How companies can integrate their intercompany processes, make them more transparent, and modernize existing processes in a targeted manner.

International corporate structures place particular demands on sales, logistics, purchasing, and finance. A customer orders from one sales company, but the goods are delivered directly from the factory of another group company. Or inventory is transferred between factories of different companies.

Such intercompany processes have been established for years. However, historically grown workflows, differing responsibilities, and manual coordination can increase the workload. SAP S/4HANA offers more integrated process options with Advanced Intercompany Sales and Advanced Intercompany Stock Transfer. The crucial question is not only how they work, but what added value they offer to the respective company.

Advanced Intercompany Sales: One customer order, multiple companies

In Advanced Intercompany Sales, the selling company receives the customer order, while a plant of another company delivers the goods directly to the external customer:

The sales company creates the customer order.
The system generates the associated intercompany purchase order in the selling company and a corresponding intercompany customer order in the supplying company.
The manufacturing plant ships the goods directly to the external customer.
The supplying company invoices the selling company internally; the selling company then invoices the external customer.

This links sales, purchasing, logistics, and finance along a coherent document and process chain. Compared to traditional intercompany processes, the additional integrated procurement and sales processing creates greater transparency.

Advanced Intercompany Stock Transfer: Moving goods between companies

In an Advanced Intercompany Stock Transfer (AETST), a company transfers goods from a supplying plant to a receiving plant of another company. The starting point is usually an intercompany order from the receiving company.

Based on this, an intercompany sales order is created in the background at the supplying company. The subsequent process includes, among other things, delivery, goods movements, goods receipt, and intercompany invoicing. The internal customer invoice can then trigger the automatic posting of the corresponding supplier invoice in the receiving company.

The benefit lies in the coordinated mapping of the flow of goods and value between the two companies – instead of considering individual, separate process steps.

Two scenarios – one common integration principle

criterion	Advanced Intercompany Sales	Advanced Intercompany Stock Transfer
Starting point	External customer order	Intercompany order / Inventory requirement
Movement of goods	Supplying plant → external customer	Supplying plant → receiving plant
External customer	Yes	No, internal goods requirements
focus	Order processing across company boundaries	Inventory transfer between companies

Assessed transit stock: Value flow also counts

A key feature of advanced intercompany processes is the use of valued stock in transit. This allows the transfer of economic control between the participating companies and – in the sales scenario – to the external customer to be mapped in the system based on defined transfer points.

This makes not only physical goods movements, but also the associated inventory values and accounting entries traceable. How the transition is specifically mapped depends on the individual scenario and process design.

Value Chain Monitoring: Keeping the entire process in view

The SAP Fiori app "Monitor Value Chains" (F4854) allows you to track related documents and process steps along the value chain. This includes, for example, sales orders, intercompany orders, deliveries, goods movements, and billing documents.

The integrated view facilitates process monitoring and error analysis. Especially in companies and plants with many members, this can simplify coordination between departments and reduce the effort required to determine the root cause.

When does it make sense to switch from the classic intercompany process?

Not every company automatically benefits from switching to a new system. The advanced versions are particularly interesting where process breaks, manual tasks, complex document chains, or a lack of transparency characterize daily operations. Three aspects are paramount in the evaluation:

Process integration: To what extent can the processes between sales, purchasing, logistics and finance be linked using a system?
Transparency: How easily can evidence, process status, and potential errors be traced across company boundaries?
Finance integration: How appropriately are inventory valuation and economic transitions between companies represented?

Equally important are the limitations: Existing process variants, system architecture, release and functional scope, master data, as well as organizational and tax requirements can influence a changeover. The existing classic process is therefore always a useful basis for comparison.

What companies should check before implementation

How do today's intercompany processes work, and where do costs or media breaks arise?
Which companies, sales organizations, and factories are involved?
What organizational prerequisites, master data, and integration steps are required?
Which functions does the specific SAP S/4HANA release used support?
How should inventory valuation, booking logic, and transfer times be designed?
What are the VAT implications of the goods route, the country of departure for tax purposes, and the companies involved?

Especially in the case of cross-border deliveries, the tax requirements must be assessed separately. Technical integration does not automatically guarantee the correct VAT treatment.

Design the right intercompany process with GOpus

Advanced Intercompany Sales and Advanced Intercompany Stock Transfer open up new possibilities for more integrated flows of goods and value. However, whether a switch makes sense can only be determined based on the specific company structure and existing processes.

GOpus helps companies document their current processes, compare classic and advanced options, assess the prerequisites for implementation, and design and implement a suitable solution in SAP S/4HANA. Our focus is on the seamless interaction between sales, purchasing, logistics, and finance.

Want to know which approach suits your company best? Contact us – we'll analyze your current situation and show you suitable options for further development.

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