Academy of Better Business

Polish specificity in SAP roll-out implementations

What corporate consultants do not know

Many Polish units of multinational concerns use corporate SAP solutions that do not take into consideration Polish characteristic legal regulations. It is worth knowing what dangers this may cause and how to prevent them.

Polish version needs customizing

SAP is a multi-language system, and its Polish version has been available in its standard for many years. This means that every company in the world may use SAP also in Polish. However, in the areas which comprise typically Polish legal regulations some SAP functionalities must be customized (implemented) according to those regulations.

First of all, a concern must be aware that such a necessity exists. Moreover, the implementation should involve people who can reflect local specifity in SAP. The consultants from the concern’s  headquarters, who developed a corporate solution and then implemented (or implement) it in other countries, usually do not have this knowledge.

Finance is most characteristic

The above mentioned specificity concerns mainly finance (financial accounting – FI; assets accounting –FI-AA, and TR – Treasury).

In the area of financial accounting the following elements of a corporate SAP solution should be adjusted: a chart of acounts, reports generated by the system and based on the chart of accounts, VAT tax codes and registers, settings of currencies and exchange rates, document types, reversal  reason, dividing costs and income into tax deductible and non-deductible, and finally cash desk.

The specificity in assets accounting stems from the necessity to adjust assets reports, methods and rates of amortization and depreciation areas in the chart of valuation. In the treasury module one should remember to configure bank data and the formats of data exchange with bank systems (payments, bank statements).

Other areas

In controlling the local specificity is much less vital, as there are no legal provisions that impose particular solutions. Besides, a corporation most often has its own standards of management accounting which must be met in various countries in order to enable reporting data according to homogenous rules.

In sales and distribution area (SD module) the specificity concerns information content of sales invoices, managing sales correcting invoices, managing EU and export transactions and automatic posting. In material management (MM module) the local characteristic must be considered in invoice recording, managing EU transactions, a reporting system and automatic posting.

Finally, local requirements play a substantial role in HR management, including  personnel management (like holiday regulations, work safety regulations), and also in payroll and printouts.

Tax controls and auditors

A failure to take into consideration the Polish specificity means that the SAP system used in a Polish unit  will not meet the requirements provided for by acts and laws on  accountancy, tax, foreign exchange etc.

In an extreme case a failure to meet those demands may result in delaying tax and attract the attention of  tax or revenue controlling bodies. It may also make it much more difficult, if not downright impossible, to create legally required reports and statements for tax offices, , social security, statistical or Warsaw Stock Exchange bodies. This is especially important in VAT, excise, CIT or PIT areas. Moreover, it may lead to a negative opinion of an auditor in terms of account books kept  with the use of a ‘foreign’ system.

When a concern prepares a SAP roll-out in Poland 

It is most often the concern’s headquarters that decide when a corporare SAP solution is moved to a next conutry. If there are such plans ahead, it is a good idea to prepare the company in the best way possible so that the implementation works are carried out quickly and efficiently and the system with its future users are properly prepared to work, while the target solutions are compliant with the law. 

A good contact with those in the concern who are responsible for a SAP roll-out is important. They are most often IT employees from the headquarters, a separate company that deals with IT in the corporation or else an external consulting company that supports the headquarters in SAP area.

At the beginning it is advisable to look through the corporate solution documentation, especially the project chart or a similar document which includes information on the implementation scope and phases and concepts and configuration of particular SAP modules. It is also important to learn about system test documentation, end user manuals and the documentation describing the way and scope of introducing an opening balance in particular modules.

The lack of any of those documents should be considered a possible threat to phases of an implementation. Most documents should be available in Polish both for proper system use and for control.

It may be advisable to check if the roll-out model  adopted by a concern includes proper user training. For many of them a foreign language may be a barrier impossible to overcome and then the training will not bring the desired effect.

Knowing the way in which the concern intends to carry out the SAP roll-out, one may remember to consider all the above-mentioned items during implementation works.

If a corporate SAP has already been implemented…

Verification if SAP has been implemented with regard to Polish specificity may be performed by experienced consultants who know detailed solutions used in SAP system in Poland.

However, even somebody who is not a SAP specialist may carry out a preliminary verification through an analysis of available documentation created during an implementation (if such documentation was created). Vital conclusions may also be drawn from an analysis of a chart of accounts, available reports and prinouts.

A tested way is an audit of the used SAP system by an implementation consultant experienced in roll-out SAP projects. During the audit the consultant identifies the areas in the system and/or implementation documentation which may cause discrepancies with the law. Thus he or she creates a list of things to do.

Some companies decide to introduce the specified changes with the help of  corporate consultants, but as a rule better results may be obtained when the changes and completions are implemented by a consultant with experience in implementations in Poland.

Good preparation of a SAP roll-out is often connected with the necessity of making the management aware of the need of support from a Polish implementation company. Depending on its role and powers its involvement will decrease or completely eliminate the risk of implementation failure or gaps in documentation.

It is worth mentioning that a badly implemented system will not only cause problems for the employees of a Polish unit, but may also threaten the concern with additional costs of system repair, which are hard to evaluate.

Example: SAP Roll-out in LHI Leasing

LHI Leasing Polska Sp. z o.o. is one of the biggest Polish leasing companies and a leader in the Polish leasing market. SAP implementation in LHI used a corporate SAP model and its transfer was done by consultants from the headquarters in Germany.

BCC works in this area included adjusting SAP configuration to the requirements of Polish law in financial accounting (FI) and assets accounting (FI-AA). Moreover, BCC carried out a short training course in system use and prepared a set of user manuals to let the users efficiently use the corporate SAP system.

Next LHI’s need was connected with the requirements of Polish book-keeping standards which clearly define the obligation to have a description of finance and accounting system functioning (e.g. Art. 10 section 1, subsection 3 of the Act on accounting).

At LHI’s request BCC consultants prepared documentation of SAP system in the most important financial and accounting functions and processes.