LucaNet
Founded in 1999, LucaNet is a German vendor with a focus on CPM for finance including tax and financial disclosure management solutions. The company is headquartered in Berlin with additional offices in Germany, Europe, the UK, Asia and the United States. LucaNet has over 5,000 customers in 50 countries worldwide and employs more than 800 people. In 2022, Hg acquired a majority stake in the company to support its growth and ambition to become a global leader. In 2022 and 2023, LucaNet itself acquired its long-term partner Amana (solutions for taxation, disclosure management, XBRL and leasing) and ementexx (digital banking and cash management software).
LucaNet’s software portfolio comprises end-to-end solutions for the office of the CFO including consolidation, financial planning and budgeting, financial and legal reporting, ESG reporting, tax and additional financial management topics, which can be used in any combination. LucaNet offers an automated financial close solution including financial consolidation, data collection and validation, intercompany reconciliation and disclosure management, supported by workflow management tools. All products are targeted at business users and are based on a proprietary, multidimensional, in-memory database (LucaNet.Financial OLAP Server). The database provides a predefined data model with intertwined business rules for establishing an integrated financial planning model and creating consolidated financial statements. Using the same logic, it is possible to compare planned versus actual data dynamically and at group level. LucaNet.Importer provides a variety of predefined connectors to common ERP and financial accounting systems. It is also possible to collect and validate data via a web interface, including an intercompany reconciliation. In the latest versions of LucaNet, the vendor has functionally enhanced the product’s rich client and web client, modernized the user interface and user experience, and improved the integration of its acquired products.
LucaNet software is based on Java and offers both cloud (leveraging Amazon Web Services) and on-premises options. The cloud services possess all the necessary ISO certifications. Building LucaNet as a real software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform with all the functionality available in the web is a strategic goal for the vendor.
In addition to LucaNet’s core capabilities, ‘Script Designer’, an integrated development environment, offers functionality to design individual forms, calculation rules and applications. Using Script Designer, LucaNet provides standardized apps for financial solutions (e.g., IFRS 16) and operational planning scenarios that can be used to feed the vendor’s inherent financial planning model. However, operational planning is not the focus of the solution. Apps can be adapted to customer-specific needs and requirements.
For reporting and analysis, LucaNet offers an Excel add-in, but third-party offerings such as Microsoft Power BI may also be used. The platform’s open architecture allows these front ends to access the LucaNet.Financial OLAP Server and/or LucaNet Financial Warehouse (usually based on Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle) including the hierarchies, structures and values. For disclosure management, ESEF reporting and ESG reporting requirements, LucaNet offers a fully integrated proprietary software solution, acquired with the Amana takeover.
User & Use Cases
This year, we had 53 responses from LucaNet users. At the time of the survey, 80 percent of them were using version 23 and 20 percent version 22.
