For most CFOs and finance teams in North America, accuracy, visibility, and control are essential to effective financial operations. But one area that remains under-optimized is facilities and real estate. These cost centers are among the largest line items on the balance sheet - yet they’re often managed outside of core financial systems like ERP, tracked instead in spreadsheets or legacy tools.
That may not seem urgent – until audit season, compliance filings, or cost overruns bring it into sharp focus.
The Hidden Financial Impact of Disconnected Real Estate Systems
Managing real estate and facilities outside the ERP creates operational blind spots. Disparate systems mean lease data is incomplete, costs are difficult to allocate correctly, and reporting processes become manual and error-prone. This can be especially risky when preparing for IFRS 16 or ASC 842 compliance.
Finance teams across the U.S. and Canada are seeing patterns like:
- Inaccurate reporting due to lack of ERP integration
- Manual compliance tasks that absorb time and increase risk
- Poor visibility into facility and lease-related costs
Often, these issues are only uncovered when there's a failed audit, a missed compliance deadline, or a realization that the company is overpaying for underutilized real estate.
Making Real Estate a Strategic Finance Function
SAP and Planon offer a unified solution that brings facilities and real estate data directly into your ERP environment through native integration with SAP S/4HANA®. This eliminates the divide between operations and finance - ensuring data flows directly from source to system of record.
With this ERP real estate integration, finance teams can:
- Automate real-time lease transaction updates
- Streamline compliance with ASC 842 (U.S. GAAP) and IFRS 16
- Eliminate data silos and manual workarounds
- Enable facilities cost control and optimization with built-in analytics
You also gain access to analytics and dashboards that show you where you can reduce costs, renegotiate contracts, or optimize space. This level of facilities cost control is a major step forward for finance leaders.
Solution Architecture
Combining Planon and SAP Strengths jointly developed out-of-the-box integration
Key Planon Functionalities
- Portfolio Management
- Space & Workplace Services Management
- Maintenance Management
- Sustainability Management
SAP Cloud Integration Suite
- Master Data Integration
- One Domain Model for Real Estate
Key SAP functionalities
- Contract & Lease Management
- Real Estate Accounting
- Settlement Processes
As SAP highlights,
“Customers will benefit from the data flowing from smart technologies seamlessly into ERP processes. This will unleash the potential of the huge amount of real estate-related data, creating new opportunities for optimization and value creation.”
Why This Matters to North American CFOs
Market pressures in North America – rising commercial real estate costs, hybrid workplace models, and strict financial reporting standards – are pushing finance leaders to rethink how facilities and leases are managed.
Lease accounting software alone isn’t enough. What’s needed is a solution that integrates directly into financial workflows – empowering teams to reduce risk, ensure compliance, and surface savings opportunities.
Ask yourself:
- Are lease costs accurately represented in our financial statements?
- How much time is our finance team spending reconciling lease data manually?
- Could we improve decision-making with better data from our real estate systems?
Supporting Finance-Led Transformation
When real estate and facilities data live inside your ERP, it’s not just an operational concern, it’s a financial asset. With SAP and Planon, you can manage your facilities portfolio as strategically as any other business function.
Finance teams gain clear insights, reduce manual effort, and strengthen compliance - transforming facilities from overhead to opportunity.
Explore how Planon for SAP S/4HANA® supports finance transformation and unlocks long-term value from real estate.