A framework for separation of duties in an SAP R/3 environment

The majority of medium‐to‐large international organizations have adopted enterprise resource planning systems (ERPs) of which SAP R/3 is the current market leader. This paper proposes a framework for the separation of duties in SAP R/3. Separation of duties is viewed as a critical component of an organization’s internal control structure aimed primarily at reducing opportunities for fraudulent activities. R/3 assigns profiles consisting of authorizations to users. Accordingly, R/3 facilitates the implementation of “role‐based access control”, where these profiles may be designed consistent with organizational roles and assigned to users performing these roles. This paper proposes a framework for adequate separation of duties using a role‐based approach in the financial accounting (FI) module of the R/3 system. Case studies were undertaken to refine the framework and to explore its application in a practical environment. This empirical research provided support for the adequacy of the proposed framework.