Month-end shouldn’t feel like herding cats. SAP’s Closing Cockpit, and its cloud successor, Advanced Financial Closing (AFC), give you a single screen to plan, run, and monitor every periodic task, from depreciation and currency valuation to Results Analysis, Settlement and COGS reclass. While “Advanced” often means “additional license”, the classic cockpit already delivers serious value on ECC and S/4HANA. Here’s how to put both to work, and why starting small pays off.
Why a cockpit at all?
Spreadsheets, sticky notes, and SM37 detective work don’t scale. The cockpit centralizes what needs to run, when, with which variants, and in what sequence—and then tracks outcomes (success, warnings, errors) with full logs and audit history. Instead of wondering whether Fixed Asset depreciation posted in all 20 company codes, you see it—green when complete, yellow when in progress, red when your attention is needed.
Classic Closing Cockpit: surprisingly powerful
The classic cockpit has been around since ECC and is often underused. Configuration is straightforward:
- Templates & tasks. Model your close as reusable templates, then add tasks such as AFAB (depreciation), FAGL_FCV (currency valuation), KKAO/KO88 (RA/settlement), CKMLCP steps, or allocations. Tasks can be transactions or, preferably, jobs with pre-set variants for repeatability.
- Client-level maintenance. Allow finance to maintain templates directly (client-level setting) so the close can evolve without transports.
- Authorizations. Scope execution by company code/role to match your operating model.
- Standard programs catalog. Many SAP programs are recognized out of the box, so the cockpit can automatically display spools and logs. Custom programs work too; you’ll simply review outputs directly in their native logs.
- Calendar intelligence. Use TVARV-like variables for period/year so jobs self-adjust each cycle—no more editing period “10/2025” every month.
- Dependencies. Sequence tasks (e.g., overhead → WIP → variances → settlement) so each launches when prerequisites finish.
- Bulk load. Upload header and item templates from SAP-provided spreadsheets to avoid hand-entry for “50 companies × 8 tasks.”
- Multi-period generation. Spin up the entire year’s monthly close runs in one shot; the cockpit schedules jobs and keeps the history.
Critically, the cockpit isn’t just for month-end. Use it for weekly or even daily recurring runs—e.g., production variances, interim settlements, or revenue recognition on sales orders—so managers see current margins each Monday without manual orchestration. If a CO88 pass hits a lock or missing data, simply model multiple staggered retries in the sequence to clear transient errors.
One screen, total visibility
During execution, the monitor shows who started what, when, run durations, spools, and status—per task and for the full hierarchy. Global teams can track progress by area (AP, AR, Assets, Treasury, Intercompany) and attach task-level work instructions (“If FX variance > threshold, notify controller”) as documents right in the cockpit. The audit trail persists even if background job history is later purged.
Advanced Financial Closing (AFC): when you need more
AFC layers cloud capabilities on top of the classic model:
- Cross-system orchestration. Coordinate closes across multiple SAP and non-SAP ERPs from one place.
- APIs & integrations. Use APIs to upload/download task metadata and variants, hook into ticketing or analytics, and standardize close evidence.
- Broader scope. Similar to “Advanced Credit Management” or bank statement automation with AI, “Advanced” typically means added connectors and capabilities—plus added subscription.
If you have multiple ledgers, calendars, or ERPs—and want a single control tower—AFC earns its keep. If not, the classic cockpit may be all you need right now.
How to start (and win trust)
- Pick one high-volume, low-debate task (e.g., depreciation in all company codes).
- Template it, schedule it, document it, and showcase the green-bar visibility.
- Expand to valuations and CO period-end steps, then weekly RA/settlement for management insight.
- Add dependencies, alerts, and ownership to reduce firefighting.
Bottom line: whether you’re on ECC or S/4HANA, a well-implemented Closing Cockpit transforms closing from a scramble into an orchestrated, auditable process—and gives finance leaders real-time confidence in the numbers.
This blog is based on the presentation by Rogerio Faleiros: " The Advanced Finance Closing Cockpit" at the SAP Controlling Conference. To access the complete session and more in-depth SAP Controlling content, become an SAP Controlling member. START YOUR TRIAL HERE!
