CFO ERP Implementation Evidence Checklist
A control-focused checklist for evaluating ERP scope, cost, readiness, security, migration, and benefits.
Audience: CFO, CIO, Controller, Audit committee · Updated: 2026-08-11
Approve a bounded scope
The business case should identify the legal entities, processes, reports, integrations, controls, and data included in the implementation. Unbounded transformation language is not a testable scope.
- Processes and entities in scope
- Required financial reports
- Integration inventory
- Control ownership
- Explicit exclusions
Build a complete cost estimate
Include software, implementation partners, internal labor, migration, integration, testing, training, security, parallel operations, contingency, and post-launch support.
- Assumptions and estimating method
- One-time and recurring costs
- Contingency basis
- Sensitivity analysis
- Independent review
Treat data migration as financial control work
Define source-to-target ownership, reconciliation thresholds, exception handling, retention requirements, and sign-off before migration begins.
- Data owners
- Reconciliation evidence
- Opening-balance approval
- Failed-record treatment
- Retention and audit trail
Set evidence-based go-live gates
Go-live should depend on completed controls, reconciled data, tested integrations, operational support, security review, and a documented rollback decision, not the calendar alone.
Primary sources
- Cost Estimating and Assessment GuideU.S. Government Accountability Office
- Security and Privacy Controls for Information Systems and OrganizationsNational Institute of Standards and Technology
This guide is educational and does not replace accounting, legal, security, employment, regulatory, or audit advice.