For finance leaders, period close remains one of the most resource-intensive processes in the organization. Accruals, deferrals, reconciliations, and error resolution each step requires precision, judgment, and time.

Now imagine if your team could reduce accrual and deferral calculation time by up to 80%, without sacrificing control or governance.

That’s the promise of Agentic AI.

Moving Beyond Automation to Intelligent Assistance

Traditional automation executes predefined tasks. Agentic AI goes further.

In the demonstration, we see an accountant closing the books while an AI agent works in the background:

• Analyzing historical financial data

• Reviewing planning data for organizational changes

• Preparing accrual postings in advance

• Predicting next steps

• Identifying errors before they disrupt the process

Rather than replacing human decision-making, the AI operates within a human-in-the-loop framework. The accountant remains in control,  reviewing, approving, and guiding the system, while the agent continuously learns from each decision to improve future accuracy.

This is not automation for efficiency alone. It is intelligence embedded directly into finance operations.

From Simple Accruals to Complex Cost Analysis

The value becomes even clearer in more complex scenarios.

Consider warranty accruals. Estimating these costs requires synthesizing multiple data sources:

• Historical warranty claims

• Sales performance

• Product usage trends

• Planning assumptions

The AI agent consolidates these inputs, prepares a recommended posting, predicts the likely next action, and even identifies potential errors,  such as a missing cost center, before the posting can proceed.

Instead of reacting to issues after they surface, finance teams are proactively guided toward resolution with system-generated recommendations.

The result: fewer interruptions, fewer manual investigations, and faster cycle times.

The Measurable Business Impact

The efficiency gains are not incremental;  they are material.

In the demonstration:

• Posting just two accrual types saved 20 minutes for a single colleague.
• Scaling this across the organization can reduce accrual and deferral processing time by up to 80%.
• For a €1B consumer products company, this equates to an estimated €176,000 in annual benefit.

And this is only one process within the broader finance function.

The cumulative impact across period close, forecasting, and compliance processes has the potential to fundamentally reshape finance productivity.

Reallocating Finance Talent to Higher-Value Work

The true opportunity extends beyond cost savings.

Finance teams are increasingly expected to deliver forward-looking insights, supporting growth, margin optimization, and strategic decision-making. Yet too much time remains tied up in administrative processing.

By embedding Agentic AI within SAP Cloud ERP environments, organizations enable finance professionals to:

• Spend less time calculating and reconciling
• Reduce error-driven rework
• Shift focus toward analysis and strategic advisory

This is where competitive advantage is created.

The Future of Intelligent Finance

Agentic AI represents a shift from task automation to intelligent collaboration.

Human expertise remains central.
AI handles the repetitive analysis.
The system learns continuously.

For CFOs and finance leaders, the question is no longer whether AI will play a role in financial operations, but how quickly it can be deployed to deliver measurable value.

The potential is significant.
The savings are tangible.
And this is only the beginning.

Explore SAP Cloud ERP for Finance.