What is SAP ICMR?

Within a group, there are business relationships that take place between different subsidiaries. In order to meet the requirements of financial reporting at group level, these intra-group activities must be reconciled and offset against each other.

However, these reconciliation processes in the period-end closing are usually time-consuming and unstructured. With SAP ICMR, SAP provides a standard solution with which the reconciliation can be optimised and implemented both at the individual financial statement level and at the group financial statement level.

What does SAP ICMR stand for?

ICMR stands for Intercompany Matching and Reconciliation. SAP has delivered the solution as standard since the SAP S/4HANA On Premise 1909 release and since the SAP S/4HANA Cloud 1908 release. The intercompany processes are processed with ICMR in real time, i.e. without a separate data extraction (ETL process). They are not time-bound to the period-end closing.

What functions does SAP ICMR offer?

The previous solution SAP ICR already includes some functions that enable an improved reconciliation process. With SAP ICMR, SAP has fundamentally revised this process and added intuitive and automated enhancement solutions.

SAP ICMR reconciles the documents of the respective subsidiaries using flexible intercompany matching and reconciliation rules. In addition, the tool provides a variety of communication functions with which the analysed differences can be processed.

Companies can reconcile large amounts of data from various companies with each other in a structured manner. This is made possible by the flexibility in communication via SAP Fiori, the integration of workflow-based processes and/or via the option of automated correction postings.

The reconciliation results can also be clearly displayed graphically and follow-up processes are transparently logged. By linking ICMR with Group Reporting, it is also possible to trigger elimination entries from the intercompany reconciliation in preparation for the consolidated financial statements.

SAP ICMR offers the following basic functions:

• Real-time reconciliation and data collection
• Automated document assignment based on individual matching rules
• Fiori-based in-app communication
• External email communication with document information
• Workflow-driven follow-up activities and approval processes
• Automated posting process (e.g. for minor differences)
• Timed reconciliation activities
• Checking of reconciliation balances using real-time data
• Integration of external systems through flexible data upload (Excel template)
  

What are the advantages of SAP ICMR?

Through access to real-time data, the reconciliation processes can be carried out at any time. This counteracts the high level of selective effort in the period-end closing process.

The advantages of SAP ICMR at a glance:

• Automated processes reduce operational effort
• Workflows reduce the coordination time
• Clear and standardised communication accelerates processes
• Reporting function of the reconciliation improves transparency
• Early detection of differences simplifies consolidation
• Adjustment entries for differences are immediately visible in the ICMR

What does SAP ICMR cost?

ICMR is an out-of-the-box solution integrated with SAP S/4HANA. No licence is required, there are no additional licence costs.

SAP ICMR – with SAP Central Finance

SAP Central Finance is an application that supports central and global intercompany reconciliation. In Central Finance, data from a variety of financial systems is replicated in real time and processed centrally. Both non-SAP and SAP systems can be connected.

Since this is an SAP S/4HANA system, SAP ICMR is available licence-free directly after the implementation of Central Finance. The reconciliation of the connected systems takes place centrally on the basis of the replicated documents in the ICMR Cockpit.

The Universal Journal (ACDOCA) can be used as the data basis for reconciliation in SAP Central Finance, so that all documents to be reconciled originate from a standardised data structure (single source of truth).