Unit4
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  • Precise financial information and real time reporting at your fingertips

    Unit4 for Retail

Solutions for the Retail sector

Unit4 is the choice for Retail professionals who need business software they can count on to embrace change. Today, over 5000 organisations around the world, including over 70 of the world’s largest Retail groups and companies, rely on our total commitment to delivering state-of-the-art finance solutions, such as the award-winning Unit4 Financials global accounting solution.

A financial solution that grows with you

  • Real-time analysis and visibility

    Due to the innovative financial model provided by our Link™ architecture, Unit4 Financials delivers complete financial transparency – through real-time business analytics – to senior management and to all corners of the organisation, where such information will add value and help you to drive your business forward. All store transactions are held in great detail, enabling an unbeatable level of analysis, even down to individual product lines – by period, by week, by day, by store. The financial model is ideally suited for the information demands of the retail sector, delivering an unprecedented level of real-time analysis and visibility.

    Unit4 Financials can be installed centrally and accessed online via a web browser, so all your store managers can view performance in real time – delivering complete financial transparency. You are able to track profitability and make well-informed decisions, in the assurance that the reports are as accurate as they can be; always using the latest information.

    In addition to customised, up-to-date reports, because the Unit4 Financials system contains all the figures in a single chart of accounts, everything required for IFRS regulation reports is easy and quick to access.

    Real-time analysis and visibility

  • Integration with merchandising and EPOS

    Our financial management solutions seamlessly link your financial systems to your merchandise and EPOS (electronic point of sale) environments, giving you:

    • the missing link between EPOS and finance
    • user-definable integration facilities between core business systems and Unit4 Financials
    • the ability to analyse sales and purchasing information by user-definable analysis categories
    • service ordering facilities
    • the ability to handle concession accounting
    • sophisticated high-volume invoice matching facilities
    • the ability to view information daily or weekly, yet report monthly
    • the ability to summarise item information at user-defined category levels
    • accurate business intelligence in real time.
    Integration with merchandising and EPOS

  • Spend management

    One of the most under-automated and under-controlled functions in many retail organisations today is the process for managing indirect expenditures. Indirect expenditures constitute items and services consumed in the normal course of operating a business, such as: office supplies, store fixtures, IT equipment, software, maintenance supplies, cleaning supplies, professional services, real-estate services and other outsourced services. Although indirect spend isn’t the largest expense category for most retailers, it can be ripe for savings and process efficiencies. Hence, indirect spend automation represents a “low hanging fruit” opportunity for companies looking to increase earnings relatively painlessly. The beauty of indirect spend savings is that savings fall directly to the bottom line, without closing operations or leaving you to agonise over layoffs. You can increase earnings per share – without increasing revenues or enduring painful cost reductions.

    Unit4 Financials offers you a truly end-to-end spend management solution, covering the whole cycle from requisition through to payment. Our Spend Management module reduces costs by providing fast, controlled, online access to key procurement functions to all employees, and also delivers accurate budgetary control over expenditure. It helps retailers establish controls and consolidate purchasing activity across all stores, and positions you to leverage the full buying power of the organisation.

Capabilities for the retail sector

The following capabilities make Unit4 Financials particularly well suited for the retail sector:

  • Single financial model
    • Eliminates time lags, sub ledgers, reconciling and unnecessary integration
    • Instantaneous or perpetual close
    • Integral project and promotion accounting
  • Real-time reporting and visibility
    • Up-to-the-second reporting of cash positions, profitability, costing, budget variances etc.
    • Full range of reporting tools available from online browsing to multidimensional data marts
    • Easy and secure Microsoft® Excel® integration
  • Multidimensional analysis
    • Infinite ways to classify, measure, and analyse the business
    • Flexible analysis of projects, products, line of business and supplier activity
    • Extensive product, store and promotion profitability analysis
  • Advanced allocations
    • Flexible allocation rules to distribute costs and service fees across stores, products and companies
  • Real-time or batch integration– for “joined-up” working with your merchandising and EPOS
    • Exposes all accounting logic, security and financial validation to any other application
    • Provides secure, real-time accounting web services to other applications
  • Automated processes and controls
    • Extend and automate financial controls across operational processes, applications and people throughout the organisation
    • Continuous, visible and auditable compliance controls
    • Self-documenting processes and audit trail
  • Global – Multi-everything
    • Multi-company, Multi-currency, Multi-language, Inter-company
    • Designed for diverse and global operations
    • Independent close calendars by company
    • Centralised or de-centralised financial operations
  • Spend Management for indirect spend
    • Completely automated “req-to-check” process
    • Online approval process and authorisation workflow
    • Three-way matching
    • Reimbursable expenses – direct bill to customer from A/P
    • Budget tracking and commitment accounting
    • Consolidates buying activity with best suppliers
    • Online and punch-out catalogs
    • Spend visibility by project, item, manager, employee etc.
  • Fixed Asset Management
    • Integral to the Unit4 Financials solution’s single financial model – no batch updates, always in balance
    • Track assets across multiple stores, companies, locations, currencies and “books”
      • Flexible and standard depreciation rules
      • Any number of user-defined depreciation rules
    • User-defined tracking, categorisation
    • Disposals: full or partial
    • Transfer assets – either between cost centres or to create a new asset
    • Revaluate appreciating assets and post the financial transactions to separate revaluation accounts
    • Revalue by value, percentage or a customisable rule
    • Forecast future-year depreciation charges
    • Export forecasts to a spreadsheet or to Unit4 Financials balance codes for further analysis or reporting
    • Direct cost transfers from G/L WIP to Assets
    • Users can browse customised lists of assets, with comprehensive drill-down to view full asset details, associated transactions and financial postings

For more information

How can we help?

With Unit4, you gain an unbeatable combination of efficiency, power and accessibility. We deliver award-winning solutions that you can rely on to meet the full range of your current Retail accounting needs, as well as any additional requirements that you encounter as your business continues to evolve.

Unit4 Financials is ideally suited for retail organisations who need a dedicated financial management solution to support them in a demanding and complex trading environment, where access to reliable financial intelligence is vital for effective decision-making and profitability tracking.