AC010
Business Processes in Financial
Accounting
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PARTICIPANT HANDBOOK
INSTRUCTOR-LED TRAINING
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Course Version: 15
Course Duration: 5 Day(s)
Material Number: 50123680
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Contents
vii
Course Overview
1
Unit 1:
3
11
Lesson: Outlining Financial Accounting (FI) Components in SAP ERP
Unit 2:
13
Unit 3:
45
49
61
Unit 4:
81
85
89
97
103
Unit 5:
123
127
133
143
161
Asset Accounting
Lesson: Maintaining Asset Master Records
Lesson: Executing Asset Transactions
Lesson: Executing Asset Accounting Period-End Closing Activities
Unit 6:
145
149
159
Accounts Receivable
Lesson: Maintaining Customer Master Records
Lesson: Managing Accounts Receivable Transactions
Lesson: Managing Customer Correspondence
Lesson: Creating Accounts Receivable Dispute Cases
Lesson: Managing the Integration between Accounts Receivable and
Sales Order Management
Lesson: Performing Accounts Receivable Closing Operations
109
121
Accounts Payable
Lesson: Maintaining Vendor Master Records
Lesson: Maintaining Accounts Payable Transactions
Lesson: Managing the Integration between Accounts Payable and
Materials Management
Lesson: Performing Accounts Payable Closing Operations
67
79
General Ledger (G/L) Accounting
Lesson: Outlining Organizational Elements in Financial Accounting
(FI)
Lesson: Maintaining G/L Master Records
Lesson: Posting Transactions in the G/L
21
29
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Overview of Financial Accounting (FI) in SAP ERP
Bank Accounting
Lesson: Maintaining Bank Accounting Master Records
Lesson: Managing Bank Accounting Transactions
Unit 7:
Closing Operations in General Ledger Accounting
Lesson: Performing General Ledger (G/L) Closing Operations
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Course Overview
TARGET AUDIENCE
This course is intended for the following audiences:
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Application Consultant
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Developer
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Program/Project Manager
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User
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UNIT 1
Overview of Financial
Accounting (FI) in SAP ERP
Lesson 1
Outlining Financial Accounting (FI) Components in SAP ERP
3
UNIT OBJECTIVES
●
Describe financial accounting (FI) in SAP ERP
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1
Unit 1: Overview of Financial Accounting (FI) in SAP ERP
2
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Unit 1
Lesson 1
Outlining Financial Accounting (FI)
Components in SAP ERP
LESSON OVERVIEW
This lesson provides an overview of the basic financial accounting components of SAP ERP.
LESSON OBJECTIVES
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
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Describe financial accounting (FI) in SAP ERP
FI Components of SAP ERP
Figure 1: Financial Accounting Overview
General Ledger Accounting (FI-GL)
The central task of G/L accounting is to provide a comprehensive picture for external
accounting by means of accounts. Recording all value-related business transactions (primary
postings as well as settlements from internal accounting) in a software system that is fully
integrated with all the other operational areas of a company ensures that the accounting data
is always complete and accurate.
Features of the G/L accounting include the following:
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Free choice of level: corporate group or company
Automatic and simultaneous posting of all sub-ledger items in the appropriate general
ledger accounts (reconciliation accounts)
Real-time evaluation of and reporting on current accounting data, in the form of account
displays, financial statements with different financial statement versions, and additional
analyses
Essentially, the general ledger serves as a complete record of all business transactions. It is
the centralized, up-to-date reference for the rendering of accounts. Actual individual
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Unit 1: Overview of Financial Accounting (FI) in SAP ERP
transactions can be checked at any time in real-time processing by displaying the original
documents, line items, and transaction figures at various levels, such as:
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Account information
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Journals
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Totals/transaction figures
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Balance sheet/profit and loss evaluations
Accounts Payable (FI-AP)
Figure 2: Financial Accounting Overview (2)
The Accounts Payable application component records and administers accounting data for all
vendors. It is also an integral part of the purchasing system, where deliveries and invoices are
managed according to vendors. The system automatically makes postings in response to the
operative transactions. In the same way, the system supplies the Cash Management
application component with figures from invoices in order to optimize liquidity planning.
Features of accounts payable include the following:
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4
Payables are paid with the payment program. The payment program supports all standard
payment methods (such as checks and transfers) in printed form as well as in electronic
form (data medium exchange on disk and electronic data interchange). This program also
covers country-specific payment methods.
If necessary, dunning notices can be created for outstanding receivables (for example, to
receive payment for a credit memo). The dunning program supports this function.
Postings made in Accounts Payable are simultaneously recorded in the General Ledger,
where different G/L accounts are updated, based on the transaction involved (such as
payables and down payments). The system contains due date forecasts and other
standard reports that you can use to help you monitor open items.
You can configure balance confirmations, account statements, and other notifications to
suit your correspondence requirements. There are balance lists, journals, balance audit
trails and other evaluations available for documenting transactions in Accounts Payable.
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Lesson: Outlining Financial Accounting (FI) Components in SAP ERP
Accounts Receivable (FI-AR)
Figure 3: Financial Accounting Overview (3)
Accounts Receivable (FI-AR)
The Accounts Receivable application component records and administers accounting data of
all customers. It is also an integral part of sales management.
Features of accounts receivable include the following:
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All postings in Accounts Receivable are also recorded directly in the General Ledger.
Different G/L accounts are updated depending on the transaction involved (for example,
receivables, down payments, and bills of exchange).
The system contains a range of tools that you can use to monitor open items, such as
account analyses, alarm reports, due date lists, and a flexible dunning program.
The correspondence linked to these tools can be individually formulated to suit your
requirements. This is also the case for payment notices, balance confirmations, account
statements, and interest calculations.
Incoming payments can be assigned to due receivables using user-friendly screen
functions or by electronic means such as EDI and data telecommunication.
The payment program can automatically carry out direct debiting and down payments.
There is a range of tools available for documenting the transactions that occur in Accounts
Receivable, including balance lists, journals, balance audit trails, and other standard
reports. When drawing up financial statements, the items in foreign currency are revalued,
customers who are also vendors are listed, and the balances on the accounts are sorted by
remaining life.
Accounts receivable is not only one of the branches of accounting that forms the basis of
adequate and orderly accounting. It also provides the data required for effective credit
management, (as a result of its close integration with the Sales and Distribution
component), as well as important information for the optimization of liquidity planning
(through its link to Cash Management).
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Unit 1: Overview of Financial Accounting (FI) in SAP ERP
Asset Accounting (FI-AA)
Figure 4: Financial Accounting Overview (4)
The Asset Accounting (FI-AA) component is used for managing and supervising fixed assets
with the SAP System. In Financial Accounting, it serves as a subsidiary ledger to the General
Ledger, providing detailed information on transactions involving fixed assets.
Features of asset accounting include the following:
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●
6
The Asset Accounting component is intended for international use in many countries,
irrespective of the nature of the industry. This means, for example, that no countryspecific valuation rules are hard-coded in the system. You give this component its countryspecific and company-specific character with the settings you make in Customizing. To
minimize the time and energy involved in Customizing, country-specific defaults are
provided in the standard system where possible.
As a result of the integration in the SAP System, Asset Accounting (FI-AA) transfers data
directly to and from other SAP components. For example, it is possible to post from the
Materials Management (MM) component directly to FI-AA. When an asset is purchased or
produced in-house, you can directly post the invoice receipt or goods receipt, or the
withdrawal from the warehouse, to assets in the Asset Accounting component. At the
same time, you can pass on depreciation and interest directly to the Financial Accounting
(FI) and Controlling (CO) components. From the Plant Maintenance (PM) component, you
can settle maintenance activities that require capitalization to assets.
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Lesson: Outlining Financial Accounting (FI) Components in SAP ERP
Bank Accounting (FI-BL)
Figure 5: Financial Accounting Overview (5)
Bank Accounting (FI-BL)
This component is used to handle accounting transactions that you process with your bank.
Features of bank accounting include the following:
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It includes the management of bank master data, cash balance management (check and
bill of exchange management), and the creation and processing of incoming and outgoing
payments.
It is possible to freely define all country-specific characteristics, such as the specifications
for manual and electronic payment procedures, payment forms, or data media.
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Unit 1: Overview of Financial Accounting (FI) in SAP ERP
Layout of a Financial Statement
Figure 6: Financial Statement Layout
The figure above shows an example of a country-specific structure. The structure always
depends on customer-specific requirements.
Synonyms for “financial statement” include the following:
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Balance sheet
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Statement of financial condition
Note:
Guidelines for balance sheets of public business entities are given by the
International Accounting Standards Board and numerous country-specific
organizations/companies.
LESSON SUMMARY
You should now be able to:
●
8
Describe financial accounting (FI) in SAP ERP
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Unit 1
Learning Assessment
1. List at least three components of SAP ERP.
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Unit 1
Learning Assessment - Answers
1. List at least three components of SAP ERP.
FI-GL, FI-AP, FI-AR, FI-AA, FI-BL
10
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UNIT 2
General Ledger (G/L)
Accounting
Lesson 1
Outlining Organizational Elements in Financial Accounting (FI)
13
Lesson 2
Maintaining G/L Master Records
21
Lesson 3
Posting Transactions in the G/L
29
UNIT OBJECTIVES
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Assign company codes to a controlling area
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Maintain G/L master records
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Post transactions in the G/L
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Unit 2: General Ledger (G/L) Accounting
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Unit 2
Lesson 1
Outlining Organizational Elements in Financial
Accounting (FI)
LESSON OVERVIEW
Organizational structures occur in all important functional areas of the SAP system. The most
important organizational element in Financial Accounting is the company code. It is the
smallest organizational unit of Financial Accounting for which a complete self-contained set of
accounts can be drawn up for purposes of external reporting. Other important organizational
elements are the profit center business area and the segment. You can create a fullybalanced set of financial statements for each profit center business area and segment.
The most important organizational element of the controlling application is the controlling
area. In this lesson, we study, for example, the option for assigning one or several company
codes to a controlling area.
Business Example
The sample company consists of nine companies all over the world. Each company must fulfill
national reporting requirements and is, therefore, represented by a company code.
LESSON OBJECTIVES
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
●
Assign company codes to a controlling area
Company Code
A company code is an independent accounting entity; the smallest organizational element for
which a complete self-contained set of accounts can be drawn up. An example of a company
code is a company within a corporate group.
A company code has a unique, four-character key, which can be alphanumeric.
Figure 7: Company Code
General Ledger Accounting is kept at the company code level. It is used to create the legally
required balance sheets and profit-and-loss statements for the company code.
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Unit 2: General Ledger (G/L) Accounting
The company code must be specified for every financial transaction in SAP ERP. This is done
either manually or by deriving the company code from other data elements.
Multinational Structures
Note:
The IDES enterprise serves as a sample group.
Figure 8: IDES International
IDES operates worldwide and has subsidiaries in North America, Europe, and Asia. Each
affiliate (company code) is a legal entity that is required by law to provide financial records
according to country-specific regulations.
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Lesson: Outlining Organizational Elements in Financial Accounting (FI)
IDES Company Codes
Figure 9: IDES Company Codes
The affiliates of IDES are set up as company codes in the SAP ERP system and are uniquely
identified by four-character codes. Each company code has a local currency. The local
currency of IDES AG is EUR . Amounts posted in foreign currencies are automatically
converted to the local currency.
Note:
Affiliated group (IDES International) and corresponding subgroups (IDES North
America and so on) are not set as accounting entities. Consolidated financial
statements of the group will be created by companies in a subsequent step.
Companies are used as a basis for consolidation functions. A company can
contain one or more company codes. The usage of companies is part of
preparation for consolidation.
General Ledger (G/L) Accounts
Many companies not only have to create reports according to one specific accounting
principle, but also need to meet different information requirements (country-specific
requirements, corporate group standards, and so on). This means that financial statements
have to be created, for example, according to local accounting standards like U.S. Generally
Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) or the German Commercial Code (HGB) and the
International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
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Unit 2: General Ledger (G/L) Accounting
Figure 10: Parallel Financial Reporting – Accounts Approach
The accounts approach is widely used in this context. Different valuation approaches post to
different accounts (only in cases of differences between the principles for topics like
valuation, depreciation, or accruals). When financial statements are created, the financial
statement version is used to evaluate the relevant accounts. For example, financial
statements according to U.S. GAAP, only take into account those accounts that follow this
accounting principle.
Parallel Financial Reporting (Ledger Approach)
As of SAP ERP, new General Ledger Accounting is available. It allows you (within General
Ledger Accounting) to manage multiple “general ledgers” in parallel and in this way create
different financial statements (ledger approach).
Figure 11: Parallel Financial Reporting – Ledger Approach
In new General Ledger Accounting, one ledger has the role of “leading” ledger.
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Lesson: Outlining Organizational Elements in Financial Accounting (FI)
However, as previously in older releases, you can still manage accounts in parallel using
additional accounts (accounts approach), despite new General Ledger Accounting. In this
case, there is only exactly one ledger in new General Ledger Accounting - the leading ledger.
Profit Centers
In new General Ledger Accounting, profit centers can be part of Financial Accounting. That
means that the profit center information is stored in the totals table of FI *. As company
codes, the profit centers function as a dimension for financial reporting. This means that
financial statements can be created for profit centers as standard.
Note:
* In earlier releases, Profit Center Accounting is part of Controlling. The respective
CO component is called Enterprise Controlling - Profit Center Accounting ( ECPCA ). It is still possible to use EC-PCA as a controlling component in a new G/L
system, however it is not recommended that both approaches to profit center
accounting are used in parallel.
Figure 12: Profit Center
A profit center can represent many things:
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An organizational unit within the company (such as a plant)
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A line of business
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A geographical location
Remember that this is a "profit" area of responsibility and must not be confused with a cost
center. As of the SAP ERP, profit centers are not separate components but rather an integral
part of General Ledger Accounting itself.
Unlike the other dimensions in new General Ledger Accounting, profit centers are still
considered as master data, despite being organizational units.
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Unit 2: General Ledger (G/L) Accounting
Segments
The segment is a new organizational unit available with the new General Ledger Accounting.
Segments can also be used as a dimension for reporting purposes - keyword: segment
reporting in IFRS and U.S. GAAP.
The aim of segment reporting is to:
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Provide an insight into different business activities of a diversified company.
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Provide information about the general environment.
The purpose of segment reporting is to:
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Provide a better overview of a company's economic performance.
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Improve forecasting of the potential sales and financial reserves of a company.
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Better anticipate risks and opportunities of a company.
Figure 13: Segment
According to international accounting principles (IFRS 8) companies are obliged to provide
information in their reports on the financial results of business segments (operating
segments). This is conducted using the Management Approach, which requires that segment
information from internal reporting is constructed in the same way that this information is
used to make decisions on the allocation of resources to segments and to evaluate
performance.
Defining a Segment
According to U.S. GAAP (SFAS 131), a segment is a part of the company that incurs costs,
generates revenue, and has its own financial data with regard to profit and resource
consumption.
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Lesson: Outlining Organizational Elements in Financial Accounting (FI)
Figure 14: Defining a Segment
An ERP system enables you to save a segment in the master data of a profit center. When the
posting is made to the profit center, the posting is made to the segment automatically.
LESSON SUMMARY
You should now be able to:
●
Assign company codes to a controlling area
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Unit 2: General Ledger (G/L) Accounting
20
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Unit 2
Lesson 2
Maintaining G/L Master Records
LESSON OVERVIEW
In this lesson, we examine General Ledger (G/L) accounts in detail. We also discuss the
reasons why a company code may have more than one chart of accounts in certain situations.
Business Example
A company code must be assigned to an operating chart of accounts in order for postings to
occur for that company code. A chart of accounts is a list of G/L accounts to which one or
more company codes may post. In order to post to a G/L account, a company code must
have its own specific segment of the G/L account master record created in addition to the
chart of accounts segment, which just exists once and pertains to all company codes.
Your company has decided to increase capital with corporate funds. In addition, your
company requires a new G/L account for that increase in equity.
LESSON OBJECTIVES
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
●
Maintain G/L master records
Chart of Accounts
Each general ledger is set up according to a chart of accounts. The chart of accounts contains
the definitions of all G/L accounts in an ordered form. The definitions consist mainly of the
account number, account name, and the type of G/L account, that is, whether the account is
a P&L-type account or a balance-sheet-type account.
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Unit 2: General Ledger (G/L) Accounting
Figure 15: Charts of Accounts
You can define an unlimited number of charts of accounts in the SAP system. Many countryspecific charts of accounts are included in the standard system.
Figure 16: Chart of Accounts Assignment
For each company code, you must specify one chart of accounts for the general ledger. This
chart of accounts is assigned to the company code in configuration and is referred to as its
operating chart of accounts.
A chart of accounts can be used by multiple company codes (see diagram). This means that
the G/L accounts of these company codes have an identical structure.
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Lesson: Maintaining G/L Master Records
Company Code Settings
Before you can use an account in a company code, you have to maintain the account
definition at the chart of accounts level. You then create company code-specific settings,
which are only valid in the company code. An example of a company code-specific setting is
defining the account currency. Most of the accounts in company code 1000 use the EUR
currency, whereas company code 3000 uses USD for most of its accounts. When the account
currency is the local currency of the company code, one can post to that account in any
currency.
Figure 17: Company Code-Specific Settings
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Unit 2: General Ledger (G/L) Accounting
Figure 18: G/L Master Record (Central View)
The Central View of the G/L Master Records shows the chart of account data and the
company code-specific data.
Account groups are used to organize and manage a large number of G/L accounts. Whenever
a new G/L account is created, an account group must be specified for it.
Figure 19: Account Groups for G\L Accounts
Accounts with the same account group normally have similar business functions. You can, for
example, have an account group for:
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Lesson: Maintaining G/L Master Records
●
Cash accounts
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Expense accounts
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Revenue accounts
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Other balance sheet accounts
The account groups are assigned number ranges. Via the number ranges, you can control
which account numbers are permissible for cash accounts, expense accounts, and so on.
Account groups also control the appearance of the company code segment of G/L accounts.
Account groups control:
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The fields are required for data entry.
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The fields that are optional for data entry.
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The fields that do not show up at all in the company code segment.
Figure 20: Reconciliation Accounts
Reconciliation accounts connect subsidiary ledgers with the general ledger in real time. This
means that a posting to a subsidiary ledger posts to the corresponding reconciliation account
in the general ledger at the same time.
The subsidiary ledgers, which are connected to the general ledger via reconciliation accounts,
are:
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Accounts payable
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Accounts receivable
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Asset accounting
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Unit 2: General Ledger (G/L) Accounting
Figure 21: Transaction Figures
A transaction figure describes the total of all postings on an account in debit or credit. One
transaction figure for debit and one transaction figure for credit are always kept for each
account in the SAP system. The financial statements for the company code are calculated
using these transaction figures.
If a G/L account has line item display marked in its master record, one can drill down from the
balance of the account to the line items and then to the documents.
If using profit centers, segments, or business areas, transaction figures are also kept per
profit center, segment, or business area (see figure). If you create a financial statement for
the business area, the transaction figures for that specific business area are used to supply
information for the financial statements.
Financial Statement Versions
A general ledger is kept in order to provide the information needed to create a balance sheet
and a profit-and-loss statement. These reports have to meet country-specific requirements.
IDES (the name of our sample group) would need to create financial statements based on the
German Commercial Code (HGB) for company code 1000 (Germany), and based on U.S.
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) for company code 3000 (USA).
To meet the various reporting requirements, various financial statement versions can be
created in the SAP system. In these financial statement versions, you define exactly which
accounts are to appear in which line items of the financial statement. Many financial
statement versions are included in the SAP system.
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Lesson: Maintaining G/L Master Records
Figure 22: Financial Statement Version
When running financial statement reports, select a financial statement version that contains
the details of the report structure.
The IDES company codes use the following charts of accounts:
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INT is used by company codes 1000, 2000, 2100, 2300, and 6000.
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CAUS is used by company codes 3000 and 4000.
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CAFR is used by company code 2200.
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CAJP is used by company code 5000.
Country-Specific Chart of Accounts
It is particularly important to the IDES board of directors that the European company codes –
Germany, United Kingdom, Portugal, and Spain – all belong to the same controlling area. A
great deal of activity takes place among these company codes. Therefore, all four company
codes are assigned to the same operating chart of accounts (INT).
However, in certain countries, financial reports must be submitted to the respective
authorities using the corresponding country-specific chart of accounts. To enable the account
numbers from the individual countries to be used in legal reports, a country-specific chart of
accounts was created for these three company codes. These country-specific charts of
accounts meet the reporting requirements of the respective countries.
In the company code segment of the master record, each G/L account must be assigned to
an account from the country chart of the company code. This is done using the Alternative
account number field.
Every account number from a country-specific chart of accounts can only be used once.
Group Chart of Accounts
Group Chart of Accounts
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Unit 2: General Ledger (G/L) Accounting
Not all company codes of the IDES group use the same operating chart of accounts, so a
group chart of accounts (CONS)is used for consolidation purposes. The operating charts of
accounts are assigned to this group chart in configuration.
Once an operating chart has been assigned to a group chart, the Group account number field
becomes required in the chart of accounts segment of the master record.
It is possible to assign several accounts of an operating chart of accounts to one group
account number.
In summary, only the operating chart of accounts is posted. Country chart of accounts and
group chart of accounts assist only for reporting purposes, and if necessary, consolidation
purposes.
LESSON SUMMARY
You should now be able to:
●
28
Maintain G/L master records
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Unit 2
Lesson 3
Posting Transactions in the G/L
LESSON OVERVIEW
In this lesson, we learn how to create G/L postings using both the Enjoy and the traditional
complex posting screen. First, we analyze the structure of the financial document. Then we
examine the effects of the postings by analyzing the transactions on the posted accounts and
by running the balance sheet. We also identify how to integrate external and internal
Accounting by using cost elements.
Business Example
Accountants create many journal entries as part of their daily work. In SAP, accountants can
use a single-entry Enjoy screen for most of their postings. In some cases, the traditional
complex screen is used. In both methods, G/L account postings are automatically listed in the
income statement report (as long as the accounts are included in the financial statement
version). You can display the respective postings also when querying posted accounts.
Your company is planning to increase capital with corporate funds. This business transaction
will be reflected in a new G/L posting to the new equity account we created in the previous
lesson.
LESSON OBJECTIVES
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
●
Post transactions in the G/L
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Unit 2: General Ledger (G/L) Accounting
G/L Posting Transactions
Figure 23: G/L Account Postings
As from SAP E-Commerce for SAP R/3, you can easily create and post a G/L account
document using a single-screen transaction. The entry screen is divided into the following
areas:
Work templates
Here, you can select screen variants, account assignment templates, or held documents
as references. A held document is a document that a user saves without posting it, with
the idea that the user will complete and post the held document later.
To return to the original line layout of the GL document entry table, right-click the screen
and choose Reset screen variant.
Header data
Header data applies to the whole document, such as posting date and document type.
Some of the header data can be in display format only, or hidden from the user via editing
options.
Line item information
Here, the line items of the document are entered.
Information area
Here, the debit and credit balances are displayed by using a traffic light icon.
30
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Lesson: Posting Transactions in the G/L
Figure 24: G/L Document Entry Enjoy Screen
Figure 25: Standard/Complex Postings
Accounting Documents
Complex or general postings correspond to the old, more difficult standard posting
transaction, FB01.
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Unit 2: General Ledger (G/L) Accounting
1. In the initial screen, you enter the data for the document header. Additionally, you enter
the posting key and the account for the first line item. The posting key provides the
system with information regarding the account type (G/L account, customer, vendor,
asset and material) and can influence the layout of the entry screen for the line item,
which will be seen in the next screen. The key driver of the layout of the entry screen for
the line item is the field status group of the account that is being posted to.
2. With the information about posting key and field status group of the account to be posted
to, the detailed entry screen for the first line item is set up. When you press ENTER, you
proceed to the next screen. It contains the Amount field and Additional account
assignment fields for the first line item. This includes, for example, business area, cost
center, or profit center.
3. At the bottom of the second screen, you enter the posting key and account for the second
line item of the posting. When you press ENTER, you proceed to the third screen, which
contains the Amount field and Additional account assignment fields for the second line
item.
4. To pass information from Financial Accounting to Management Accounting (Controlling),
a cost element for the expense account to be posted to must exist. A primary cost
element can be created automatically when a new G/L account is created. Cost/revenue
elements only exist for P&L accounts. You can branch to the cost element from the G/L
master record.
Figure 26: G/L Document Entry Complex First Screen
32
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Lesson: Posting Transactions in the G/L
Figure 27: G/L Document Entry Complex Second Screen
FI Document Types
Figure 28: Important Standard Document Types
Document types are used to distinguish between and order various accounting documents
easily. Each document is assigned to a document type, which is entered in the document
header. Document numbers are provided by the document number ranges assigned to one or
more document types.
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Unit 2: General Ledger (G/L) Accounting
Note:
For G/L account postings, document type SA is most often used, although other
document types are possible, such as accrual/deferral documents, valuation
documents, and so on.
Posting Keys
Figure 29: Posting Key
Each line item contains exactly one posting key . This instrument is used for internal control
and is entered in the complex posting screen to tell the system:
●
Which account type is being posted to
●
Whether the line item is a debit or credit posting
In the Enjoy transaction, you no longer need to enter the posting key. Instead,
●
debit (d) represents posting key 40
●
credit (c) represents posting key 50
These posting keys appear in the document and their control functions are still relevant.
34
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Lesson: Posting Transactions in the G/L
Figure 30: Standard Posting Keys
In the SAP system, there are a large number of standard posting keys . Each posting key is
used for posting either a debit or a credit to one account type.
For postings in the general ledger, you need only two posting keys:
●
Posting key 40 for debit items
●
Posting key 50 for credit items
Figure 31: Account Information
The balance display and the line item display are provided to display the account data. The
line item display (Display/Change Line Items FBL3N) can be used only for G/L accounts for
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Unit 2: General Ledger (G/L) Accounting
which the corresponding function has been activated in the master record. The balance
display (Display/Change Items (New) FAGLL03) is always available.
The balance display is an overview of the saved transaction figures of an account. In the
balance display, you can display a list of the items that make up the balance by doubleclicking.
In turn, you can display the corresponding document from the line item list by double-clicking
an item or selecting the indicator and choosing the Display icon. From there you can see the
complete transaction by selecting Document overview .
Note:
If an original document for the FI document saved in the SAP system exists and it
was archived optically, you can display it as well.
LESSON SUMMARY
You should now be able to:
●
36
Post transactions in the G/L
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Unit 2
Learning Assessment
1. What is SAP's representation of a company (independent accounting unit)?
2. More than one company code can be assigned to a controlling area.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
3. To which chart of accounts must a company code be assigned in order for postings to
occur?
Choose the correct answer.
X
A Group
X
B Country
X
C Operating
X
D None of the above
X
E All of the above
4. What are the two parts of a G/L account and what are the two reports that show those
parts?
5. What is assigned to a number range and controls how the Company Code segment of a
G/L account is displayed on the screen?
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Unit 2: Learning Assessment
6. Reconciliation accounts can be posted to directly.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
7. What determines the structure of a balance sheet and an income statement report, and
specifies which accounts correspond to which items in the report?
8. Which are the two parts a document consists of?
9. There are two posting keys for postings to G/L accounts: one for debit postings, and one
for credit postings. Which are they?
10. A posting key allows posting to just one account type.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
11. When a document is posted, a number is assigned to that document. This number comes
from a number range assigned to what in the header of that document?
12. In order for information to pass over to the controlling module when posting to an expense
account as part of an FI transaction, which object must exist for the expense account that
is being posted to?
38
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Unit 2: Learning Assessment
13. When a transaction is posted in FI, it automatically appears on the balance sheet.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
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39
Unit 2
Learning Assessment - Answers
1. What is SAP's representation of a company (independent accounting unit)?
Company code
2. More than one company code can be assigned to a controlling area.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
In order for this to occur, the company codes must have the same operating and fiscal
year variant.
3. To which chart of accounts must a company code be assigned in order for postings to
occur?
Choose the correct answer.
X
A Group
X
B Country
X
C Operating
X
D None of the above
X
E All of the above
A company code must be assigned to an operating chart of accounts. In addition, a
company code can be assigned to a country chart of accounts. The country chart is
required for country-specific reporting. An operating chart of accounts can be assigned to
a group chart for consolidation purposes.
4. What are the two parts of a G/L account and what are the two reports that show those
parts?
The two segments are the chart of accounts segment and the company code segment.
The chart of accounts report is a list of accounts for which the chart of accounts segment
has been created. The G/L account report is a list of accounts for which the company
code segment has also been created.
40
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Unit 2: Learning Assessment - Answers
5. What is assigned to a number range and controls how the Company Code segment of a
G/L account is displayed on the screen?
Account group
6. Reconciliation accounts can be posted to directly.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
You can post to a reconciliation account only through a subledger account.
7. What determines the structure of a balance sheet and an income statement report, and
specifies which accounts correspond to which items in the report?
Financial statement version
8. Which are the two parts a document consists of?
Header, line items
9. There are two posting keys for postings to G/L accounts: one for debit postings, and one
for credit postings. Which are they?
debit postings: 40, credit postings: 50
10. A posting key allows posting to just one account type.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
The posting key supplies the system with the information about which account has been
posted to. G/L account, customer, vendor, assets or materials.
11. When a document is posted, a number is assigned to that document. This number comes
from a number range assigned to what in the header of that document?
Document type
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Unit 2: Learning Assessment - Answers
12. In order for information to pass over to the controlling module when posting to an expense
account as part of an FI transaction, which object must exist for the expense account that
is being posted to?
Cost element
13. When a transaction is posted in FI, it automatically appears on the balance sheet.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
The account must be assigned to an appropriate line item in the financial statement
version used when running the balance sheet. Otherwise, the posting will appear at the
end of the financial statement in a category called “Accounts not assigned ”.
42
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UNIT 3
Accounts Payable
Lesson 1
Maintaining Vendor Master Records
45
Lesson 2
Maintaining Accounts Payable Transactions
49
Lesson 3
Managing the Integration between Accounts Payable and Materials Management
61
Lesson 4
Performing Accounts Payable Closing Operations
67
UNIT OBJECTIVES
●
Maintain vendor master records
●
Maintain accounts payable transactions
●
Manage the integration between accounts payable and materials management
●
Perform accounts payable closing operations
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Unit 3: Accounts Payable
44
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Unit 3
Lesson 1
Maintaining Vendor Master Records
LESSON OVERVIEW
In this lesson we review an existing vendor master record and create a new vendor master
record in the SAP system. We also examine how the account group controls the appearance
and numbering of vendor master records.
Business Example
A foreign employee is to arrive in Hamburg next month. Your company has to organize
accommodation for him. With the help of a local realtor, an apartment has been found and
your company has just signed the tenancy agreement. The accounting department needs to
create an accounts payable (AP) master record representing the landlord to create and track
the rent payments.
LESSON OBJECTIVES
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
●
Maintain vendor master records
Vendor Accounts
Figure 32: Vendor Account in Financial Accounting
Vendor accounts are structured similarly to G/L accounts. They are made up of the two
following areas:
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Unit 3: Accounts Payable
●
General data:
A vendor account is defined for all company codes at the client level. General data, such as
the vendor's name and address, is stored here.
●
Company code:
Postings cannot be made to the account for a company code until company code-specific
settings have been created. These settings refer only to the relevant company code and
include details, such as agreed payment conditions or reconciliation account.
Figure 33: Initial Screen to Display a Vendor Master Record
Vendor Account Groups
Vendor accounts can be divided into various account groups in the same way as G/L
accounts. They can be organized and managed more easily. The account group controls the
screen layout of all areas of the vendor master record, not just the company code data, as is
the case with G/L account groups.
46
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Lesson: Maintaining Vendor Master Records
Figure 34: Account Groups for Vendors
Note:
The accounts in an account group usually have similar characteristics. For
example, you could have one account group for domestic vendors, one for
vendors abroad, one for affiliated vendors, and one for one-time vendors.
Number ranges are assigned to account groups in the following way:
●
Internal number ranges:
The system automatically assigns the number for a newly created vendor. The system
assigns numbers from the assigned range sequentially.
●
External number ranges:
The responsible person needs to enter a number for the new vendor master record. The
number entered has to be between the from-number and the to-number of the number
interval defined in customizing.
LESSON SUMMARY
You should now be able to:
●
Maintain vendor master records
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Unit 3: Accounts Payable
48
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Unit 3
Lesson 2
Maintaining Accounts Payable Transactions
LESSON OVERVIEW
In this lesson, we will learn to execute daily transactions with accounts payable (AP). The
Invoice transaction is also explained. We also learn how to set up the recurring entry program.
Finally, we study multiple ways to process payments in SAP ERP Financials.
Business Example
A foreign employee is due to arrive in Hamburg next month. Your company has to organize
accommodation for him. With the help of a local realtor, an apartment has been found and
your company has just signed the tenancy agreement.
The commission for the realtor is 4,000 EUR. Your company uses the services of this realtor
quite frequently, which means a master record already exists. The invoice for the commission
is sent directly to the accounting department and has to be posted.
The rent for the apartment is 2,000 EUR per month. To automatically create an open item in
the landlord's account each month, the accounting department uses the recurring entries
program. The rent itself is paid automatically by running the payment program periodically.
The realtor urgently needs the money and asks you for a fast payment. Therefore, the
accountant creates a cheque for 4,000 EUR and posts the payment.
To see if every transaction was posted correctly, the accountants check the accounts after
each transaction.
LESSON OBJECTIVES
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
●
Maintain accounts payable transactions
Vendor Invoices and Credit Memos
You can easily create and post vendor invoices or credit memos using a one-screen
transaction. This type of vendor invoice entered directly in A/P is a miscellaneous invoice,
without reference to a purchase order. The A/P entry screen is divided into the following
areas:
Work templates
Here, you can select screen variants, account assignment templates, or held documents
as references.
Header and vendor data
Document header and vendor line item data is entered here.
G/L account items
The G/L line items for the document are entered here.
Information area
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Unit 3: Accounts Payable
The document balance and information about the vendor is displayed here.
Figure 35: Enjoy Invoice/Credit Memo Entry
This transaction can also be used to create documents in a foreign currency. The foreign
currency amount is translated into local currency using defined exchange rates.
Figure 36: Enjoy Vendor Invoice Screen
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Lesson: Maintaining Accounts Payable Transactions
When entering an expense item for an operating expense, you must also enter a cost
accounting-relevant assignment, such as a cost center or internal order. This means that
when the item is posted, documents are created in Management Accounting and Accounting.
A primary cost element must exist for the G/L account in order for this to happen. The
Management Accounting document posts the costs corresponding to the expense to the
Management Accounting object.
In the case described, the vendor invoice entered only affected one account assignment
object – a specific cost center.
Document Splitting
An invoice occasionally has multiple account assignment objects, such as two different cost
centers. For example, the real estate commission for finding apartments for two employees
from different departments. To resolve this issue, the IDES group has decided that balance
sheets and P&L statements are to be created for every individual segment. The affected
segment does not have to be specified manually when the posting is made, because it is
derived from the cost center automatically.
What does the posting look like in this case? Three line items are entered first:
●
●
●
The vendor line item with the total amount
Expense item 1 (first cost center and the corresponding segment is derived from the cost
center)
Expense item 2 (second cost center and also the associated segment)
The fourth item (tax item) is determined based on the tax code and the relevant settings when
the simulation or posting is carried out, and then either displayed or posted.
Note:
This means that the document contains four line items in total (see the figure).
Figure 37: Entry View (Document Splitting)
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Unit 3: Accounts Payable
Currently, SAP supports derivation of the segment from the profit center . In turn, the profit
center can be derived, for example from the following:
●
Cost center
●
CO internal order
●
Project
Note:
Corporate groups are required to create balance sheets at segment level.
However, no segment entries exist in two line items, which means that the
balance sheet is not complete. The balance is not zero for the segments, which
means that the balance sheet is notbalanced.
Document Splitting
You can specify in Customizing that the system is to complete the missing entries
automatically. The amended and now full amount is shown in the figure.
You have to activate document splitting to ensure uniform splitting of the segment
characteristic (or any other entity). Systematic segmentation means that a “zero balance
position” is reached for each document with regard to the entity in question.
Figure 38: General Ledger View (Document Splitting)
The document now consists of six line items. The vendor line item and the tax item are split
across the two segments A and B. The balance for each segment is now zero. The balance
sheet and P&L statement can be created in full and the balance sheet is balanced. As well as
the split, the illustration also shows how the segment entity is inherited by the accounts
payable and tax items in the document.
52
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Lesson: Maintaining Accounts Payable Transactions
Document splitting reduces the time and effort for the user to enter documents. Entering the
six account assignment items, as shown in this example, would be time consuming.
This document splitting is only possible in new General Ledger Accounting, that is, not until
SAP ERP. There are now two “views” of the posted documents:
●
Entry view
●
General ledger view
Users can select the view they need and switch between views as required.
If document splitting is not required or has not been activated the two views are identical (for
example, the customer only needs to create balance sheets at company code level).
Only one document is saved in the database; the views differ.
Customer invoices for which the revenues are distributed among various entities are also
handled in the same way.
Controlling (CO) Account Assignment Logic
In order to post to accounts in Financial accounting that have got a primary cost element in
CO, you need to assign a CO account assignment object.
Figure 39: CO Account Assignment Logic
The account assignment object itself can either be a real or a statistical object. For example,
an internal order is defined as real or statistical when it is created. A real order can only be
executed with real postings, and a statistical order only with statistical postings.
Note:
The cost center is an exception to this rule. This is always a real object. It can be
posted to in both real and statistical postings.
Postings on real controlling objects can be allocated to other objects in CO. You can also
specify statistical controlling objects as account assignment objects in addition to real
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Unit 3: Accounts Payable
controlling objects. You cannot allocate costs posted to statistical controlling objects to other
objects. These account assignments are for information purposes only. You can make
statistical assignments during posting to any number of controlling objects.
Note the following rules for account assignments:
●
●
●
You need to specify a real controlling object in each posting item.
You cannot assign a CO-object such as a statistical internal order without also specifying a
real controlling object.
You cannot assign costs to more than one real controlling object in one posting item.
The only exception to this is that you can post to a cost center and one other real controlling
object. In this case, the posting is actual for the additional controlling object and statistical for
the cost center.
Recurring Entry Program
You can use the recurring entry program for postings that are repeated at regular intervals,
such as rent payments and payments of fees and property taxes. With this program, the
necessary documents are generated automatically.
Recurring business transactions must be stored in the system as recurring entry original
documents for this to be possible. Each recurring entry original document contains the date
of the first and last postings, the frequency at which posting should be made, and the date of
the next planned posting.
The recurring entry program must be started at regular intervals within a specified period.
The program selects all recurring entry original documents in which the date of the next
posting falls within the specified period, and then generates a batch input session.
When the batch input session is run, an accounting document that corresponds to the original
document is posted, and the date of the next posting is updated in the original recurring entry
document.
Figure 40: The Recurring Entry Program
54
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Lesson: Maintaining Accounts Payable Transactions
Outgoing Payment Process
All payment transactions include the elements shown in the figure.
A payment transaction can be carried out either manually or automatically using the payment
program.
Figure 41: Elements of the Payment Transaction
The standard system contains common payment methods and corresponding forms are
defined separately for each country.
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Unit 3: Accounts Payable
Figure 42: Overview of the Automatic Payment Program
Payment Program
Figure 43: Parameters
The payment program was developed for the international payment transactions between
vendors and customers. This program can be used for incoming and outgoing payments.
However, it is more commonly used for outgoing payments.
The automatic payment process comprises the following steps:
56
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Lesson: Maintaining Accounts Payable Transactions
1. Maintain the parameters.
2. Run a payment proposal.
3. Check the payment proposal.
4. The payment run.
5. Print payment media.
Step 1: maintaining the parameters. You use the parameters to define which accounts and
items the payment program is to include in the automatic payment run.
Figure 44: Proposal Run
Step 2: the proposal run. During the proposal run, the system does the following:
●
Checks the accounts and documents specified in the parameters for due items.
●
Groups items due for payment.
●
Selects the relevant payment methods, house banks, and partner banks.
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Unit 3: Accounts Payable
Figure 45: Edit Proposal
Step 3: checking and editing the payment proposal. This step can be omitted, but you are
advised to check that the data is accurate before actually running the payment program.
Figure 46: Payment Run
Step 4: the payment run.
During the payment run, the system does the following:
●
58
Posts payment documents.
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Lesson: Maintaining Accounts Payable Transactions
●
Clears open items.
●
Prepares data for the printing of payment media.
Figure 47: Print Payment Media
Step 5: print payment media
Payment media are generated in this step. One of the following occurs:
●
Payment media, such as cheques, are printed.
●
IDocs are generated for the electronic data interface (EDI).
●
A data file is created as part of the data medium exchange.
The system comes with standard payment media programs for many countries and many
payment methods. In this exercise, the payment program RFFOD__S is activated to print
cheques in Germany. In the USA, the program RFFOUS_C is used.
In addition to creating payment media using the standard payment media print programs
RFFO*, you can also create them using the Payment Medium Workbench (PMW). It is a
generic payment medium program for all payment medium formats whose variants are to be
entered in Customizing.
Note:
The payment program name contains the code for the country and for the
payment method.
You can skip the payment proposal and execute the payment run directly. In this case,
business transactions that balance the open items are posted directly after entering the
parameters. You can also combine the payment run step with the payment media step by
entering a variant for the payment media program in the Printout/data medium tab before
running the payment program.
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Unit 3: Accounts Payable
LESSON SUMMARY
You should now be able to:
●
60
Maintain accounts payable transactions
© Copyright. All rights reserved.
Unit 3
Lesson 3
Managing the Integration between Accounts
Payable and Materials Management
LESSON OVERVIEW
In this lesson, we learn to create a simple purchase order. Following that, we deal with the
goods receipt and the invoice verification in the Materials Management. In addition, we
explain the integration with Financial Accounting for goods receipt and invoice verification in
the purchasing process.
Business Example
The plant in Hamburg (1000) needs 10 cylinder heads. The responsible purchase organization
submits a corresponding purchase order to a known supplier.
A few days later first the goods, and then the invoice, arrive.
LESSON OBJECTIVES
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
●
Manage the integration between accounts payable and materials management
Organizational Units in Materials Management
Note:
The IDES company serves as a sample here.
The central organizational object in logistics is the plant. A plant is an operating area or
branch within a company. A plant can be a central delivery warehouse, a regional sales office,
a manufacturing facility, the corporate headquarters, or a maintenance plant.
A plant must be assigned to a single company code. However, one or more plants can be
assigned to the same company code.
Some of the plants included in IDES company code 1000 (Germany) are:
●
1000 (Hamburg)
●
1100 (Berlin)
●
1200 (Dresden)
●
1300 (Frankfurt)
●
1400 (Stuttgart)
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Unit 3: Accounts Payable
Figure 48: IDES Plants in Germany
All company code-relevant transactions from these plants are posted in company code 1000
because these plants are assigned to company code 1000.
Vendor Master Record Purchasing Data
In order for the procurement process to be used in Materials Management for a vendor, the
vendor master record of that vendor must have the purchasing data. The purchasing data is
specific to a single purchasing organization, just like the company code data of the master
record is specific to a single company code. In the same way that several company code
segments of the vendor master record can exist, there can be several purchase data
segments of the vendor master record. Every purchase data segment presents data, which is
specific for exactly one purchase organization.
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Lesson: Managing the Integration between Accounts Payable and Materials Management
Figure 49: Purchasing Data in the Vendor Master Record
You can access purchasing data of vendor master records in accounts payable accounting
with the central maintenance transaction (transaction codes XK01 to XK03).
Figure 50: Procurement cycle
The procurement cycle is as follows:
●
Demand determination: The department responsible can register a requirement for
materials manually via a purchase order to Purchasing.
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Unit 3: Accounts Payable
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Determining the source of supply: The purchaser responsible is supported by the system
in determining possible sources of supply. One possibility for determining the source of
supply is creating queries and subsequently entering the quotations. Furthermore, you can
access purchase orders and conditions that already exist in the system.
Supplier selection: Comparing the prices in the different quotations makes selecting
suppliers easier. Letters of rejection can be sent automatically.
Purchase order handling: When creating purchase orders, the system provides you with
the entry process.
Purchase order monitoring: The purchaser can monitor the processing status of the
purchase order in the system. For example, the purchaser can determine whether the
goods or the invoice have been received for the corresponding purchase order item.
Dunning processes are also supported.
Goods receipt: The system checks the amount of goods received against the purchase
order quantity.
Invoice verification: The vendor invoices are checked to see if the accounting and the
content are correct.
Payment processing: The vendor payment is usually done in Financial Accounting.
Logistics Process Chain
The three-step verification, commonly referred to as the “three-way match”, is the standard
procedure for posting procurement transactions in Materials Management (MM). The
procedure is as follows:
1. Purchase order: Create a purchase order in Materials Management (MM, also in next
figure). Do not make any postings in Financial Accounting (FI, also in next figure).
2. Goods receipt: To update the receipt of inventory or consumable material, generate a
material document in MM. At the same time, create a document in FI that posts the value
of the goods to the merchandise account as a debit and the goods receipt/invoice receipt
(GR/IR) to the clearing account as a credit in the general ledger.
3. Invoice verification: Post a vendor invoice in MM using invoice verification. This
automatically generates a document in FI. The accounting document contains the invoice
amount that gets posted to the GR/IR account (debit) and the vendor account (credit).
64
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Lesson: Managing the Integration between Accounts Payable and Materials Management
Figure 51: Three-Step Verification (Standard)
The last two steps can be completed in reverse order, depending on the order the goods and
the invoice are received.
The goods receipt/invoice receipt clearing account ensures that goods were received for
each invoice, and vice versa.
Figure 52: Purchase Order Screen
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Unit 3: Accounts Payable
The Purchase Order Screen has several subdivisions:
●
Type of document and vendor
●
Header data
●
Position details
●
Item details
LESSON SUMMARY
You should now be able to:
●
66
Manage the integration between accounts payable and materials management
© Copyright. All rights reserved.
Unit 3
Lesson 4
Performing Accounts Payable Closing
Operations
LESSON OVERVIEW
In this lesson, we study to how to run balance confirmations for our vendors. We also learn
about the foreign currency valuation program for open vendor items.
In some countries, accounts payable must be grouped on the balance sheet based on their
remaining life. In the SAP system, a function for Regrouping receivables and payables handles
this task.
Business Example
At the end of the month and/or year, several activities must be performed in AP, including
sending confirmation of balances to vendors, accounting for open items in a foreign currency,
and regrouping accounts payable according to their remaining life (in certain countries only).
LESSON OBJECTIVES
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
●
Perform accounts payable closing operations
Accounts Payable Closing
Year-end closing can be divided into two main sections.
●
●
Legal requirements (procedures required by the government authorities)
Technical and organizational requirements (procedures that are technically required or
needed to support the accounting organization)
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Unit 3: Accounts Payable
Figure 53: Accounts Payable Closing Operations
Note:
Course AC010 focuses on the legal requirements. Course AC205 covers both
areas - the legal requirements and the technical/organizational aspects of
closing operations.
At the beginning of the fiscal year, the balance carry forward program is run, carrying forward
the balances of the vendor accounts to the next fiscal year.
The posting periods of the old fiscal year are blocked and the special periods for closing
postings for fiscal year-end adjustments are opened.
Afterwards, the balances with selected vendors are confirmed, the foreign currency
documents are valuated, and the accounts payable are regrouped according to remaining life
(required only in certain countries).
Once complete, the special periods can be closed.
Balance Confirmations
The program for creating balance confirmations also creates reply requests for a freely
definable number of vendors, a reconciliation list, and a results table. The balance
confirmations and reply requests are sent to the vendors; the lists are used as a control
measure.
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Lesson: Performing Accounts Payable Closing Operations
Figure 54: Balance Confirmations
The vendors check the balance information they receive and send their replies to the control
center audit department, which compares the replies with the reconciliation list and enters
the results in the results table.
Foreign Currency Valuation
A foreign currency valuation is necessary if vendor accounts contain open items in a foreign
currency. The amounts of these open items are translated to the local currency at the time
they are entered, using the exchange rate that is valid on the posting date.
Figure 55: Foreign Currency Valuation
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Unit 3: Accounts Payable
The exchange rate is probably different at the time of closing, and open items need to be
valuated again. A program valuates the open items using the new exchange rate and enters
the valuation difference in the valuated line items.
It creates the valuation postings in either of the following ways:
●
Either: expense from foreign currency valuation to balance sheet adjustment account.
●
Balance sheet adjustment account to revenue from foreign currency valuation.
Note:
A valuation document cannot post directly to the payable account, because
reconciliation accounts cannot be directly posted to. For this reason, postings
appear in an adjustment account, which is displayed in the balance sheet item of
the associated reconciliation account.
Valuation Method
A valuation method determines how the individual line items are valuated. This has to be set
up in conjunction with the country-specific valuation regulations. It defines, for example,
whether the lowest value principle, or a general principle has to be used for valuation.
Valuation areas are used in Financial Accounting for closing operations. You can use them to
depict different valuation approaches/accounting principles.
Accounts Payable Regrouping
Accounts payable and receivable have to be listed separately in the balance sheet. As it is
possible for some vendors to have a debit balance, these accounts need to be changed to
vendors with a debit balance prior to creating the financial statements.
In many countries it is also necessary to group accounts payable in the balance sheet based
on their remaining life.
Both regroupings are carried out using a special program. At the same time, these
regroupings are removed on the first day of the next period, since regroupings are not
necessary for daily processing.
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Lesson: Performing Accounts Payable Closing Operations
Figure 56: Regrouping Accounts Payable
The figure displays how payables with long remaining terms were posted to adjustment
accounts separately, so that the balance sheet could be prepared. Additionally, vendors with
a debit balance are regrouped. An adjustment account is used as the offsetting account here
as well, since adjustments cannot be posted directly to a reconciliation account.
LESSON SUMMARY
You should now be able to:
●
Perform accounts payable closing operations
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Unit 3: Accounts Payable
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Unit 3
Learning Assessment
1. Vendor Accounts are made up of two segments. What are they?
2. In which segment of the vendor master record can you find the reconciliation account?
3. When creating a vendor master record, you can use the functionality of a reference
vendor. What is a reference vendor?
4. When you carry out vendor postings in SAP ERP Financials from the Enjoy screen,
information about the vendor is displayed when you enter the vendor number and choose
Enter. What can we use it for?
5. Which cost element is used in CO to post to cost objects in controlling?
6. For postings to recur on a regular basis, which program can be used to generate the
necessary documents?
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Unit 3: Learning Assessment
7. Which of the following accurately describes what is defined by the parameters for the
payment program?
Choose the correct answer.
X
A Company codes only.
X
B Vendors and invoices only.
X
C Company codes, vendors, and invoices.
8. During the proposal stage of the payment program, you cannot make any changes to what
SAP E-Commerce for SAP R/3 proposes to pay.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
9. What are the three parts that complete a vendor master record?
10. Which are the two key organizational elements in Materials Management? Hint: One is an
operating area or branch within a company, the other negotiates conditions of purchase
with vendors.
11. When a purchase order is created, a financial document is also created.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
12. In SAP ERP Financials, adjustments can be posted in special periods (such as periods
13-16) for year-end closing adjustments.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
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X
True
X
False
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Unit 3: Learning Assessment
13. If the exchange rate has moved in your favor since a vendor invoice was posted, the
following debit and credit transaction is created by the foreign currency revaluation
program:
14. The regrouping payables program can be used for three purposes. What are they?
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Unit 3
Learning Assessment - Answers
1. Vendor Accounts are made up of two segments. What are they?
General data, which exists at the client level, company code data, which is specific to a
particular company code.
2. In which segment of the vendor master record can you find the reconciliation account?
Company code
3. When creating a vendor master record, you can use the functionality of a reference
vendor. What is a reference vendor?
A reference vendor is used to have defaulted data come over when creating a new vendor
master record.
4. When you carry out vendor postings in SAP ERP Financials from the Enjoy screen,
information about the vendor is displayed when you enter the vendor number and choose
Enter. What can we use it for?
It can be used to view or make changes to the vendor master record while making a
posting. You do not have to open up a new session or exit the Vendor Posting screen. You
can also link to open items in the vendor's account.
5. Which cost element is used in CO to post to cost objects in controlling?
Primary cost element
6. For postings to recur on a regular basis, which program can be used to generate the
necessary documents?
Recurring entry program
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Unit 3: Learning Assessment - Answers
7. Which of the following accurately describes what is defined by the parameters for the
payment program?
Choose the correct answer.
X
A Company codes only.
X
B Vendors and invoices only.
X
C Company codes, vendors, and invoices.
8. During the proposal stage of the payment program, you cannot make any changes to what
SAP E-Commerce for SAP R/3 proposes to pay.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
Editing the payment proposal allows the user to make changes to what the system
proposes to pay.
9. What are the three parts that complete a vendor master record?
General data, data on the Company Code, and data on the purchasing organization
10. Which are the two key organizational elements in Materials Management? Hint: One is an
operating area or branch within a company, the other negotiates conditions of purchase
with vendors.
Plant, purchasing organization
11. When a purchase order is created, a financial document is also created.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
A financial document is created when goods are received and when the invoice is received,
but not when the purchase order is created.
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Unit 3: Learning Assessment - Answers
12. In SAP ERP Financials, adjustments can be posted in special periods (such as periods
13-16) for year-end closing adjustments.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
13. If the exchange rate has moved in your favor since a vendor invoice was posted, the
following debit and credit transaction is created by the foreign currency revaluation
program:
debit: balance sheet adjustment account; credit: revenue from foreign currency valuation.
14. The regrouping payables program can be used for three purposes. What are they?
1) Regrouping payables according to their remaining term; 2) Regrouping vendors with a
debit balance; 3) Vendors whose reconciliation account has changed.
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UNIT 4
Accounts Receivable
Lesson 1
Maintaining Customer Master Records
81
Lesson 2
Managing Accounts Receivable Transactions
85
Lesson 3
Managing Customer Correspondence
89
Lesson 4
Creating Accounts Receivable Dispute Cases
97
Lesson 5
Managing the Integration between Accounts Receivable and Sales Order Management
103
Lesson 6
Performing Accounts Receivable Closing Operations
109
UNIT OBJECTIVES
●
Maintain customer master records
●
Manage accounts receivable transactions
●
Manage customer correspondence
●
Create accounts receivable dispute cases
●
Manage the integration between accounts receivable and sales order management
●
Perform accounts receivable closing operations
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Unit 4: Accounts Receivable
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Unit 4
Lesson 1
Maintaining Customer Master Records
LESSON OVERVIEW
In this lesson, you learn how to maintain customer master records.
Business Example
A customer calls to inform the accounting department of a change of address. You need to
enter the new address in the customer master record.
LESSON OBJECTIVES
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
●
Maintain customer master records
Customer Accounts
Figure 57: Customer Account in SAP ERP Financials
As with G/L accounts and vendor accounts, customer accounts also consist of two areas:
General data
A customer account is defined for all company codes at the client level. General data,
such as the customer's address, is stored here. General data applies for all company
codes that do business with the customer.
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Unit 4: Accounts Receivable
Company code segment(s)
Postings cannot be made to the customer account for a company code until company
code-specific settings have been created. The company code segment contains
information that pertains to just one company code, such as agreed terms of payment.
Figure 58: Company Code View of the Customer Master Record
Customer Account Groups
Figure 59: Account Groups for Customers
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Lesson: Maintaining Customer Master Records
In the same way as for G/L accounts and vendor accounts, customer accounts are stored in
various account groups, so that they can be organized and managed more easily.
The accounts in an account group usually have similar characteristics. For example, you could
have one account group for:
●
Domestic customers
●
Customers abroad
●
Affiliated customers
●
One-time customers
Account groups have a number range assigned to them. Number ranges are of two types:
●
●
Internal: Do not enter a customer number when creating the customer. Instead, the
system assigns you a customer number from the number range assigned to the account
group when the new customer master record is created.
External: Enter the customer number manually when creating the customer. The number
can be alphanumeric, if the number range allows for that.
Account groups define the layout of all parts of the customer master record. That is, they
determine which fields are optional, mandatory, displayed, or hidden.
LESSON SUMMARY
You should now be able to:
●
Maintain customer master records
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Unit 4: Accounts Receivable
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Unit 4
Lesson 2
Managing Accounts Receivable Transactions
LESSON OVERVIEW
In this lesson, you learn how to enter and display invoices and payments in accounts
receivable accounting. Although most transactions with customers are entered in sales and
distribution, this lesson shows you how to enter miscellaneous invoices that do not pertain to
a sales order. You also learn how to process incoming payments, including an underpayment
(a short pay).
Business Example
A customer states on the phone that on the last invoice he received from your company, the
payment terms did not contain the usual 3% cash discount. The Sales and Distribution
department confirm the error. You need to update the customer invoice to apply the correct
discount.
The accounting department receives a payment advice, which states that a customer is going
to pay only 80% of the invoice amount because the delivery was incomplete. When the check
arrives, the accountant posts the difference as a residual item.
LESSON OBJECTIVES
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
●
Manage accounts receivable transactions
Customer Invoices and Credit Memos
Nearly all invoices and credit memos from customers reach the accounts receivable
component through integration with the sales order management component. In exceptional
cases, if there is no reference to a sales order, invoices and credit memos can be entered
using the Enjoy transaction. The Enjoy document entry screen is divided into the following
areas:
Work templates
Here, you can select screen variants, account assignment templates, or held documents
as references.
Header and customer data
Document header and customer line item data is entered here.
G/L account items
The G/L line items for the document are entered here.
Information area
The document balance and information about the customer are displayed here. It also
contains a link to the master data and open items.
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Unit 4: Accounts Receivable
Figure 60: Enjoy Invoice/Credit Memo Entry
This transaction can also be used to create documents in a foreign currency. The foreign
currency amount is translated into local currency using defined exchange rates.
Figure 61: Enjoy Customer Invoice Screen
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Lesson: Managing Accounts Receivable Transactions
Incoming Payments
Figure 62: Incoming Payments
Incoming payments can be dealt with in several ways in different companies and countries.
Incoming payments are basically posted as shown in the figure, Incoming Payments.
●
●
●
The items are cleared if the customer pays open items in the full amount or with an agreed
cash discount.
If a minor payment difference exists, this can be charged off automatically. The maximum
amount that constitutes a minor payment difference is defined in tolerance group settings.
Any payment difference outside the tolerance group settings must be dealt with manually.
The two methods of posting payment differences are:
1. Partial payment: The item being short-paid does not clear. A new open item in the amount
of the payment is created on the credit side. This credit entry shows up right above the
open item being paid and it references the open item being short-paid.
2. Residual item: The open invoice is cleared and a new open item (residual item) in the
amount of the payment difference is created.
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Unit 4: Accounts Receivable
Figure 63: Process Incoming Payment Screen
LESSON SUMMARY
You should now be able to:
●
88
Manage accounts receivable transactions
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Unit 4
Lesson 3
Managing Customer Correspondence
LESSON OVERVIEW
In this lesson, you learn how to create correspondence for customers, including dunning
notices and account statements. You also learn how to carry out quick analyses of accounting
data using the accounts receivable information system.
Business Example
Some important customers wish to receive monthly account statements. Once a month, a
special report needs to be started to select these customers and print the account
statements. This report is usually started automatically by a job. For demonstration purposes,
the accountant allows you to run the report online.
Other customers have not paid their invoices on time, and must therefore be sent a dunning
notice.
LESSON OBJECTIVES
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
●
Manage customer correspondence
Dunning Functions
The SAP system provides you with a tool that automatically analyzes all the open items and
duns any items that are overdue. The system determines a dunning level, which corresponds
to the number of days in arrears. The dunning level determines the dunning charges and
interest levied, as well as which dunning text is selected. The dunning history keeps a record
of which dunning notices have been issued.
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Unit 4: Accounts Receivable
Figure 64: Dunning Functions
You can trigger automatic dunning for a single account (individual dunning notice), or you can
have the dunning program carry out automatic dunning for a selected number of accounts.
Dunning Procedure
Figure 65: Dunning Procedure
Dunning is controlled by the dunning procedure. A dunning procedure must be entered in
every customer and/or vendor account that is to be included in automatic dunning.
A dunning procedure that is valid for one-time customers is entered in one-time accounts.
You can define as many different dunning procedures as you need. SAP ERP Financials comes
with several standard dunning procedures that can be used as a template for additional
procedures.
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Lesson: Managing Customer Correspondence
Dunning Parameters
Figure 66: Dunning Parameters
You can specify how the dunning run is to be executed by entering parameters in the dunning
program. You can use the parameters of an existing dunning run as a template and adjust the
dates to meet your requirements. Typical parameters are the company codes and accounts
that are to be included in the dunning run.
Dunning Runs
During the dunning run, accounts are selected and checked for overdue items. The system
then checks whether dunning notices have to be sent and assigns the relevant dunning levels.
All dunning data is stored in a dunning proposal.
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Unit 4: Accounts Receivable
Figure 67: Dunning Run
Changing the Dunning Proposal
You can edit, delete, and recreate the dunning proposal as often as required to achieve a
satisfying result.
Figure 68: Changing the Dunning Proposal
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Lesson: Managing Customer Correspondence
Printing Dunning Notices
The dunning proposal is not a mandatory step; therefore, it can be omitted. If Dunn.print with
scheduling is not selected, the system does not produce a proposal. Instead, it prints the
dunning notices as soon as the program has been executed.
Figure 69: Printing Dunning Notices
In one step, the system prints the dunning notices and updates the dunning data in the
master records and documents, including the dunning dates and levels.
Correspondence Types
Correspondence relating to daily business first has to be requested before it can be printed. A
correspondence request can be carried out:
●
●
●
Automatically when special transactions, such as bill of exchange charges (bill of exchange
charges statement) or payment differences (payment notice) are posted.
Manually by the accounting clerk.
Using a request program that creates a high volume of correspondence requests
simultaneously (periodic account statements, internal documents, standard letters).
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Unit 4: Accounts Receivable
Figure 70: Correspondence Requests
Requested correspondence is stored in a correspondence request table and can be printed
via a trigger program.
Information Systems for Accounts Receivable
The accounts receivable information system enables you to carry out quick analyses of
important accounting data such as:
●
Due date breakdown
●
Customer payment history
●
Currency risk for customers abroad
●
Overdue items
●
Number of days (DSO days) that a customer takes, on average, to pay an invoice
●
Customer cash discount history (days agreed/days taken)
These analyses are based on preselected datasets (views) that must be generated or updated
at regular intervals by means of a background run from the SAP database. A Job Wizard helps
you here with the update.
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Lesson: Managing Customer Correspondence
Figure 71: Accounts Receivable Information System
LESSON SUMMARY
You should now be able to:
●
Manage customer correspondence
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Unit 4: Accounts Receivable
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Unit 4
Lesson 4
Creating Accounts Receivable Dispute Cases
LESSON OVERVIEW
In this lesson, you learn about the dispute management functions of SAP ERP, which you can
use to optimize dispute case processing with your customers.
Business Example
A customer informs you that an invoice was only partially paid because the delivery was
incomplete. As an accounts receivable accountant, you create a dispute case for this in the
dispute management component in SAP ERP, so that you can initiate further steps.
LESSON OBJECTIVES
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
●
Create accounts receivable dispute cases
SAP Collections and Dispute Management
Figure 72: Dispute Management in SAP ERP
The dispute management component in SAP ERP contains functions for settling dispute
cases relating to receivables. It complements the logistical process chain (Purchase
Order → Delivery → Invoice → Payment) in the stage between invoice and payment, if the
customer disputes anything at this stage.
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Unit 4: Accounts Receivable
Customer Dispute Cases
Figure 73: Problem Issues in Dispute Case Processes
A number of issues arise in the dispute case process that can be improved as part of financial
supply chain management. These issues form the starting point for developing the dispute
management component in SAP ERP.
●
●
●
●
If customers make reduced payments or do not pay at all, the days sales outstanding
(DSO) increases. “Days sales outstanding” is a key figure indicating the average number of
days that the customer takes to pay, based on annual sales. This is the case particularly in
times of worsening customer payment histories.
In the case of deductions, the net value date is no longer valid for the cash flow forecast.
This leads to difficulties in predicting cash flow.
Dispute resolution today is a costly and highly manual process. The increasing number of
disputes therefore has a double impact on costs.
In addition, disputes can indicate customer relationship issues or problems within the
company and can thus provide an important starting point for a company's quality
management activities.
How do receivables-related disputes arise?
●
Customer provides information actively.
●
Customer makes contact with the complaints department.
●
Customer makes contact with the account manager.
●
Customer makes contact with the accounting department.
●
Customer makes a reduced payment.
●
98
Payment difference discovered when incoming payment is processed (cash management
or accounts receivable accounting).
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Lesson: Creating Accounts Receivable Dispute Cases
●
●
Customer delays payment.
Receivables become overdue because payment is not made and are discovered during
account maintenance (accounts receivable accounting).
Figure 74: Process Integration: Accounts Receivable Accounting – Dispute Management
Process integration into financial processes has the following aspects:
●
●
●
Integration of dispute management functions (creation, display, and editing of dispute
cases) in financial processes or transactions
Automatic update of dispute cases by certain financial transactions
Automatic update of items in dispute cases by certain actions in the dispute management
component
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Unit 4: Accounts Receivable
Figure 75: Creating a Dispute Case on Receipt of Payment
The Dispute Resolution Tool
Figure 76: Structure for Processing Dispute Cases
The Case Management Organizer is the tool to process dispute cases.
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Lesson: Creating Accounts Receivable Dispute Cases
The environment for processing disputes (accessed with transaction UDM_DISPUTE) is
where all users functioning as coordinators or (professional) agents (such as dispute
managers and dispute specialists) perform their tasks.
It has two main areas:
●
Organizer (left-hand side of the screen): start actions
●
Results area (right-hand side of the screen): display results
In the Role-Based View , users can work on the record and case record models (only for
Customizing users) as well as on dispute cases. Different role-based views can be defined for
processing dispute cases, for example, to restrict the end user's view to the Cases folder.
The History enables quick access to dispute cases and other objects you have been working
on before.
The information displayed in the results area depends on the action performed in the editing
area, such as:
●
Find Dispute Case – Selection criteria for case search
●
My Dispute Cases – List of dispute cases (search result)
●
Create dispute case – Screen for creating dispute cases
LESSON SUMMARY
You should now be able to:
●
Create accounts receivable dispute cases
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Unit 4: Accounts Receivable
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Unit 4
Lesson 5
Managing the Integration between Accounts
Receivable and Sales Order Management
LESSON OVERVIEW
In this lesson, you learn how to process documents posted from sales order management to
accounts receivable. You carry out the sales order process and learn about the accounting
documents that are automatically created in the sales order process.
Business Example
Sales organization 1000 receives a sales order from Customer## for two steel pumps.
At the required delivery date, an outbound delivery is created, the pumps are picked from the
warehouse, a good issue is posted, and the customer is billed.
LESSON OBJECTIVES
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
●
Manage the integration between accounts receivable and sales order management
Sales Organizations and Distribution Channels
Sales organizations are responsible for sales in SAP ERP. A Company Code can be linked to
several sales organizations. The IDES company code 1000 (Germany) uses the sales
organizations 1000 (Frankfurt) and 1020 (Berlin), for example. Any accounting-relevant
transactions in either of these sales organizations are posted in company code 1000.
Each sales organization can use different distribution channels to sell goods. In principle, a
distribution channel can also be used by two different sales organizations. IDES uses the
following distribution channels:
●
Final customer sales
●
Resellers
●
Service
●
Factory sales
●
Store chains
●
Industrial customers
●
Pharmaceutical customers
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Figure 77: IDES Sales Organizations and Distribution Channels in Germany
The combination of a sales organization and a distribution channel is also known as a
distribution chain.
Distribution chains sell goods from the plants. Both of the IDES distribution chains, 1000-10
and 1000-12, sell goods from the IDES plant in Hamburg and post the sales in IDES company
code, 1000, which is also assigned to the plant.
Figure 78: Distribution Chains for IDES Plant Hamburg
Divisions typically represent key product lines of an organization.
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Lesson: Managing the Integration between Accounts Receivable and Sales Order Management
Figure 79: Divisions
The divisions are assigned to the distribution chain from which they can be sold. The
combination of distribution chain and division is a sales area.
Figure 80: Sales Areas
Customer-specific arrangements, regarding partial deliveries or terms of payment, for
example, can be made for each sales area. Statistics can be created and separate marketing
activities carried out within a sales area.
Sales Area Data in the Customer Master Record
A sales area is the combination of sales organization, distribution channel, and division. A
sales area must define sales area-specific settings for a customer before it can start doing
business with that customer. These settings could be special conditions and terms of
payments that the customer has arranged with the specific sales area.
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Unit 4: Accounts Receivable
Figure 81: Sales Area Data in the Customer Master Record
Figure 82: Sales Process Overview
An effective processing of sales orders involves all sales activities in a chain of narrowly
integrated processes. The SAP system allows you to do this kind of sales order processing.
The individual steps within a sales process are thus mapped by interlinked, electronic
documents.
The SAP sales process begins with the setting up and the maintenance of customer
relationships and ends with the invoicing of the delivered goods or the services rendered to
the customer. The posting of incoming payments from the customer is already part of SAP
ERP Financials.
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Lesson: Managing the Integration between Accounts Receivable and Sales Order Management
The sales order processing begins with presales activities. The sales order processing begins
with the presales activities, as shown in the following example:
1. Customer query: You create and send a quotation.
2. Order processing: You create a sales document.
3. Procurement: The system determines the supplier of goods using data stored by you.
4. Shipping processing: You organize and execute the delivery of the goods.
5. Invoicing: You create the invoice and transfer all required data to accounting.
6. Payment processing: You check open items and post incoming payments.
Sales Process
Sales order: The sales order forms the basis of the sales process. Once a customer has placed
an order, a sales order must be created at the start of the process. The sales order is
generated at the distribution chain level. The ordered items can be from different divisions.
The sales order is a document in sales order management and does not cause any postings in
financial accounting. When the sales order has been entered, the system carries out an
availability check for the required delivery date.
Figure 83: Sales Process
Outbound delivery: On the day of shipping, an outbound delivery document is created. Billing
for the delivery can take place only when the goods have been taken from the warehouse
stock and posted as a goods issue. This is an separate step in the delivery process.
Picking: The warehouse management function is used for picking. A transfer order has to be
created, which generates the pick order. The requested goods are taken from the warehouse
and prepared for delivery.
Goods issue: The goods to be delivered are posted as a goods issue. A goods issue document
is created in materials management, and an accounting document is created in accounting so
that the goods issue is posted to the correct G/L accounts.
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Note:
The accounting document debits cost of goods sold and credits inventory.
Billing: A billing document is created in sales order management, and a printed invoice is sent
to the customer. At the same time, a document is created in accounting so that the receivable
and revenue can be posted to the correct accounts.
Document flow: This is a tool that allows you to view the related documents in the process.
Figure 84: Sales Order Entry Screen
The Sales Order Entry screen consists of several sections:
●
Header data
●
Header data, combined with position data
●
Item details
LESSON SUMMARY
You should now be able to:
●
108
Manage the integration between accounts receivable and sales order management
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Unit 4
Lesson 6
Performing Accounts Receivable Closing
Operations
LESSON OVERVIEW
In this lesson, you learn how to adjust for bad debt expense using a value adjustment
program. You also run the balance carry forward program for a customer.
Business Example
At the end of the month, most companies have to check the recoverability of receivables and
make respective offsetting entries. The value adjustment program can help you fine-tune your
estimate by using a value adjustment key. Since this estimate is generally made for reporting
purposes, the bad debt expense transaction is usually reversed at the beginning of the next
month. At year end, a permanent bad debt expense estimate is made.
At the end of the year, the balance carry forward program is run to transfer balances from the
old fiscal year to the new one.
LESSON OBJECTIVES
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
●
Perform accounts receivable closing operations
Closing Operations for Accounts Receivable
At the start of the new fiscal year, the balance carry forward program is run. It ensures that
the balance on customer accounts is carried forward to the new fiscal year. The posting
periods of the old fiscal year are then blocked and the special periods for closing entries are
opened. After this, the following closing operations are carried out:
●
Balance confirmations are sent and evaluated.
●
Foreign currency documents are valuated.
●
Value adjustments are carried out for overdue receivables.
●
Accounts receivable are reclassified into short and long-term categories for the financial
statement.
The special periods can then be closed.
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Unit 4: Accounts Receivable
Value Adjustments
Figure 85: Accounts Receivable Closing Operations
Note:
Balance confirmations, foreign currency valuations, and regroupings are carried
out in the same way as in accounts payable. Therefore, we focus on how value
adjustments are performed.
Figure 86: Adjustment of Receivables
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Lesson: Performing Accounts Receivable Closing Operations
The following options are available for creating value adjustments for receivables:
1. You enter individual value adjustments (IVA) as a special G/L transaction E.
2. You use program SAPF107 ( “Additional valuations”) to carry out a flat-rate individual
value adjustment.
3. Once you have determined the amount of the value adjustment, you adjust the flat-rate
value by making a manual G/L account posting. The posting record is: Expense from flatrate value adjustment to value adjustment.
Figure 87: Individual Value Adjustment for Doubtful Receivables
Doubtful receivables are written off as an individual value adjustment (IVA) during year-end
closing. The special general ledger method is suitable for this procedure because the
transaction is entered in the customer account and is also “posted” to a special G/L account,
Individual Value Adjustments for Receivables.
Use the tax code that represents a tax rate of zero percent for the posting.
After you have ascertained that the debt is irrecoverable or that the receivable has been paid,
the individual value adjustment is reversed. If the debt is irrecoverable, the receivable is
cleared from the customer account and the amount is posted to the account for depreciation
of receivables. The sales tax is adjusted in the posting.
Flat-rate Individual Value Adjustment
You can use a valuation program to carry out value adjustments. The program functions like
the dunning and payment program. Each valuation run is clearly identified by the Run date
and Identification fields.
You can specify how to execute the valuation by entering parameters for the valuation run.
You can use the parameters of an existing valuation run as a template. These parameters
include the valuation method, valuation area, and posting specifications.
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Unit 4: Accounts Receivable
Figure 88: Value Adjustment Parameters
Figure 89: Valuation Run
The valuation run analyzes the accounts and documents defined in the parameters and
creates a valuation proposal. You can edit it, if necessary. The valuations can be:
●
●
112
Entered manually in the document at an earlier date (individual value adjustment).
Determined using a value adjustment key contained in the customer master record. During
the valuation, a certain percentage of the overdue amount is used. The number of days
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Lesson: Performing Accounts Receivable Closing Operations
that the respective items are overdue is used as a basis for this percentage (reserve for
bad debt). Several valuation keys can be created for customers of varying credit strength.
That way, overdue accounts receivable from weaker customers will be reduced more than
those for stronger customers.
Figure 90: Valuation Transfer
The last stage of the valuation process is the transfer. G/L documents post the valuation, and
the valuation is also entered in the valuated documents, so that the valuation can be traced at
any time.
Note:
The valuations can be carried out in different ways if the financial statement is
created using different sets of accounting standards. The differing results are then
posted to separate accounts that are used in different financial statement
versions.
Note:
The valuation run can also be used to discount open accounts receivable, which
means they are valuated at their net present value. This is a requirement in some
countries.
LESSON SUMMARY
You should now be able to:
●
Perform accounts receivable closing operations
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Unit 4: Accounts Receivable
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Unit 4
Learning Assessment
1. What defines the screen layout of the customer master record and is assigned a number
range?
2. The general data section of the customer master record must be created separately for
every company code that does business with that customer.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
3. What ties the posting of a customer to the general ledger?
4. When a short payment for an incoming payment is processed using the partial payment
method, the invoice being partially paid is cleared and a new open item in the amount of
the payment difference is created.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
5. Miscellaneous invoices that do not pertain to a sales order can only be entered in the
accounts receivable component using the Enjoy document entry screen.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
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Unit 4: Learning Assessment
6. You can run a report with up-to-date information at any time in the accounts receivable
information system.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
7. How can you tell whether a customer has been dunned?
Choose the correct answer.
X
A You look in the correspondence section of the customer master record.
X
B You look at the line items in the customer account using the dunning screen layout.
X
C Both A and B.
X
D None of the above.
8. Which are the three items a sales area consists of?
9. When a delivery is initially created, accounting transactions are automatically generated.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
10. When the billing document is created in sales order management, an accounting
document that debits the customer account and posts the revenue is automatically
generated.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
11. Which key must be entered in a customer’s master record so that the customer can be
included in the valuation program to estimate bad debt expense?
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Unit 4: Learning Assessment
12. The value adjustment program makes a posting, which is cancelled at the beginning of the
next month; for debit / for credit?
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Unit 4
Learning Assessment - Answers
1. What defines the screen layout of the customer master record and is assigned a number
range?
Account group
2. The general data section of the customer master record must be created separately for
every company code that does business with that customer.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
The general data section exists just once and contains data that pertains to all company
codes.
3. What ties the posting of a customer to the general ledger?
Reconciliation account
4. When a short payment for an incoming payment is processed using the partial payment
method, the invoice being partially paid is cleared and a new open item in the amount of
the payment difference is created.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
This statement pertains to a residual item.
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Unit 4: Learning Assessment - Answers
5. Miscellaneous invoices that do not pertain to a sales order can only be entered in the
accounts receivable component using the Enjoy document entry screen.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
Miscellaneous invoices can also be entered in the accounts receivable component using
the traditional Complex screen. In this case, posting key 01 is entered to debit the
customer.
6. You can run a report with up-to-date information at any time in the accounts receivable
information system.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
You have to create the evaluations before running the reports. The information in the
accounts receivable information system is only as current as the last time the evaluations
were run via report RFDRRGEN.
7. How can you tell whether a customer has been dunned?
Choose the correct answer.
X
A You look in the correspondence section of the customer master record.
X
B You look at the line items in the customer account using the dunning screen layout.
X
C Both A and B.
X
D None of the above.
The system documents dunning notices that have been sent by recording the date and
level of the last dunning notice sent in both the correspondence section of the master
record and in the document(s) dunned.
8. Which are the three items a sales area consists of?
Sales organization, distribution channel, and division.
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Unit 4: Learning Assessment - Answers
9. When a delivery is initially created, accounting transactions are automatically generated.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
The accounting transaction is not created until post goods issue occurs. At that point, cost
of goods sold is debited and inventory is credited.
10. When the billing document is created in sales order management, an accounting
document that debits the customer account and posts the revenue is automatically
generated.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
11. Which key must be entered in a customer’s master record so that the customer can be
included in the valuation program to estimate bad debt expense?
A value adjustment key must be entered. One can create several value adjustment keys
for various groups of customers. That way, accounts receivable that are overdue for weak
customers can be reduced by a higher percentage than for strong customers.
12. The value adjustment program makes a posting, which is cancelled at the beginning of the
next month; for debit / for credit?
Debit: reserve for bad debt; credit: value adjustment receivables. If this posting is not
made, call up the corresponding error batch session: F107–Name of Run.
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UNIT 5
Asset Accounting
Lesson 1
Maintaining Asset Master Records
123
Lesson 2
Executing Asset Transactions
127
Lesson 3
Executing Asset Accounting Period-End Closing Activities
133
UNIT OBJECTIVES
●
Maintain asset master records
●
Execute asset transactions
●
Execute asset accounting period-end closing activities
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Unit 5: Asset Accounting
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Unit 5
Lesson 1
Maintaining Asset Master Records
LESSON OVERVIEW
In this lesson, you learn about asset master records and how to view the link to the general
ledger reconciliation account from the asset master record. You also learn about the main
classification criteria of asset accounting, the asset class. Finally, you learn about
depreciation areas and how depreciation is calculated in the fixed assets component.
Business Example
A company groups its asset master records using asset classes.
This company acquires a new building close to Hamburg. The asset master record needs to
be created. The building has a planned useful life of 50 years.
Assets need to be valuated differently depending on the purpose of the valuation (for
example, commercial or tax, or group valuation). The company uses the SAP standard
solution to display these valuations: It uses depreciation areas.
Although the company uses several depreciation areas, the APC values (acquisition and
production costs) of only one depreciation area (01, the depreciation area for book
depreciation) is posted to general ledger accounting in real-time (through the reconciliation
accounts). APC values of additional depreciation areas, for example, of an International
Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) depreciation area, are posted periodically to the general
ledger.
In difference, the depreciation values of all depreciation areas (01, 20, 30, ...) are posted
periodically with the depreciation run (program name RAPOST2000).
Additional depreciation areas may not be posted to the general ledger at all and are just used
for additional asset reporting.
LESSON OBJECTIVES
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
●
Maintain asset master records
Asset Master Records
An asset is typically an object, a right, or an item owned by an enterprise that is intended for
long-term use, and can be identified individually in the balance sheet. Each asset belongs to a
company code. All postings made for the asset (acquisitions, retirements, depreciation, and
so on) are posted in the assigned company code.
Note:
Additionally, you can assign the asset to a business area, a profit center, a
segment, and to various management accounting objects, like cost center,
internal order, or work breakdown structure (WBS) element.
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Unit 5: Asset Accounting
Figure 91: Assets and Organizational Units of Financial Accounting
The asset class is the main criterion when defining the asset. Each asset must be assigned to
one asset class. In the asset class, you define certain control parameters and default values
for depreciation and other master data.
Figure 92: Asset Class
In the asset class a screen layout rule, an asset number range, and an account determination
key are assigned.
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Lesson: Maintaining Asset Master Records
Note:
You can also create asset classes for intangible assets and leased assets.
Functions are available for processing leases.
Assets that do not appear in the same line item of the balance sheet (such as buildings and
equipment) are typically assigned to different asset classes (with different account
determination keys). Additionally, there is at least one special asset class for assets under
construction and one for low-value assets.
Note:
The Plant Maintenance (PM) component is used for the technical management of
assets. The Treasury (TR) component is used for managing financial assets.
Asset Subnumbers
It is possible to:
●
Structure components of an asset with asset subnumbers.
●
Combine assets into group assets (typically not used in Europe).
The main asset is always and automatically assigned the subnumber 0000, allowing the asset
subnumbers to be assigned as desired.
Figure 93: Group Assets and Subnumbers
A group asset has its own master data. Several main assets can be assigned to a group asset.
Depreciation is calculated at the group asset level. This is important in certain countries, for
example, in the U.S.
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Unit 5: Asset Accounting
LESSON SUMMARY
You should now be able to:
●
126
Maintain asset master records
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Unit 5
Lesson 2
Executing Asset Transactions
LESSON OVERVIEW
In this lesson, you learn how to use execute asset transactions. You learn how to post an
acquisition for a building. You also learn how to create an asset under construction and settle
it with the building.
This lesson examines the Asset Explorer and shows how it is updated by posting transactions
to an asset.
Business Example
A building worth EUR 1,000,000 has to be posted as an acquisition to the new asset record
and as a liability on vendor Agency##.
LESSON OBJECTIVES
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
●
Execute asset transactions
Transaction Types
The transaction type is an addition to the asset posting keys 70 (debit) and 75 (credit). It has
to be included when posting to an asset account. The transaction type is necessary for asset
accounting. It specifies exactly where the asset posting is listed in the asset history sheet.
Figure 94: Transaction Type
The transaction type is the distinguishing characteristic of the various asset postings, for
example:
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Unit 5: Asset Accounting
●
Buying and selling
●
Credit memos
●
Acquisitions from internal production
●
Adjustment postings
●
Retirements without revenue
●
Depreciation and appreciation
Asset Transactions
Asset transactions (acquisitions, retirements) can be posted in various ways to meet the
organizational and business requirements of the company. In assets accounting, you can post
in the following ways:
●
Without a vendor or a purchase order:
The offsetting entry is made to a G/L clearing account.
●
To a vendor:
There is no reference to a purchase order.
●
With materials management:
Use the following functions: purchase order, goods receipt, and invoice receipt.
Figure 95: Asset Transactions
When posting to accounts of two subsidiary ledgers, that is, to the asset and to the vendor,
the reconciliation accounts of both subsidiary ledgers are updated in the general ledger.
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Lesson: Executing Asset Transactions
Figure 96: Document Entry Screen for Asset Acquisition
Asset Explorer
The Asset Explorer offers an overview of the activities for an asset. You can use the Asset
Explorer to display and manage the following asset-related elements:
●
Posted transactions:
View all transactions that have been posted to the asset.
●
Asset depreciation:
Display the planned and posted depreciation per depreciation area, per period, for each
fiscal year.
●
Transactions:
View the details of accounting transactions.
You can also switch the asset view inside the Asset Explorer, for example, to display another
asset without leaving the screen.
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Unit 5: Asset Accounting
Figure 97: Asset Explorer
Figure 98: Asset Explorer
The figure shows the Asset Explorer screen.
Assets Under Construction
The expenses for assets under construction (AuC) can be managed in two ways:
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Lesson: Executing Asset Transactions
●
With Investment Management:
In the Investment Management component, you can create, post, and manage investment
orders or investment management projects. These orders or projects are then reconciled
with the AuC. The Investment Management component provides extensive functions for
supporting investment procedures.
●
Without Investment Management:
If the Investment Management component is not used, the AuC can be posted to directly
in the Asset Accounting component.
Figure 99: Assets Under Construction
Once the asset is complete, you must perform the following actions:
●
Create Master Data:
Master data must be created (if it does not already exist) for the asset to which the AuC
will be settled.
●
Settle Asset Values:
The values from the AuC account have to be settled to one or more completed assets. The
costs are distributed to one or more assets with the help of a settlement rule. This rule
specifies which percentage of the AuC is settled with which asset.
LESSON SUMMARY
You should now be able to:
●
Execute asset transactions
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Unit 5: Asset Accounting
132
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Unit 5
Lesson 3
Executing Asset Accounting Period-End
Closing Activities
LESSON OVERVIEW
In this lesson, you learn about the closing operations in asset accounting. The lesson focuses
on how to create an inventory list and an asset history sheet in SAP ERP.
Business Example
At the end of the month/year, a company has to post depreciation and create various asset
reports, including the asset history sheet.
LESSON OBJECTIVES
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
●
Execute asset accounting period-end closing activities
Asset Period-End Closing Activities
Closing in fixed assets (FI-AA) can roughly be divided into two types of work:
●
Legal requirements:
Mandates required by the government
●
Technical and organizational tasks:
Preparatory steps that are necessary technically or that support the accounting
organization
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Unit 5: Asset Accounting
Figure 100: Asset Closing
With the fiscal year (FY) change program, the new year is opened in FI-AA. This allows you to
post to assets in the new fiscal year. The FI-AA program to open a new fiscal year has nothing
to do with the opening/closing of FI periods (in general ledger accounting).
In contrast, the year-end closing program checks the following issues:
●
Asset value postings:
Depreciation values and periodically posted APC values (acquisition and production costs)
must be posted completely.
●
Asset master record information:
Asset master records must not contain any errors or be incomplete.
If the year-end closing program finds no errors, it updates the last closed fiscal year for each
depreciation area and blocks posting in asset accounting for the closed fiscal year.
Note:
The fiscal-year change program is not executed at the same time as the year-end
closing program.
Year Change and Year End Closing Program
You execute the year-end closing program of FI-AA after the auditors have finished their work
and before the G/L is ready to close for the year. The year-end closing program is typically
executed in Q1, before the books are presented for external purposes.
In a calendar year, the fiscal-year change program of FI-AA is executed in December (of the
old fiscal year) or in the beginning of January (of the new fiscal year).
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Lesson: Executing Asset Accounting Period-End Closing Activities
At the beginning of the new fiscal year, a technical reconciliation is performed, which
compares the transaction figures between FI and the subledger FI-AA. Afterwards, inventory
is taken and adjustment postings are made, should any corrections be needed.
Depreciation Posting Run
The depreciation posting run (program RAPOST2000) posts the depreciation of all
depreciation areas to FI.
Periodic APC Values Posting
Since only one depreciation area (depreciation area 01) can post the APC values to FI in realtime, postings for additional relevant depreciation areas are carried out using the program for
periodic asset postings (program RAPERB2000). Alternatively, the respective depreciation
areas can post directly to FI.
Note:
Directly posting to FI and real-time posting to FI are not the same.
Asset History Sheet
The asset history sheet is a legally required report in Germany. Nevertheless, it is a useful
report in all countries, as it shows the beginning and ending book values of the assets and the
transactions involved.
Inventory Lists
You can create one or more inventory lists for the inventory process. The lists are given to
employees who perform the inventory. These employees note all deviations in the list and
forward these to the accounting department. The employees in accounting enter the
necessary corrections in the system.
Figure 101: Inventory
Depreciation Posting Run
The depreciation posting run posts (in one run) the depreciation of all depreciation areas to
general ledger accounting.
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Unit 5: Asset Accounting
All types of depreciation (normal depreciation, special depreciation, and unplanned
depreciation) are calculated and initially kept in the form of planned values in the Fixed Assets
application. After the periodically started depreciation posting run, depreciation values are
also displayed in the G/L accounts and the financial statement.
Beside the postings to the corresponding depreciation accounts in general ledger accounting,
it is possible to post depreciation values to Management Accounting (controlling or CO)
objects, for example, cost centers, internal orders, or work breakdown structure (WBS)
elements assigned to the asset master record. Typically the values of depreciation area 20
(Cost Accounting) are transferred to CO.
Figure 102: Depreciation Posting Run
Asset History Sheet
The asset history sheet is an important and compact evaluation possibility, within asset
closing. As with financial statements, the structure of the asset history sheet is based heavily
on country-specific requirements. It is possible to create many different versions of an asset
history sheet.
The asset history sheet is a legally required report in Germany. However, the asset history
sheet is a useful report in all countries, as it shows the beginning and ending book values of
the assets and the transactions involved.
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Lesson: Executing Asset Accounting Period-End Closing Activities
Figure 103: Asset History Sheet
Each asset history sheet version groups information into the following areas:
●
Book values at the beginning of the fiscal year
●
Acquisitions
●
Retirements
●
Adjustment postings
●
Depreciation
●
Book values at the end of the fiscal year
LESSON SUMMARY
You should now be able to:
●
Execute asset accounting period-end closing activities
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Unit 5: Asset Accounting
138
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Unit 5
Learning Assessment
1. When creating an asset master record, how is the asset number assigned?
2. What does the account determination key do for the asset?
3. Each asset belongs to a company code.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
4. What must you use to post to an asset in conjunction with the posting key?
5. A transaction type tells us where the posting is placed on the asset history report.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
6. What are the various methods with which acquisitions can be posted in Asset Accounting?
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Unit 5: Learning Assessment
7. What is the purpose of the Asset Explorer?
8. The asset history sheet gives us what type of information?
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Unit 5
Learning Assessment - Answers
1. When creating an asset master record, how is the asset number assigned?
The asset number is assigned by the asset class.
2. What does the account determination key do for the asset?
It connects the asset to the G/L account. The clearing account is linked to the account
determination key in the configuration.
3. Each asset belongs to a company code.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
All postings made for the asset are posted in the assigned company code.
4. What must you use to post to an asset in conjunction with the posting key?
A transaction type
5. A transaction type tells us where the posting is placed on the asset history report.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
A transaction type tells us where the posting is placed on the asset history sheet.
6. What are the various methods with which acquisitions can be posted in Asset Accounting?
Examples include external acquisitions with vendor or external acquisitions with
automated offsetting entry.
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Unit 5: Learning Assessment - Answers
7. What is the purpose of the Asset Explorer?
The Asset Explorer enables a clear overview of the activity for an asset per depreciation
area and fiscal year for planned values, posted transactions, posted amounts, posted and
planned depreciation, and depreciation parameters.
8. The asset history sheet gives us what type of information?
The asset history sheet is a complete evaluation for closing. It has groupings such as: book
values at the beginning of the year, acquisitions, retirements, depreciation, adjustments,
and book values at the end of the year.
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UNIT 6
Bank Accounting
Lesson 1
Maintaining Bank Accounting Master Records
145
Lesson 2
Managing Bank Accounting Transactions
149
UNIT OBJECTIVES
●
Maintain bank accounting master records
●
Manage petty cash
●
Enter a check deposit transaction manually
●
Post-process a bank account statement
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Unit 6: Bank Accounting
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Unit 6
Lesson 1
Maintaining Bank Accounting Master Records
LESSON OVERVIEW
In this lesson, you learn about bank master records and learn the difference between house
and non-house banks. You also learn how bank accounts are linked to general ledger
accounts. You create a new bank and then locate the bank in a list of banks called the bank
directory.
Business Example
Your company receives a letter from the UNI-Bank informing it about a change to its name
because UNI-Bank has been taken over by Interbank. The name change has to be entered into
the SAP system. A customer also informs your company of its bank details by telephone.
These details must be entered in the customer master record.
LESSON OBJECTIVES
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
●
Maintain bank accounting master records
Bank Directories
The bank directory contains the addresses and valid control data (for example, the SWIFT
code) of all banks used in the SAP system. You can create the bank directory in the following
ways:
●
Automatic Bank Directory:
You can automatically import the bank directory as long as it is available in the electronic
data format and an import program exists for this data.
●
Manual Bank Directory:
You can create the bank directory manually using the required data.
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Unit 6: Bank Accounting
Figure 104: Bank Directory
If a bank is set up in the bank directory, the basic data is always available, for example, when
entering the bank information in a customer or vendor master record. To access the bank
data, simply enter the country of the bank and the bank key. The system finds the name and
address of the bank in the bank directory table. If the bank is not yet in the bank directory, it
can be entered manually. It is then added to the bank directory, if it has been added to the
customer and vendor master record.
House Bank Accounts
House banks are banks where we (the company code) have an account(s).
Figure 105: Bank Accounts
Each house bank is represented in the SAP system by a house bank ID, and each account at
that bank is represented by an account ID. These IDs are codes of up to four characters,
which can be alphanumeric. The house bank ID and account ID are then entered in a G/L
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Lesson: Maintaining Bank Accounting Master Records
account master record, which represents a bank account in the general ledger. Thus the
following relationship exists:
Bank account at house bank <—> combination house bank and account ID <—> G/L
account
Bank Master Data Maintenance
In order to understand the importance and scope of the basic tasks associated with the
maintenance of bank master data, it is essential to understand the connection between a
bank account and the general ledger.
It is possible to perform all accounting-based business transactions involving direct incoming
or outgoing payments centrally in bank accounting. Although some people refer to a bank
ledger, bank accounting is not really a subledger component in the same way as accounts
payable, accounts receivable, or asset accounting. In bank accounting, there are no subledger
master records. Instead, all bank accounts are represented by general ledger accounts.
The following table lists the most important basic tasks that you complete during the regular
maintenance of master data in bank accounting:
Table 1: Basic Maintenance Tasks for Bank Master Data
Task
Example
Description
Check a Bank Account Associated with a House Bank
Check which bank account is
associated with a general
ledger account
Every company code has accounts at one or more house
banks. Each bank account is
assigned to one G/L account.
On the general ledger, this
G/L account reflects all postings performed by the bank
on the assigned bank account. In company code
1000, for example, G/L account 113100 is a G/L account representing a bank
account.
Change the Bank Directory
Change the description of the
bank with bank key
900000## from UNIBank## to Interbank##
In some countries (for example, Germany and the U.S.), it
is possible to automatically
and regularly update the
bank directory using a file
available from the banks and
an import report. However, if
you are aware of changes to
bank data from accounting in
advance, you can also enter
these manually.
Create a Bank Master Record Create a new bank with the
bank key 123456##
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You regularly need to enter
bank details in the master record, for example, each time
a new customer gives you
their bank details.
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Unit 6: Bank Accounting
Task
Example
Description
Display the Bank Directory
Display the bank directory re- The bank directory is a list of
port with details of the new
banks that have been entered
bank
in your system. Whenever
you create a bank, it automatically shows up in the
bank directory. You need to
know how to display the bank
directory and the new bank.
LESSON SUMMARY
You should now be able to:
●
148
Maintain bank accounting master records
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Unit 6
Lesson 2
Managing Bank Accounting Transactions
LESSON OVERVIEW
In this lesson, you learn how to use the petty cash journal. In addition, you learn how to handle
the clearing of open items from customers by posting a check deposit list and a bank account
statement.
Business Example
The SAP system enables you to keep cash journals; your company uses this function to track
petty cash transactions online.
The processing of incoming checks is handled differently in the IDES company codes
depending on the country where they are located, for example:
●
●
Company code 1000 (Germany) receives the checks directly from its customers and
sends the checks to the bank with a check deposit list.
Company code 3000 (U.S.) uses their house bank's lockbox service and receives lockbox
data files containing information about the checks received.
LESSON OBJECTIVES
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
●
Manage petty cash
●
Enter a check deposit transaction manually
●
Post-process a bank account statement
Cash Journals
SAP offers cash journals to manage petty cash.You can create cash journals that are uniquely
identified by a four-character code.
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Unit 6: Bank Accounting
Figure 106: Cash Journals
Each cash journal must be assigned to one G/L account, which represents the petty cash
journal account in the general ledger. Cash transactions are saved separately in the cash
journal and are transferred periodically (for example, daily) to the general ledger.
Figure 107: Cash Journal Transaction
The data entry screen for cash journal transactions is divided into the following sections:
Data selection
Select the time period of the data.
Balance display
150
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Lesson: Managing Bank Accounting Transactions
Displays the totals of incoming and outgoing cash and the beginning and ending balance.
Accounting transactions
Enter the cash journal transactions. A distinction is made here between “Cash
payments”, “Cash receipts” and “Check receipts”. The offset account for each
transaction (and tax code if required) are set up ahead of time in configuration.
Accounting transactions are saved separately in the cash journal and are transferred
periodically to the general ledger. The transferred transactions can be printed as a
journal.
A receipt can be printed for each individual transaction.
Cash Journal Transactions
This figure shows the possible types of cash journal transactions and their corresponding
posting records.
Figure 108: Types of Cash Journal Transactions
There can be many concrete accounting transactions with specified bank clearing accounts,
revenue accounts and, expense accounts, all with a descriptive text. One example for a
business transaction of the type Expense posting is cash purchase of office supplies. Here,
the expense account Office material is used. The accounting transactions are set up in
customizing but can also be created directly from the application, if a new accounting
transaction is deemed necessary during daily operations.
Although customer and vendor payments can be made using the cash journal, the payment
does not clear the open item. This clearing is not done until a second step as part of the
accounts payable or the accounts receivable. Use the menu path Account Clearing and select
the invoice and the payment.
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Unit 6: Bank Accounting
Note:
Incoming and outgoing bank payments are not posted directly to bank accounts;
they are first posted to bank clearing accounts. The bank clearing accounts are
then cleared when processing the account statement from the bank.
Check Handling
Figure 109: Processing Incoming Checks
The processing of incoming checks is handled differently internationally. The figure,
Processing Incoming Checks, shows the two most common procedures based on IDES
company codes 1000 (Germany) and 3000 (United States). In Germany, payments are often
made using bank transfers. In the United States, checks are the most common method of
payment. For this reason, the number of incoming checks in Germany is relatively small and
can be handled by the accounting department. In the United States, many companies use a
special bank service, the so-called lockbox. This makes check processing considerably easier.
●
Germany:
The checks are sent directly from the customers to the IDES AG accounting department.
The paid items are cleared, the checks received are posted to special incoming check
accounts, and the checks and a check deposit list are sent to the bank. The bank collects
the money from the customers and posts it to the bank account. The posting appears on
the bank account statement and the amount received clears the incoming check account
in the general ledger.
●
United States:
The checks are sent directly from customers to the company's lockbox. The bank collects
the money and records the checks and payment information in a lockbox file. The bank
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Lesson: Managing Bank Accounting Transactions
sends this lockbox file to the accounting department. By posting the lockbox data, the paid
items are cleared in accounts receivable and the check amounts are posted directly to the
bank incoming checks G/L account.
Figure 110: Depositing Checks
Illustrated in the figure, the process for depositing checks is as follows:
1. Scan incoming check:
The incoming checks can be processed manually or with a check scanner.
2. Display list of checks:
After all checks have been entered, a list of checks to be deposited is available in the
system and can be corrected if necessary.
3. Print list of checks:
The check deposit lists can be printed out and sent to the bank along with the checks.
4. Create check-related postings:
Batch input sessions are created from the check deposit lists and have to be processed in
order to create the related postings.
5. Post directly:
Posting can be completed directly, without a batch input session, using a special postprocessing transaction.
Check Deposit Lists
When posting a check deposit list, two batch input sessions are generated; the subledger
session and the bank posting session. Both sessions must be processed, in order to make the
associated postings in the general ledger.
●
Subledger accounting session:
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Unit 6: Bank Accounting
The subledger accounting session is generally processed from accounts receivable and
clears the open items paid. The offsetting posting is made to a check clearing account. The
items to be cleared are found based on the data included on the check deposit list
provided (such as delivery number, document number, and so on).
●
Bank posting session:
The bank posting session is normally processed by the financial department (or by cash
management). They post check amounts to the incoming checks account. The offsetting
posting is made to a check clearing account.
Figure 111: Posting a Check Deposit
The bank ledger accounting session should be processed first so cash management receives
the most up-to-date information in a timely manner. When processing the subledger
accounting session, payment differences may, in certain cases, need to be dealt with
manually.
Lockbox
When using a lockbox, the customers send their checks and payment information directly to
the bank. The bank is paid a fee to input the data about the checks received. The bank saves
the check and payment information in a file and sends it to the accounting department using
data transfer, for example, data line or electronic document interface (EDI).
The lockbox file is recorded in the SAP system. The incoming checks account is posted to and
the paid invoices are cleared. Complete payment information allows the SAP system to
proceed reliably with the clearing. If the system cannot find an invoice to be paid, the payment
information has to be processed manually afterwards using the Post processing function.
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Lesson: Managing Bank Accounting Transactions
Figure 112: Lockbox
Electronic Bank Statement Processing
Figure 113: Post-Processing of the Electronic Bank Statement
Process Overview – Electronic Bank Statement Processing
Companies get their bank statements delivered electronically by their banks early every
morning.
The automatic import functionality imports, processes, and transfers the bank statements
according to the configuration settings.
All these steps can be monitored in the bank statement overview:
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Unit 6: Bank Accounting
●
●
●
●
A web-dynpro application, running in the NetWeaver Business Client.
With the bank statement overview a single point of entry for the whole process around
bank statement processing is realized.
Bank Statements of different formats are automatically imported into the system,
processed, and, if needed, transferred to local systems.
Monitoring and exception handling is supported.
After the import different routines and algorithms try to do a matching between the incoming
payments and the open invoices.
Due to bad data quality many items cannot be matched automatically and need to be
processed manually in the enhanced post-processing transaction:
●
●
A single screen, efficient user interface that provides all information and functionality that
is needed on one screen.
Benefit: Improved user experience and user productivity.
Finally, a log protocols all the steps the system has already proceeded to clear the open items.
The needed business function is called FIN_BL_EB_1 (-> FI-BL, Importing and Postprocessing of the Electronic Bank Statement). This business function is reversible.
Summary:
The functionality of Electronic Bank Statement Processing enables new functions for an
automatic and mass upload of bank statements from one or more source directories. Also the
bank statements can be dispatched to other systems after upload. The post-processing
transaction for bank statements brings a significantly improved user experience & user
productivity. These enhanced processing options can centrally being accessed via the bank
statement overview.
LESSON SUMMARY
You should now be able to:
156
●
Manage petty cash
●
Enter a check deposit transaction manually
●
Post-process a bank account statement
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Unit 6
Learning Assessment
1. For house banks, the bank key is tied to a bank ID and the account is tied to an account ID.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
2. All bank accounts are represented by G/L accounts in SAP.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
3. Before the details of a bank can be entered in a customer or vendor master record, that
bank must exist in the bank directory.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
4. When you enter a transaction in the Cash Payments tab page of the cash journal, do you
automatically debit or credit the petty cash journal account?
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Unit 6
Learning Assessment - Answers
1. For house banks, the bank key is tied to a bank ID and the account is tied to an account ID.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
2. All bank accounts are represented by G/L accounts in SAP.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
Because of the term “bank ledger” some people think that some bank accounts are
subledger accounts. This is not true. There is a hierarchy for the accounts of a bank, which
consists of available cash accounts and clearing accounts. However, these accounts are
all G/L accounts.
3. Before the details of a bank can be entered in a customer or vendor master record, that
bank must exist in the bank directory.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
You can create a bank by entering its details manually in the master record of a customer
or vendor. The bank will then automatically appear in the bank directory report.
4. When you enter a transaction in the Cash Payments tab page of the cash journal, do you
automatically debit or credit the petty cash journal account?
Credit
158
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UNIT 7
Closing Operations in General
Ledger Accounting
Lesson 1
Performing General Ledger (G/L) Closing Operations
161
UNIT OBJECTIVES
●
Post a vendor invoice for an insurance expense
●
Post an accrual for an insurance expense
●
Enter a G/L account document for a ledger group
●
Analyze data for goods and invoices received
●
Reconcile management accounting (CO) and financial accounting (FI) data in real time
●
Run evaluations in new G/L accounting
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Unit 7: Closing Operations in General Ledger Accounting
160
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Unit 7
Lesson 1
Performing General Ledger (G/L) Closing
Operations
LESSON OVERVIEW
This lesson provides an overview of the financial closing process in the General Ledger. The
lesson also introduces the Financial Closing Cockpit, which is the tool that is used to perform
the activities required during the financial closing process. The lesson focuses on the
following topics:
●
Entering accrual/deferral documents
●
Regrouping the GR/IR clearing account
●
Posting in the Ledger
●
Reconciling CO ↔ FI
●
Running financial statements
Business Example
At the end of the fiscal year, every company code has to create financial statements
according to its country’s legal requirements.
Your company uses the Financial Closing Cockpit to control the activities in the financial
closing process.
To keep the closing process understandable and easy to follow, your company first closes the
subledgers before closing the General Ledger. The closing activities are performed in the
order recommended by SAP.
LESSON OBJECTIVES
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
●
Post a vendor invoice for an insurance expense
●
Post an accrual for an insurance expense
●
Enter a G/L account document for a ledger group
●
Analyze data for goods and invoices received
●
Reconcile management accounting (CO) and financial accounting (FI) data in real time
●
Run evaluations in new G/L accounting
General Ledger Closing
At the start of the new fiscal year, the balance carry forward program is run. This then ensures
that the balances of the G/L accounts are carried forward to the new fiscal year.
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Unit 7: Closing Operations in General Ledger Accounting
Figure 114: General Ledger Closing
The posting periods of the old fiscal year are then blocked and special periods for closing
entries are opened. Technical reconciliation between transaction figures and documents
guarantees that documents are posted without any technical errors.
Foreign currency documents are then evaluated, accrual/deferral documents are posted and
GR/IR clearing accounts are analyzed. Following that, the respective accounts are updated.
The special periods can then be closed.
For documentation purposes, the balance audit trail is made and the financial statements are
created. Additional reports are prepared for legal reporting purposes.
Financial Closing Cockpit
The Financial Closing Cockpit enables you to create a structured interface for executing
transactions and programs that form part of complex processes, such as those used in
Financial Closing.
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Lesson: Performing General Ledger (G/L) Closing Operations
Figure 115: Financial Closing Cockpit
The structural layout supports processes within an organizational structure, such as a
company code, as well as scenarios affecting multiple organizational structures. The Financial
Closing Cockpit is designed to be particularly useful when the following conditions are true:
●
Activities recur periodically.
●
More than one responsible party is involved.
●
●
●
The activities are performed within a process that has a fixed chronological sequence or is
determined by dependencies.
The activities need to be supported by a shared, uniform interface for all involved.
The status of all periodic activities needs to be documented and made transparent and
available for all involved.
Financial Closing Cockpit: Features and Options
To support the closing process, the Financial Closing Cockpit offers the features and options
listed in the following table:
Table 2: Financial Closing Cockpit: Features and Functions
Financial Closing Cockpit Feature
Description
Object hierarchy
Display in a hierarchical structure the organizational objects involved in the closing process
Task-list template
A task-list template is available based on the
organizational structure
Task lists
Task lists are available that are derived from
the task-list template
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Unit 7: Closing Operations in General Ledger Accounting
Financial Closing Cockpit Feature
Description
Task management
A list display in which all tasks to be managed
or executed from the respective task list are
made available for processing or for monitoring task progress, or a monitor that shows a
graphical representation of the critical paths
as well as the processing periods and processing sequence with their respective dependencies
Technical settings
Detailed information is available concerning
the technical settings of tasks as well as for
analyzing background programs (for example, spool, job log information)
Dependencies
Dependencies for displaying the conditions
representing a prerequisite for processing
the individual tasks
Closing Procedure in the General Ledger
At the end of the fiscal year, the companies in the IDES group have to create accruals, which
are typically reversed at the beginning of the month. After closing operations are complete,
you have to run the financial statements.
The closing procedure in the General Ledger involves the completion of a number of tasks, for
example: posting a journal entry or an expense accrual and generating statements and
reports. The following table lists the basic tasks associated with the closing procedures in the
General Ledger.
Table 3: Task Overview in the General Ledger Closing Procedure
164
Task
Example
Description
Post a vendor invoice for an
insurance expense
Post an insurance invoice
Record the purchase by the
IDES group of an insurance
policy, which costs 6000
EUR (0% VAT) per year. The
premium was paid in full in
January, providing insurance
for the 12 following months
Create an accrual object and
execute an accrual run
Post the accrual for the expense resulting from insurance contributions
The insurance amount for the
current year is paid completely in the first month. This
amount is to be accrued. You
must post the accrual for the
expense for the insurance
contributions for a warehouse
Enter a G/L account document for a ledger group
Post a provision for company
code 1000 to ledger group L5
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Lesson: Performing General Ledger (G/L) Closing Operations
Task
Example
Description
CO ↔ FI reconciliation (optional)
Check whether a posting has
been made to a cost center
regarding expenses posted in
vendor invoices
Call a suitable CO report to
check if the posting has been
made to a cost center regarding expenses posted in vendor invoices for various cost
elements
Create the compact journal
Display the documents you
have created during a specified time period
Create the compact document journal for a specific
company code and the current week
Run evaluations in the new
general ledger
Generate and view a financial Call the financial statements
statements report
report RFBILA00 and display
the balance sheet for the
company code 1000 and
ledger 0L
Accrual Engine
Revenues and expenses, which were posted in a specific posting period, often originate in a
different period. For this reason, such revenues and expenses must be accrued; that is, they
must be divided over the periods in which they are incurred.
You can post information in the system using the following methods:
Accruals
The expense or revenue belongs to the current period, from an accounting point of view,
but is not posted until a later period, because the invoice has not yet been sent or
received.
Deferrals
The expense or revenue was posted in the current period (invoice sent/received), but the
actual business transaction, or part of it, is actually incurred in a future period.
Figure 116: Deferrals
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Unit 7: Closing Operations in General Ledger Accounting
The figure shows an example of a deferral where an expense invoice for EUR 120 is received at
the start of the year and posted in the first period. However, the invoice covers an asset that is
used throughout the entire year (for example, insurance). The expense must therefore be
distributed over all periods of the fiscal year equally.
Figure 117: Using the Accrual Engine
The posting for the deferrals shown in the figure proceeds as follows:
1. Invoice is received:
The invoice for EUR 120 is received in accounts payable in the first period and is posted
there. The posting record is:
Expense account to vendor account
2. Amount is transferred from the expense account to the invoice-deferral account:
Using an opening posting, the entire amount is transferred from the expense account to
an account for invoice deferral items. The posting record is:
Prepayments and accrued income to expense account
3. Amount posted back to the expense account:
During the period-end closing, part of the amount gets posted back to the expense
account, that is, prepayments and accrued income get prorated. The posting record is:
Expense account to prepayments and accrued income
4. Residual amount is posted to an expense account:
If the contract is terminated prematurely, the entire residual amount is posted to an
expense account. The posting record is:
Expense account to prepayments and accrued income
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Lesson: Performing General Ledger (G/L) Closing Operations
Ledger Groups
Figure 118: Ledger Groups – Transactions
A posting document normally goes to all ledgers. To allow you to make standardizing entries
and post adjustments in one or selected ledgers only (in the case of parallel accounting, for
example), there are two transactions: FB01L and FB50L.
In the Ledger Grp field, you can enter a specific ledger (for example, ledger 0L or N1) or a
ledger group (for example, N99).
Different ledgers can be managed in general ledger accounting. Normal postings without
additional data are first posted in all ledgers automatically.
For some postings, you can directly enter a specific ledger or ledger group. The postings are
then made in the corresponding ledger or ledgers assigned with the ledger group.
To simplify the tasks in the individual functions of general ledger accounting, you can combine
any number of ledgers in a ledger group.
Goods and Invoices Received (GR/IR)
The clearing account for goods received and invoices received (GR/IR) contains a list of all
goods and invoices received. If, at the end of a period, the balance of this account is not zero,
one of the following reasons could apply:
●
Billed Goods:
Goods were billed but have not yet been delivered.
●
Delivered Goods:
Goods were delivered but have not yet been invoiced.
When the books are closed, the balances need to be listed as either an asset or a liability in the
financial statements. Assets and liabilities can briefly be described in the following way:
●
Asset balance:
Listed in the account for goods that have been billed but not yet delivered.
●
Liability balance:
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Unit 7: Closing Operations in General Ledger Accounting
Listed in the account for goods that have been delivered but not yet invoiced.
Figure 119: GR/IR Analysis
The GR/IR is analyzed using a program that enables balances to be posted either as an asset
(to the account for Goods billed but not yet delivered) or as a liablility (to the account for
Goods delivered but not yet invoiced). The postings are reversed on the first day of the next
period, since reposting during daily business would lead to erroneous figures.
A clearing posting is normally completed using a correction account. The GR/IR clearing
account and its correction account are sometimes shown only in the appendix of the financial
statement.
The details of how a clearing posting is handled varies by country. For example, in the United
States there is a regulation which prescribes that goods received but not invoiced must be
recorded. There is no legal liability when invoices have been received but the related goods
have not been received.
168
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Lesson: Performing General Ledger (G/L) Closing Operations
Real-Time Integration between CO and FI
Figure 120: Real-Time Integration CO → FI
The real-time integration between CO and FI affects changes to processes and transactions,
for example:
●
Periodic allocations:
Assessment, distribution, and transfer posting
●
Transfer postings:
Manual transfer postings in CO (transaction KB11(N))
●
Activity allocations:
Activity allocations (transaction: KB21(N))
●
Settlements:
Settlement from orders or projects (transaction: KO88 and CJ88)
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Unit 7: Closing Operations in General Ledger Accounting
Figure 121: Real-Time Integration CO → FI: Numbers Game
This figure demonstrates real-time integration between CO → FI based on the Functional Area
characteristic (or entity). The characteristics of a profit center and a segment are handled in
exactly the same way.
When you are working with the Financial Accounting document, it is important to bear in mind
the following points:
●
CO postings:
Postings are made in real time (for each CO document).
●
FI clearing account:
In this case, the FI follow-on document has no clearing accounts. Clearing lines are only
necessary if the activity in Management Accounting / CO results in a change of a balancing
entity.
●
Document traceability:
You can navigate to the real-time follow-on Financial Accounting document from the
Management Accounting document and vice versa. The key here is the traceability of the
accounting documents.
Financial Statement Reports
To help you to create financial statements, the SAP system provides the following options:
●
ABAP:
Use an ABAP program to generate financial statements.
●
G/L Account:
Use the G/L account information system to generate financial statements.
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Lesson: Performing General Ledger (G/L) Closing Operations
Both options allow you to perform the following tasks relating to the preparation of financial
statements:
●
Prepare and use various versions of a financial statement.
●
Create individual and total financial statements for company codes.
●
Create individual and total financial statements for profit centers and segments.
●
Create financial statements using the operating chart of accounts.
●
Create financial statements using the country-specific chart of accounts.
●
Create comparative financial statements that enable you to compare two fiscal years or
actual and planned data.
Figure 122: Preparing Financial Statements for Period Accounting
A new type of FI drill-down report is available as an alternative to the conventional financial
statements. In the report-selection screen, you can choose which output type you want to use
when generating the financial statement reports. The following output types are available for
financial statement reports:
●
Graphical report output
●
Classic drill-down report
You can choose in the selection screen for the drill-down report whether you want to call the
report in the conventional or graphical layout. The layout you select for a report does not
change the contents of the report, which are identical regardless of the output type.
Hint:
The new reports are available directly above RFBILA00 in the SAP Easy Access
menu. Choose General Ledger Reports (New).
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Unit 7: Closing Operations in General Ledger Accounting
Drill-down reports are much more flexible than the traditional ABAP programs; the flexibility
lies in the features that enable you to navigate on the basis of characteristics, for example:
profit center, account number, segment, business and functional area, or company code. In
addition, defining suitable programming variants can save you lots of time in the drill-down
reports.
The following drill-down reports are available by default:
●
G/L account balances
●
Profit center groups
●
Profit center comparisons
●
Segment key figures
Hint:
To drill down into a financial document, choose the button for the existing RRI
(Report-Report Interface) on the results screen, choose Line Items , and doubleclick one of the document numbers.
Figure 123: FI Drill-down Transaction Figures – Account Balance
We recommend using conventional drill-down reporting to display the G/L account balances.
However, the graphical list also returns the correct results. You can also navigate from here to
the originally posted documents.
Note:
The actual G/L account balance display has also been redesigned in SAP ERP –
transaction FAGLB03. .
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Lesson: Performing General Ledger (G/L) Closing Operations
You can call your (open) payables and receivables not only using the line-item display in the
subledgers (transactions FBL1N and FBL5N), but also using one of the standard drill-down
reports. The drill-down reports offer an easy way to classify your line items using subledger
account assignments and (or) general ledger account assignments (for example, using either
the Profit Center or Segment characteristic).
To support legal reporting requirements, currently several reports meet country-specific
requirements. There is a list of country-specific reports for completing VAT forms, support for
the consolidated EU report, and other reports for additional legal reporting requirements
(such as a report for international trade as required by German law).
Figure 124: Reporting
LESSON SUMMARY
You should now be able to:
●
Post a vendor invoice for an insurance expense
●
Post an accrual for an insurance expense
●
Enter a G/L account document for a ledger group
●
Analyze data for goods and invoices received
●
Reconcile management accounting (CO) and financial accounting (FI) data in real time
●
Run evaluations in new G/L accounting
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Unit 7: Closing Operations in General Ledger Accounting
174
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Unit 7
Learning Assessment
1. Which tool allows you to organize your closing activities?
2. Revenues and expenses, which were posted in a specific posting period, often originate in
a different period. For this reason, such revenues and expenses must be accrued. What
does this mean?
3. If there is a credit balance in the GR/IR account when the books are to be closed, the
Regroup GR/IR program moves that balance to which account?
4. List at least three transactions that are affected by the real-time integration between CO
and FI.
5. A Graphical report output is an output type that is available for financial statement
reports.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
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175
Unit 7: Learning Assessment
6. In the financial statement reports, which one of the following drill-down reports are
available by default?
Choose the correct answers.
176
X
A G/L account balances
X
B Profit center groups
X
C Cost center groups
X
D Quantity display
X
E Profit center comparisons
X
F Key performance index analysis
X
G Segment key figures
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Unit 7
Learning Assessment - Answers
1. Which tool allows you to organize your closing activities?
Financial Closing Cockpit.
2. Revenues and expenses, which were posted in a specific posting period, often originate in
a different period. For this reason, such revenues and expenses must be accrued. What
does this mean?
They must be divided over the periods in which they are incurred.
3. If there is a credit balance in the GR/IR account when the books are to be closed, the
Regroup GR/IR program moves that balance to which account?
Goods Delivered but not Invoiced
4. List at least three transactions that are affected by the real-time integration between CO
and FI.
Assessment, distribution, and transfer posting; Manual transfer postings in CO; Activity
allocations; Settlement from orders or projects.
5. A Graphical report output is an output type that is available for financial statement
reports.
Determine whether this statement is true or false.
X
True
X
False
It is recommended to use conventional drill-down reporting to display the G/L account
balances though.
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177
Unit 7: Learning Assessment - Answers
6. In the financial statement reports, which one of the following drill-down reports are
available by default?
Choose the correct answers.
178
X
A G/L account balances
X
B Profit center groups
X
C Cost center groups
X
D Quantity display
X
E Profit center comparisons
X
F Key performance index analysis
X
G Segment key figures
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