Controlling 2014 Speaker Profile: Tanya Duncan, SAP FICO Consultant with Deloitte

This week we are profiling Tanya Duncan, SAP FICO Consultant with Deloitte. Learn more about Tanya and her start with SAP through the SAP University Alliance program.  

How did you get your start with SAP and SAP Controlling?

The university I attended is a SAP Alliance School. A Management Information Systems class was mandatory for all business majors and I had my first exposure to SAP as a college sophomore. As I started to learn more about SAP, I realized how relevant and influential it is in the largest corporations. I always thought I would have a career in Accounting, but my first job was with the Controlling module. I feel like Controlling is a much better fit for me than the rest of the Finance module. 

What is one of the most important trends that you see currently in SAP Controlling?

HANA is the hot trend in the SAP community right now and the benefits of HANA’s in-memory computing are found in every module including Controlling. HANA’s Finance and Controlling Accelerator will allow organizations to complete month end closing steps faster, save valuable time, and allow for more cost analysis. Material Ledger reporting and month end close, notoriously slow processes, will also become significantly more efficient.

In your opinion, why does SAP Controlling matter?

Controlling helps us build the bottom line, plan/collect/analyze overhead costs, cost products, and determine profitability. The Controlling module is highly integrated. It’s the connection point of almost every other module. Controlling users must understand related master data in production, human resources, purchasing, and sales, and how data flows through the system.

How do you stay on top of Controlling topics? What resources do you regularly use?

I use a variety of social media, news sites and blogs to stay up to date. I started by following SAP and SCN on twitter and I branched out to influential people in the SAP community that author blogs and articles. SAP’s website, especially SCN, contains a wealth of information. Many of the Controlling 2014 speakers are active online and their posts keep me up to date on Controlling functionality and news. I also have internal firm webinars every Friday where practitioners share their knowledge about different topics.

What was your most important take away from Controlling 2013?  

My key take away was networking. I met so many great contacts in the short time I was at the event. I am really looking forward to having several days to make connections this year!

Where is your favorite place to vacation and why?

I live in San Diego so I have to pinch myself every day to remember I’m not on vacation! My favorite place to vacation is Hawaii. It’s only 6 hours from San Diego and each island is a new adventure. 

Learn more about Tanya’s session on 5 Steps to Understand SAP Product Costing at Controlling 2014.