy

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Seizing Control of Corporate Spend Whitepaper

Click here to download your free copy

Introduction:

Few Finance Directors can truly say they have expenditure under control. Few have visibility of costs and commitments and few can proactively manage budgets.

Even in today's world of ERP, business intelligence and corporate automation systems, few company executives can influence what their organisation buys, from who - and on what terms.

 When it comes to expenditure most company directors still occupy a reactive management role. They have no real means to tighten the corporate belt during tough times or even to avert financial disaster before it occurs.

Yet the pressures to improve corporate governance are greater than ever before. Major corporate accounting scandals can make for a shaky economy. Businesses are under heavy scrutiny, having to justify expenditure and demonstrate control. Perhaps it is because of these increasing pressures that a new wave of enterprise software is gaining popularity.

More and more organisations are implementing Spend Control software to take control of expenditure, improve cost-base visibility and ensure that value for money is truly achieved.

This paper examines how Spend Control software is deployed across some of the world's leading organisations, and in multiple business sectors, tackling these problems head-on. Click here to download your free copy

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Sapphire named as top Infor Reseller

Sapphire Systems plc triumphs with the highest number of new customers for Infor Financials in 2007

Sapphire was recently announced as the winner of the “FY07 Most New Name Contract Wins” award, at the recent Infor Channel Partner event in Barcelona.

Sapphire - an Infor FMS SunSystems Channel Partner since the mid-1990s - is justifiably proud of its long and successful track record that includes: the fastest growing SunSystems Channel Partner in the World (2000-2001), the Global Number 1 SunSystems Channel Partner for 5 consecutive years, along with the most recent addition: the winner of the “FY07 Most New Name Contract Wins” award for the most new customers for Financials solutions during the last year in the EMEA region.

Commenting on winning the award Ian Caswell, Managing Director at Sapphire said “I am delighted to see the hard work of our SunSystems team recognised with this award. A good proportion of our new business comes as a direct result of customer recommendations, which is a great endorsement of the team’s dedication and expertise.”

He goes on to say “I am sure that our success is due to having a dedicated SunSystems team; the team currently has a combined experience of some 2,500 implementations, which gives our customers access to one of the most knowledgeable teams of SunSystems consultants in Europe Middle East & Africa. We are also proud to have one of the highest ratios of Support Consultants to customers in the industry.”

Steven Rees-Pullman, EMEA VP of channels for Infor, added, "We are delighted with the first class service that Sapphire has provided over the last 10 years of our relationship. We really value the deep domain expertise of Sapphire's sales, professional services and support staff and this latest award is a real testament to the depth of this experience."

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Star Energy select Proactis from Sapphire 

Onshore UK Oil Producer selects Proactis from Sapphire

Sapphire are pleased to announce that it is to supply and implement the Proactis Spend Control solution at Star Energy.

Star Energy develops and operates gas storage facilities via the conversion of oil and gas fields. In addition to their gas storage business, they own and operate 26 oil and gas fields within the UK.

Steve Pawson, Group Financial Controller at Star Energy, set about sourcing a new procurement solution earlier this year as the company had outgrown their existing system. Steve explained “The solution that we were using wasn’t flexible enough for our needs as it was really designed to be used by accountants rather than operationally minded people. We were after a system that could be used with ease throughout the company and also provide managers with real time visibility of their departments’ and the company’s financial commitments.”

Steve turned to Sapphire, providers of Star Energy’s SunSystems financial accounting solution, to assist with the project. “Our Sapphire Account Manager, Lucy Roberts, did a lot of the work in identifying the procurement solution that would best fit our needs” said Steve. “We found her assistance in helping us to meet our requirements invaluable.”

In taking the decision to implement Proactis Steve said “Proactis was deemed the most appropriate solution for Star Energy as it would smooth the procurement process, cut paper use and give us an intuitive interface that can be used effortlessly by everyone in the company.”

In addition, further requirements for managing expenses and management of stores had been brought to light, both of which can be handled by the Proactis solution. The Stores module in Proactis enables users to take advantage of economies of scale with functionality to manage storage and allocation of stock.  Once Proactis is in place Steve says “We are looking forward to benefiting from peoples’ time being freed up, which will enable them to focus on more value added activities.”

Lucy Roberts, Account Manager at Sapphire, concludes “Proactis is great for helping organisations take control of their costs, streamline procurement and manage expenditure. It is very user-friendly and can be customised to suit each individual user. Being a web-based solution further enhances usability as it does not require key members of staff to be in the office for authorisation purposes. We are delighted to be working with Star Energy on this important project which will facilitate their efficient operation for the future.”

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SunSystems Case Study: JAC Travel         

JAC Travel is a privately owned, forward thinking travel group that works closely in partnership with its clients and suppliers around the world.  Every aspect of JAC’s operation is geared toward speed and efficiency, from their online booking system through to their back office operations. 

In recent years the company has invested heavily in the latest technology in order to benefit staff and customers alike, enabling the company to provide an extremely wide range of travel related products and services to clients throughout the world.

Due to the successful growth of the company, Financial Director, Steve O’Hara and his team at JAC were struggling with their incumbent financial accounting solution which was integrated with the operations system - and was starting to creak at the seams.  The management team came to the conclusion that a pure accounting system would be a more appropriate fit for the company.  In addition, JAC had a requirement for their accounting solution to work in 4 different currencies, which the old system was unable to do.

JAC’s Financial Controller, Anwer Chandoo, was tasked with sourcing and implementing a new solution.  As part of his research he attended a conference and exhibition in London, where he met with Sapphire and was introduced to SunSystems.

Following a comprehensive review process Anwer short-listed SunSystems and MS Dynamics GP before concluding that SunSystems would be the best fit for JAC. 

In explaining the decision Anwer tells us “In comparison to other systems we felt that SunSystems offered superior reporting and would provide more information on our data. It was also able to cope with the requirements we have for working in multiple currencies and is more user-friendly.  The installation period for SunSystems was more or less the same as for MS Dynamics GP, but analysis codes can be developed more easily in SunSystems – plus the licensing structure means that long-term we will save money with SunSystems.” 

He goes on to say “During the initial phases of looking for the right solution, Sapphire’s personnel were very professional and presented the software well.  They gave us very tailored information and really listened to what we wanted, rather than giving us the hard sell.  We were reassured by the approach and felt we could work well with the team at Sapphire.”

Commenting on the installation, Anwer said “The Sapphire consultant that implemented and designed our solution was absolutely amazing.  He was extremely patient and very efficient – and the implementation took a lot less time than we had anticipated.  He also transferred all the relevant data over from our last system which has been a terrific help to us.  The roll-out was completed well within the timeframe agreed and we were very confident in the new solution when we started working with it on a day to day basis.”

Now that JAC have been using SunSystems for a while, the finance department is benefiting from significant time savings. In addition, they now have complete confidence in all the reports they run, now that data manipulation in Microsoft Excel is no longer a requirement.  Anwer comments “The system is very fast and we get great reporting with the SunSystems Vision reporting tool for documents such as supplier statements.  We used to prepare these in Excel which could take 4 to 5 days, now it’s all done in the click of a button.”

JAC have one network covering their sites in London and Scotland, with a total of around 10 people logged into the SunSystems solution throughout the day, and they have had no problems training 2 recent additions to the team in how to use the system.  Anwer observes “If you have accounting knowledge then it’s pretty obvious how SunSystems works.”

The finance team at JAC also benefit from the strong integration links that SunSystems has with other systems.  Anwer says “We have integrated SunSystems with our banking system – Barclays Business Master - to good effect and have introduced eConnect from Albany to deal with remittance advice.  This was introduced to us by Sapphire and we have found it very time efficient and reliable.  Our plans for the future include upgrading our Vision solution to Vision 6 at the beginning of our next financial year.”

In describing the level of service JAC receive, and their working relationship with Sapphire, Anwer says “From the time we decided to implement SunSystems, to the present day, we have been very happy with Sapphire.  All Sapphire staff are very helpful and the support team in particular are great – they compare very favourably to the support we receive from our other software suppliers and deal with any issues we have right away.”

Anwer concludes “If you are looking for a new financial accounting system, I would definitely recommend SunSystems from Sapphire.  The solution is user friendly, the reports are excellent and the service provided by Sapphire is outstanding.”

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Climate Change in the Accountancy Profession

 We can't escape climate change. It has infiltrated our daily press reports. It is a mainstream subject in political debate. While climate change is a natural phenomena that has taken place over millennia, it is the speed with which the change is now accelerating, and the huge contribution to climate change that is now accepted as human-made that concerns us all. Niki Leahy FSN senior writer looks at the impact of climate change on the role of the accountant.

The effects of disruptive weather patterns on flooded homes and businesses in several parts of the UK this summer have been stark. Climate change is both an economic and environmental challenge. Swiss Re, the world's largest insurer estimate that annual global damages from the effects of climate change could reach $150 billion in less than ten years. The Society of Lloyds recently noted that between the 1960's and 1990's the number of natural catastrophes doubled, while insurance losses increased seven fold.

Risk aversion drives climate change up the business agenda, with a majority of companies recognising that it at least poses regulatory risks to their business. The recently published Fourth Carbon Disclosure Project records that, “taking climate risks into account is now becoming part of smart financial management. Failure to do so may well be tantamount to an abdication of fiduciary responsibility and indication of poor management”.

The effects of climate change on business are now becoming widely documented, in terms of changes to markets, customers, supply chains and demand curves. Climate change impacts business value by encroaching on regulatory compliance, competitive position and corporate reputation. The most prominent and immediate risk relating to climate change is rising energy costs, and the emerging monetization of carbon.

The accountancy profession has a pivotal role in assessing, reporting and auditing sustainability information. Measurements of the effects of climate change and carbon management are integral to sustainability accounting, particularly in the light of increased director liability and board accountability for risk management. The measurement and reporting of carbon emission output also has implications for assurance and external verification procedures.

Carbon management requires a systematic and rigorous assessment of the impact of greenhouse gas emissions on the organization's commercial strategy, assets values, investments and operational activities. Companies also need to assess the risks, threats and opportunities for their business associated with operating in a carbon constrained economy.

The disclosure of annual organisational output of greenhouse gas emissions is becoming a standard reporting item for many businesses. It directly related to the assessment and disclosure of visible and potential corporate liabilities arising from climate change. Effective carbon management requires a company to maximise the value of its carbon assets, in order to capitalise on new low carbon products and services, (including emissions trading). It also requires the company to minimise the financial impact of its carbon liabilities.
 

By placing a price on carbon, the 1997 Kyoto Treaty established a rudimentary carbon economy. In the EU this is manifest in the Emissions Trading Scheme, (EU ETS) which began in 2005, and which will enter a second phase in 2008. The problems of the first phase of the Scheme are well documented in terms of the over supply or over issue of carbon allowances. The second phase of the Scheme aims to reduce the amount of allowances available, tightening supply and thereby encouraging companies to cut their carbon dioxide output. In addition, the present UK government has promised to meet stricter targets than those agreed at Kyoto on cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 2010. Policy watchers expect that this burden will fall on business sectors currently outside the remit of the EU ETS, including aviation, retailing, leisure services, parts of the public sector and non intensive small and medium sized business energy users. Companies incorporated in the Scheme will need to keep records of energy consumption from which targets for cutting usage would be set by government.

Despite the current political wrangling over the allocation of national carbon allowances, it is widely expected that the second phase of the EU ETS will increase the regulatory burden and costs to business associated with their output of GHG emissions. It will also maximise the value of issued carbon allowances, thus giving firms incentives to capitalise on potentially valuable assets and project based carbon credits.

An EU company participating in the ETS should account for the emissions allowances it receives from the regulator as intangible assets. As it produces emissions, it needs to recognise a liability for the obligation to deliver allowances to cover those emissions. The accountant's role will be to integrate climate change and carbon finance issues into mainstream investment decision making and management strategy. This means accountants should estimate the commercial risks of future carbon constraints, and their likely impact upon corporate performance and shareholder value. The effective management of carbon risk requires that any asset divestiture, acquisition or alteration to operational plans is assessed in terms of its impact on the output of GHG emissions. Due diligence should also consider the impacts of GHG emissions and other measures of sustainability on asset values.

Accountants are also developing standardised accounting tools to incorporate GHG emissions & credits into balance sheet assets or liabilities, as well as ensuring that actuarial guidance considers all aspects of climate change. Guidance on accounting for GHG emissions is increasingly included in tax planning and risk management procedures, so that tax efficient mechanisms for dealing with emissions credits are used.

Accountants are integral in the development of rating mechanisms for carbon credits arising from emission reduction projects, and for rating the credit quality of counterparties to emissions trades. They are also responsible for developing quantitative tools for incorporating carbon risks into debt ratings.

Accountants have a key role in the assessing the impact that changing patterns of supply and demand for carbon will have on the company's energy supplies. The accountancy function should also evaluate the value to the organisation from reducing GHG emissions via fuel switching and increased operational and energy efficiency. This encompasses the investment appraisal of the company's energy efficiency options, as well as potential investment in dedicated electricity generating plants and combined heat and power production. There are various commercially available integrated planning models that assess forward price curves and material impacts on asset valuation from variations to carbon emissions and fuel costs. Carbon management implementation plans identify both technical and enabling measures as well as feasibility studies required to implement carbon reduction measures.

Both the Climate Change Bill published earlier this year, and the recently published UK energy white paper indicates that businesses face increasing curbs on emissions of greenhouse gases. These will incorporate both regulatory measures as well as fiscal restraints. Future articles will consider other economic instruments designed to minimise the climate change impact of the business sector. Systematic carbon management will increasingly offer companies opportunities for driving strategic advantage and commercial competitiveness. Incorporating carbon prices into mainstream financial planning is here to stay.

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