R2R 505 ยท FROM POLICY DISCOVERY TO FIRST CLOSE
How does an R2R implementation unfold?
Join a fictional regional group as one company-code close moves from accounting-policy questions to production evidence. The walkthrough follows structure, integration, migration, mock close, cutover, first live reporting, and stabilization.
ENTRY AND EXIT BOUNDARY
Use the project story after the process and configuration foundations
Enter with: R2R 101/202 concepts, the R2R 303 dependency map, and the R2R 404 configuration-and-proof discipline. Leave able to: explain the decisions, evidence, hand-offs, and risks across an FI implementation lifecycle. This walkthrough does not replace hands-on delivery, customer policy decisions, localization expertise, security design, or accountable review.
PROJECT PHASE
Discover
Clarify reporting obligations and close pain
What the team does
Meet entity Finance, shared services, Tax, Treasury, Controlling, Group Accounting, operational process owners, Audit, Security, and IT. Capture books, calendars, volumes, manual work, interfaces, controls, reports, pain points, and measures of success.
R2R project moment
Northstar Group chooses one Singapore company and one monthly close as the first release; Group Reporting implementation and specialist IFRS topics remain extensions.
Evidence to leave behind
Approved scope, stakeholder and system map, close-calendar baseline, accounting-policy inventory, reconciled source extracts, assumptions, and open decisions.
PROJECT PHASE
Fit to standard
Separate policy need from inherited workaround
What the team does
Demonstrate standard S/4HANA journals, subledger integration, clearing, accruals, valuation, depreciation, reporting, and period controls with realistic data. Challenge spreadsheets and custom jobs without dismissing legal requirements.
R2R project moment
The team replaces a spreadsheet accrual upload with governed accrual objects but retains a local statutory reconciliation supported by evidence outside the first configuration spine.
Evidence to leave behind
Fit decisions, legal rationale, gaps, owners, acceptance criteria, extension boundaries, and a traceable decision log.
PROJECT PHASE
Design
Connect accounting policy to the system model
What the team does
Define company and ledger scope, charts, currencies, fiscal calendars, master data, posting controls, integrations, reconciliation ownership, close tasks, reporting hierarchies, migration, roles, and non-functional requirements.
R2R project moment
The design connects company code SG10, ledger 0L, local and group currencies, operational chart, source account determination, controlled journals, an FSV, and group-package hand-off.
Evidence to leave behind
Signed accounting and process design, configuration rationale, data and interface contracts, control matrix, role concept, reporting catalogue, and end-to-end test conditions.
PROJECT PHASE
Configure & integrate
Build the minimum accounting spine in dependency order
What the team does
Configure organization, ledgers, accounts, journal controls, source integration, banking, assets, closing methods, reporting, and period access. Prepare governed master and test data and record each decision beside its setting.
R2R project moment
A source invoice, asset acquisition, bank item, accrual, valuation, and allocation produce explainable ACDOCA lines and report through the intended hierarchy without manual account overrides.
Evidence to leave behind
Configuration workbook, transport sequence, master-data readiness, interface evidence, unit proof, authorization findings, and unresolved defects.
PROJECT PHASE
Migrate & reconcile
Establish a trusted opening position
What the team does
Cleanse and map G/L balances, open customer and supplier items, assets, bank and clearing balances, cost objects, intercompany attributes, and retained evidence. Reconcile every load to approved legacy populations.
R2R project moment
The opening trial balance agrees by company, ledger, account, currency, and profit center; AP/AR open items and asset values tie to their subledgers and rejected records are owned.
Evidence to leave behind
Signed mapping, load logs, source-to-target totals, control-account reconciliation, asset reconciliation, rejected-record decisions, and approved opening balance.
PROJECT PHASE
Test & mock close
Prove the close under realistic pressure
What the team does
Run unit, integration, regression, authorization, interface, volume, negative, reversal, rerun, and reporting tests. Execute at least one timed mock close with late entries, failed jobs, unmatched items, and reopen decisions.
R2R project moment
A foreign-currency valuation failure blocks statement approval until correction and rerun; the team proves that ordinary users cannot post after the normal period is closed.
Evidence to leave behind
Passed scripts, reconciled journals and statements, defect and retest evidence, mock-close metrics, business acceptance, and known residual risk.
PROJECT PHASE
Cut over
Move balances, controls, jobs, and ownership safely
What the team does
Sequence transports, configuration, roles, master data, opening balances, open items, assets, rates, hierarchies, interfaces, jobs, close tasks, and period access. Rehearse totals, rollback boundaries, smoke tests, and go/no-go criteria.
R2R project moment
The team freezes legacy posting, loads approved balances, reconciles control accounts and assets, enables interfaces without duplicate processing, opens the first productive period, and performs a controlled posting smoke test.
Evidence to leave behind
Approved cutover plan, owners and timing, final legacy totals, target reconciliations, interface checkpoints, contingency triggers, and go/no-go decision.
PROJECT PHASE
First close & stabilize
Operate the first live close and transfer ownership
What the team does
Monitor source postings, interface queues, bank items, clearing, reconciliations, close jobs, journal workflow, statements, group hand-off, period access, and support demand. Preserve evidence before changing configuration and retire workarounds deliberately.
R2R project moment
An old GR/IR population is larger than expected. The team assigns root-cause owners, posts only supported adjustments, completes the close with accepted residual risk, and removes the cause in the following cycle.
Evidence to leave behind
Daily control results, first-close certification, reconciled statements, resolved root causes, accepted backlog, runbook, support knowledge, ownership transfer, and stabilization exit.
THE CONNECTING CONTROL
No statement approval without reconciled populations
The requirement must survive policy design, account and ledger configuration, source integration, migration totals, negative testing, mock-close pressure, cutover, and live sign-off.
Use R2R 101 for process language, 202 for Finance capabilities, 303 for the close dependency map, and 404 for configuration and proof.