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Certinia ERP Cloud: Finance and ERP for Services Businesses on the Salesforce Platform

Certinia ERP Cloud at a glance
VendorCertinia (formerly FinancialForce)
HeadquartersSan Jose, California, USA
OwnershipHaveli Investments (majority, since 2023) with General Atlantic participation; Salesforce remains a shareholder
DeploymentCloud (SaaS, native on the Salesforce Platform)
Target marketServices-centric and subscription businesses in the upper mid-market and enterprise, typically existing Salesforce customers
IndustriesProfessional services and consulting, IT services, SaaS and subscription businesses, business services, nonprofits
PricingNot published; quote-based per-user and per-module subscription
Websitecertinia.com

What Certinia ERP Cloud is

A financial management and ERP suite built natively on the Salesforce Platform, from the vendor formerly known as FinancialForce. ERP Cloud is the finance-oriented line of the portfolio: accounting, billing, and revenue recognition for services-centric businesses. Alongside it, sold separately, sits the PS Cloud line for professional services automation. Within the Salesforce-native finance segment, Certinia is the largest vendor.

Vendor, history, ownership

The company began in 2009 as FinancialForce, a venture backed by UNIT4 and Salesforce that built cloud accounting on the Salesforce Platform out of the CODA financials heritage. The 2023 rebrand to Certinia signaled a broader services-as-a-business positioning. Later that same year, the technology-focused private equity firm Haveli Investments acquired the company from Advent International and TCV in a transaction reported at close to one billion US dollars including debt, with General Atlantic participating and Salesforce staying on as a shareholder. Headquarters is San Jose, California.

Core functionality

Accounting carries the product. General ledger, accounts payable and receivable, cash management, and financial reporting come with multi-entity, multi-currency, and multi-book support. Billing covers subscription and usage-based models, and the revenue management module automates recognition under ASC 606 and IFRS 15. Order management, procurement, and planning exist, but run noticeably lighter than in product-centric suites. The architectural payoff is the shared Salesforce data model: opportunities and contracts from CRM feed billing and revenue schedules directly, with no integration middleware sitting in between.

Best-fit companies

The core buyer already runs Salesforce and sells services or subscriptions. Consulting and professional services firms, IT services providers, SaaS companies, business services, nonprofits. Positioning is upper mid-market and enterprise, and many customers add the PS Cloud line so that quote-to-cash and project delivery live in one system.

Deployment and pricing

SaaS on the Salesforce Platform, exclusively; there is no on-premises edition. There is no published price list either, with subscriptions quoted per user and per module. Salesforce platform licensing can matter as much to the total as the Certinia subscription itself, implementation effort lands on top of both, and our ERP cost guide sets out the categories worth budgeting for.

Where it wins, where it loses

If Salesforce is already the system of record and the business runs on projects or subscriptions, Certinia belongs on the shortlist ahead of most alternatives. Revenue recognition and multi-entity consolidation are genuinely deep, and deleting the middleware between CRM and ledger removes an entire class of reconciliation work.

The costs of that choice are just as visible. Platform dependence ties the bill to Salesforce licensing decisions made outside your company, inventory and manufacturing functionality is thin next to product-centric ERP, and ERP Cloud and PS Cloud are licensed separately, so proposals need reading line by line. Manufacturers and distributors should not buy this as their ERP. A company with no existing Salesforce footprint will usually get more system for the money from a standalone mid-market suite.

What the Certinia ERP Cloud website looks like

Current view of the vendor homepage, captured by our editorial team.

Screenshot of the Certinia ERP Cloud vendor homepage

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Frequently asked questions

Is Certinia the same company as FinancialForce?

Yes. The FinancialForce name was retired in 2023 in favor of Certinia, part of a repositioning around services businesses. Products, the Salesforce-native architecture, and the customer base all carried over, so older reviews and integration listings naming FinancialForce describe the same vendor and largely the same product line.

Who owns Certinia?

Haveli Investments, a technology-focused private equity firm, took majority ownership in 2023, with General Atlantic participating. The transaction was reported at close to one billion US dollars including debt. Advent International and TCV exited in that sale; Salesforce remains a shareholder.

What is the difference between ERP Cloud and PS Cloud?

ERP Cloud is the finance line: accounting, billing, revenue recognition, financial reporting. PS Cloud is the professional services automation line, covering resource management, project delivery, and services quoting. Plenty of customers run both to get an end-to-end quote-to-cash flow, but the two are licensed separately, so be precise about which products a given proposal actually contains before comparing numbers.

Do we need Salesforce licenses as well?

Yes. The suite is native to the Salesforce Platform and delivered exclusively as SaaS, with no on-premises edition, which puts Salesforce platform licensing into the cost picture from day one rather than as an optional extra later on.

Can Certinia ERP Cloud handle inventory and manufacturing?

Only lightly. Order and inventory management capabilities are present, but the design center is services and subscription businesses rather than product companies, and there is no meaningful production planning, shop-floor, or warehouse depth compared with manufacturing-focused ERP. Manufacturers and distributors that want to stay on Salesforce typically evaluate Rootstock or Ascent instead. The other common pattern is keeping Certinia for financials while a separate operational application runs production and warehousing, which works, at the price of an integration someone has to own.

Which revenue recognition standards does it support?

The revenue management module automates recognition under ASC 606 and IFRS 15, backed in the ledger by multi-entity, multi-currency, and multi-book support. That combination is a large part of why subscription and services businesses put the product on a shortlist in the first place.

How is Certinia priced?

Not publicly. Subscriptions are quoted per user and per module through the vendor's sales team, and the total also reflects underlying Salesforce platform licensing plus implementation services, usually delivered by Certinia or a partner consultancy. Request a multi-year quote and model the renewal escalators, because first-year discounts do not always carry forward.