Cash Management System
Features, Integrations, Costs, Pros of Custom Software
ScienceSoft applies 15 years in financial software development and practical knowledge of 30+ industries to help businesses implement effective cash management systems.
Cash Management System: The Essence
A cash management system is used to forecast, track, and report corporate cash flows. The solution is especially helpful to manage cash flows (including in various currencies) across multiple, including international, company branches and across complex bank account structures.
- Main integrations: ERP, accounting software, payment gateways, bank accounts, etc.
- Implementation time: 6–12 months for a custom cash management system of average complexity, 1+ year for a high-end solution.
- Development costs: $150,000–400,000+, depending on the solution's complexity.
- Annual ROI: Up to 230%.
- Payback period: 6 months on average.
NB! Banks and financial services companies involved in performing cash management operations on behalf of their corporate clients may need to build a specialized banking cash management system.
Cash Management System: Key Features
ScienceSoft creates corporate cash management systems with unique functionality closely bound to our clients’ objectives. Here, we have summarized the features commonly requested by our customers:
Cash tracking
- Monitoring real-time cash inflow and outflow on corporate operating, investing, financing activities.
- Tracking cash balances across multiple bank and/or (in case of an in-house bank) intercompany accounts, currencies, regions, entities, and more.
- Cash positioning (daily, monthly, etc.) based on the consolidated bank statement data.
- Tracking the cash transfer status (sent, in transit, delivered).
- Automated segmentation of cash transactions (e.g., A/R, A/P, taxes, payroll).
Reconciliation
- Automatically matching data on cash transactions provided in daily/weekly/monthly bank statements with those recorded in the general ledger.
- One-to-one, one-to-many and one-to-all cash transaction matching based on the pre-defined rules.
- Automatically defining the outstanding cash transactions and marking them to be reconciled manually.
Liquidity management
- Automatically calculating working capital.
- Monitoring current ratio and quick liquidity ratio to plan operating, investing, financing cash activities.
- Setting up user-defined liquidity thresholds.
- Scheduled/on-demand cash transfer between bank and/or (in case of an in-house bank) intercompany accounts based on liquidity needs.
In-house banking
- Multi-currency cash pooling.
- Payment factory (POBO and ROBO/COBO services) enabling centralized management of payments and collections across multiple intercompany entities.
- Assigning optimal bank accounts and payment methods (e.g., ACH, BACS) for external cash transactions based on user-defined rules.
- Payment templates with pre-set bank account attributes.
- Multilateral intercompany netting.
Electronic bank account management (eBAM)
- Managing bank account opening, registering, changing, closing.
- Calculating, tracking, and analyzing bank fees.
- Creating, authorizing, and changing account signatories.
- Assigning cash transaction limits and target balance thresholds across bank accounts.
- Automated alerts on the cash balance exceeding/dropping below the pre-defined threshold.
- FBAR reporting.
Analytics and forecasting
- ML-powered cash flow forecasting (by period, account, region, entity) based on the analysis of historical and current data on cash transactions, company and customer payment behavior trends.
- Short- and long-term liquidity forecasting.
- Scenario modeling and what-if analysis for cash and liquidity ratios.
Reports and dashboards
- Ad-hoc and scheduled reports, e.g., cash flow statement, cash position report, reconciliation report.
- Real-time drill-down dashboards (by period, currency, branch, region, bank/intercompany account, etc.) on:
- Cash transactions.
- Cash balance.
- Working capital balance.
- Actual vs. forecasted cash flow.
- FX-related cash gains/losses, investing and financing activities, and more.
- Customizable notifications on:
- Target cash balance exceeding/dropping below the pre-defined threshold.
- Liquidity risks exceeding the pre-set financial exposure limits.
- Payment due dates, and more.
Security and compliance
- Multi-factor authentication.
- Role-based access control.
- Data encryption.
- Electronic signature workflow.
- Full audit trail for each cash transaction.
- AI-based fraud protection.
- Regular vulnerability scanning.
- Compliance with IAS (IFRS), FASB (GAAP), EMIR (for the EU), SOX, ISO 20022, industry-specific regulations.
Essential Integrations for the Cash Flow Management System
To enhance cash visibility, streamline reconciliation and ensure accurate and timely cash flow reporting, ScienceSoft recommends setting up the following integrations:
- Payment gateways – for real-time cash flow monitoring.
- Selling platforms (e.g., a company’s ecommerce website, a customer portal) – for data-driven cash inflow forecasting.
- Procurement software – for accurate cash outflow forecasting.
- ERP/accounting software – for the automated creation of entries in the general ledger, accounts payable and accounts receivable ledgers.
- Treasury software – to timely initiate investment and borrowing activities for cash optimization.
- Bank accounts – for overall cash visibility and faster reconciliation – for real-time cash flow monitoring.
Factors that Drive High ROI for the Cash Management System
In cash management software development projects, ScienceSoft always seeks to cover the following important factors to maximize the value and cost-efficiency of the cash management solution:
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End-to-end automation. To eliminate time-consuming manual tasks across all cash management processes, from cash positioning and reconciliation to cash flow analysis and reporting. |
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Robust security. To ensure protection of sensitive cash flow data by employing multi-factor authentication, AI-based fraud detection, and other advanced cybersecurity mechanisms. |
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Powerful data visualization capabilities. To enhance overall cash transparency and streamline control of the cash flow transactions. |
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ML-based cash flow forecasting. To get accurate predictions on future cash flow for improved liquidity planning. |
Off-the-Shelf vs. Custom Cash Management Software
There is a wide range of market-available cash management solutions that differ in the scope and complexity of capabilities, customization options, security level, and pricing. None of them is a “one-size-fits-all” solution, and the choice in favor of a particular tool should be made based on your specific needs. In some cases, custom development can be a more feasible option.
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Oracle Cash Management |
SAP Cash Management |
Trovata |
A custom cash management system ScienceSoft’s choice |
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Basic cash management capabilities
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Real-time tracking of cash flow and cash balances across accounts. Automated cash positioning, reconciliation, and reporting. Trend-based cash analysis and forecasting. |
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Advanced analytics
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Comprehensive, ML-powered cash analytics and forecasting and AI-based insights on optimal time for cash transfer between the intercompany accounts to support the required liquidity level. |
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Business-specific functionality
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The ability to expand the solution’s core capabilities to meet a company’s unique business needs. |
Restricted to OOTB Oracle plugins and extensions. |
Restricted to third-party add-ons available in SAP Store. |
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Non-restricted and can be introduced on demand. |
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Customization
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The ability to adjust the solution’s existing capabilities and remove unnecessary features. |
Limited capabilities. |
Limited capabilities. |
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Unlimited capabilities. |
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Integrations
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The ability to connect the solution to other business-critical systems to leverage instant data sharing with no manual involvement. |
Native: with Oracle products. Via API: with popular financial tools and major bank. |
Native: with SAP products. Via API: with popular software products and major banks. |
Via API: with most major US banks and popular corporate finance products. |
Seamless connection to all required business solutions (including legacy software) and third-party systems. |
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Security
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Based on ScienceSoft’s expert assessment. Main criteria: type of software deployment and the type of cloud – public, private, or hybrid (for cloud deployment); basic cybersecurity mechanisms (data encryption, role-based access control, user authentication); advanced data protection capabilities (e.g., AI-powered fraud detection, immutable recordkeeping of cash data); compliance with global security standards. |
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Regulatory compliance
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Ability to meet the relevant local, industry-specific, and corporate data protection standards and regulations. |
Compliance with global data security standards. |
Compliance with global data security standards. |
Compliance with major US data protection standards. |
Compliance with all required global, regional, and industry-specific regulations. |
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Ease of use
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Based on ScienceSoft’s expert assessment. Main criteria: UX and UI complexity, convenience, and customization options; learning curve. |
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Pricing (for 4 users/3 years)
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$115,180 (for integrated Oracle Cash and Treasury Management)
Additional fees: initial setup costs + customization and integration costs. |
Upon request to the vendor. Expect to pay initial setup fees + configuration, customization and integration fees + licensing fees that depend on the number of software users. |
From $24,000 (for a basic feature set) to $168,000 (for an advanced toolkit)
Additional fees: initial setup costs + integration costs. |
Upfront investments in custom development around $150,000–$400,000. Unlimited number of users. No additional fees. |
Do You Need a Custom Cash Management System?
Answer a few simple questions and find out whether you should opt for a custom-made solution.
Do you need a cash management system with specific features, e.g., custom liquidity calculations or cash flow forecasting based on user-defined parameters?
Do you need to integrate cash management software with multiple back-office systems or legacy tools?
Do you need a cash management solution providing compliance with the local regulations in the regions your company operates?
Do you operate in a strictly regulated industry (e.g., healthcare, public sector) and need a solution providing advanced financial data security?
Do you have large teams involved in cash management processes and look to avoid off-the-shelf software offered under a per-user subscription model?
Do you need a cash management solution with various interfaces for different roles in the finance team?
Do you plan to evolve the solution with new functional and non-functional capabilities in order to adjust it to changing business and legal requirements?
Please tell us a bit more about your needs
Answer at least 3 questions to get results.
You can go with off-the-shelf cash management software
Looks like market-available cash management solutions are a viable option to meet your cash management needs. Turn to ScienceSoft if you need help with choosing the optimal ready-made cash control tools, their implementation, customization, or integration with your corporate systems.
You definitely should consider custom development
A tailor-made cash management system will help you reap the unique benefits that market-available cash control software cannot offer. Turn to ScienceSoft to get the detailed assessment of a custom cash management system’s feasibility for your business situation.
A custom cash management system is your best choice
Looks like market-available cash management tools don’t fit your specific business requirements and won’t be able to provide the expected operational and economic feasibility. Turn to ScienceSoft to get consulting on custom cash management software development and receive cost and ROI estimates.
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Based on ScienceSoft's experience, the costs of building a custom automated cash management solution of average complexity vary between $150,000 and $350,000, while the development of large-scale cash and liquidity management software powered with advanced analytics may require $400,000+ in investments. Annual ROI for a custom cash management system may reach up to 230%. An average payback period for the solution is around 6 months. |
Benefits of a cash flow management system
Implementation of the Cash Management System with ScienceSoft
In financial software development since 2007, ScienceSoft helps companies design and build effective cash management solutions.
Consulting on the cash management system implementation
We introduce optimal functionality, architecture design, and tech stack for your solution and advice on the cost optimization opportunities. You also get a detailed project plan with cost and time estimates for risk-free implementation.
End-to-end development of the cash management system
We design and build cash management software with your unique business needs in mind. You benefit from prompt development, topflight quality of the solution, and its smooth integration with the required systems.
About ScienceSoft
ScienceSoft is a global IT consulting and software development company headquartered in McKinney, Texas. Since 2007, we help businesses build robust cash management systems tailored to their cash tracking and forecasting needs. Being ISO 9001- and ISO 27001-certified, we apply a mature quality management system and guarantee cooperation with us does not pose any risks to our customers’ data security. If you are interested in developing an effective cash management system, feel free to turn to ScienceSoft’s team.