In the wake of numerous accounting scandals, lawmakers and policymakers have implemented strict new requirements that affect nearly every major company around the globe. From Sarbanes-Oxley to International Accounting Standards, the message is clear: companies without timely, reliable access to accurate financial information face the looming threat of fines, investigations, prosecution and, even more seriously, the decline of shareholder confidence.

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Vendors and analysts have also created a number of similar concepts to express the need for a more complete view of organisational processes and performance. Corporate performance management, business performance management, enterprise performance management – all present an idea of what is required for success in the face of today's business challenges.

What's more, this pressure from customers, competitors, shareholders and governments comes at a time when many CEOs view their finance departments as largely unsuccessful in providing strategic value and decision support to the rest of the company.

While compliance with regulations is mandatory, and the investment in a broad performance management system may seem daunting, the current business environment represents an opportunity for improved communication; faster, more confident decision making; and enhanced visibility of financial information throughout the enterprise – an opportunity for finance departments to prove their value as strategic advisers to other areas of the enterprise. To maximise this opportunity, finance executives need a comprehensive system for ensuring compliance, efficiency, profitability and performance.

Unmatched depth and breadth
With SAS Financial Intelligence, an unmatched solution suite for managing and improving the performance of the finance department, you can focus on specific financial business processes – planning, reporting, budgeting, consolidation, risk assessment, forecasting, strategy development, the audit process – and develop more predictive, accurate, relevant and timely results. The hindsight, insight and foresight provided by SAS Financial Intelligence creates an environment for the finance department to become a reliable, trusted adviser for other areas of the company.

As part of a comprehensive vision for performance management, SAS Financial Intelligence is the broadest offering for the finance department on the market today. No matter what your needs, you can start by focusing on your greatest pain today, knowing that your investment in SAS can easily be expanded to address future needs.

SAS Financial Intelligence combines a foundation for integrated, enterprisewide financial intelligence with specific solutions that create financial transparency and enable:

• Planning and financial reporting. Automate and decentralise the planning process while building proactive budgets based on integrated, accurate and predictive information. Perform consolidations on demand and build all the reports you need using a Web-based application that supports new reporting standards.
• Cost and profitability analysis. Understand the costs and profitability of products, suppliers, channels, partners and customers. Use this information to create more accurate forecasts, budgets and simulations.
• Regulatory compliance. With documentation of disclosure controls and procedures, along with powerful consolidation technology, SAS helps you achieve financial transparency and close your books faster to meet new reporting deadlines.
• Formulation, execution and measurement of strategy. Create metrics for monitoring and controlling the performance of all business processes. These performance indicators provide better visibility into corporate strategy and initiatives.
• Risk management. Measure your credit, market or operational risk, depending on your specific needs, to enhance and refine corporate strategy.
• Forecasting. Predict budget requirements, understand markets and analyze investment options. SAS gives you the ability to simulate business processes for strategic planning using powerful "what-if" analysis.
• Optimisation. Understand the impact of mergers, acquisitions, capital allocation, debt restructuring and more with the ability to make fact-based decisions within your specific business constraints, both current and future.