Module 3: G/L Account Creation
Field Status Group and Field Status Variant
One of the first things a new SAP user first notices is that each screen usually contains a number of fields where data may be entered but, for a particular company configuration, are not used or required. For example, in creating a company code, one of the data entry screens looks like the following:
Notice that we did not put an entry into every field.
In FI configuration, there is an opportunity to control the number of input fields for G/L accounts. This is done using Field Status Group s and Field Status Variants. For every field, we can specify three options:
Field Status Description
Req. entry
Opt. Entry
An entry is required for this field in any transaction
An entry in this field is optional. The field will be displayed, but
Suppress an entry is not required.
No entry is required, and the field will not be displayed.
A Field Status Group is a set of field status settings. An example of how a field status group can be used is provided by the SAP Library, found at help.sap.com:
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Module 3: G/L Account Creation
Example of a field status group
You defined a separate field status group for bank accounts because you always need the same fields for posting to bank accounts. Within this group, the assignment number, text, and value date fields are optional. You have specified that all other fields be suppressed.
The figure below shows the standard screen in which no fields are suppressed, and the screen for posting to a bank account.
As you can see, the use of a field status group simplifies the screen for the user.
Field Status Groups can be combined into other field status groups. Field status groups are finally combined into a Field Status Variant , which is then assigned to a company code. Note that the field status is not determined by data set by the company code, but by the field status variant assigned to the company code.
To see what all this field status information looks like, follow the menu path:
Tools

Customizing

IMG

Edit Project
Financial Accounting

Financial Accounting Global Settings

Document

Line
Item

Controls

Define Field Status Variants (click clock icon )
You should get the following screen:
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Click Display -> Change icon so that the title says
Display View “Field status variants”: Overview
Note: Make sure you click on the Display -> Change icon so that you are in display mode to avoid the chance of messing up the field status variant for everyone .
With your screen in display mode, select field status variant FTSN, then double-click on the
Field status groups in the Dialog Structure:
Select FTSN, then double-click on Field status groups
This will take you to the next screen, which will show you five field status groups for Fitter
Snacker:
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Select ZEXP, then click on the
Field Status Icon
This screen shows five Field status groups that are defined for the five G/L accounts that will be used in the configuration of Fitter Snacker. Select the first account, ZEXP – Expense
Accounts and then click on the field status icon to get the following screen:
Subgroups under group ZEXP
Double-click on
General Data to see field status settings
This screen shows all of the field status subgroups under the group ZEXP . To see the fields status related to one of these subgroups, double-click on General data to get the following screen:
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Note that there are eight fields under General data , and all entries are optional. To see the field status for other groups, click on the Next group ( ) icon. Click on the back icon ( ) three times until you get to the
Display View “Field status variants”: Overview
screen:
View field status groups for variant
0001
Just to get a feel for the complexity of the SAP ERP system, take a look at the field groups under field status variant 0001 , which is a default field status variant supplied with SAP:
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Module 3: G/L Account Creation
Remembering that there are field status subgroups under each of these groups, you should realize that configuring FI in SAP is no easy task! Use the exit icon ( ) to return to the SAP Reference
IMG.
The purpose of the previous pages of instruction is to help you understand what a Field Status is and how SAP uses Field Status Groups and Field Status Variants to define the behavior of data fields in the FI module.
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Module 3: G/L Account Creation
3.1 Assign Field Status Variant to Company Code
The field status group FTSN has already been defined for your use—all you have to do is assign it to your company code. To do this, follow the menu path:
Tools

Customizing

IMG

Edit Project
Financial Accounting

Financial Accounting Global Settings

Document

Line
Item

Controls

Assign Company Code to Field Status Variants
(click clock icon )
Which will produce the following screen:
Assign Fld stat. var. FTSN to your company code
Enter field status FTSN for your company code, then click on the save icon ( ), then on the exit icon ( ) to complete the assignment of field status variant FTSN to your company code.
General Ledger (G/L) Accounts
For the Fitter Snacker company, we will be creating G/L accounts in three groups:
Account Group
BS – Balance Sheet
PL – Profit and Loss
RA – Reconciliation
Number Range
100000 – 399999
400000 – 999999
110000 – 310000
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The Balance Sheet accounts keep track of accounts that show up on the balance sheet:
Assets
This represents things that the company owns, like cash, receivables, equipment and inventory.
Liabilities
This represents the things that the company owes, like payables and bank loans.
Equity
This represents the net value of the company owned by the shareholders.
Remember that the fundamental balance sheet equation is Assets = Liabilities +
Equity .
The Profit and Loss (P&L) accounts are used to track the income and expenses of the company.
Revenue accounts record revenues obtained from selling goods and services to customers.
Expense accounts represent money spend to produce the goods and services, like salaries, materials purchases and overhead, selling and administrative expenses. At the end of the fiscal year, the P&L accounts are “closed” to the Retained Earnings balance sheet account.
Reconciliation Accounts are used to keep track of changes to sub-ledger accounts. For example, if you make a payment to a vendor, that payment needs to be recorded to the vendor sub-ledger account so that the accounts payable to that vendor are properly tracked. When you post the payment to the vendor sub-ledger account, a posting is also made automatically to the
Reconciliation G/L account so that the general ledger remains balanced.
G/L accounts are maintained as Master Data . In configuration, a significant amount of master data is required. Master data describes items or objects used in the business like accounts, materials, customers, vendors, etc. Master data is data that does not change over an extended period of time. For example, the address of a customer is master data, while the information about a particular order for that customer is not master data, it is Transactional Data.
Transactional data is regularly removed from the system and archived, while master data is always kept in the system.
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Module 3: G/L Account Creation
3.2 Create Balance Sheet Accounts
Master Data is not entered in the IMG. To create our G/L accounts, exit to the SAP Easy Access screen and then follow the menu path:
Accounting

Financial Accounting

General Ledger

Master Records

G/L Accounts

Individual processing

Centrally
Which will produce the following screen:
Enter account number 100000 and company code ##FS, then click on the create icon
Next:
Select Balance sheet accounts from the pull-down text box under Account Group
Select the Balance sheet account radio button
Enter Bank for short text
Enter Federal Standard Bank Account for G/L acct long text
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Make appropriate entries
Then click on the
Control data tab
Note: These text entries may appear automatically
Then Click on the Control data tab
Next:
Select USD for Account currency
Check Only balances in local crcy
Check Line item display
Enter 001 (Posting date) for sort key. This tells SAP to present transactions in this account by the order in which they were posted
Make appropriate entries
Then click on the
Create/bank/interest tab
Then click on the Create/bank/interest tab
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Next:
Select ZGBS for Field status group
DO NOT SELECT Post automatically only (other accounts will require this)
Enter ZGBS for the Field
Status Group, then click on the save icon
Click on the save icon ( ) to save the new account.
Repeat this process for the remaining balance sheet accounts. The table on the next page summarizes the entries required for each account by tab.
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Type/description tab
Module 3: G/L Account Creation
Acct.
Number
Company code
200000 ##FS
200100 ##FS
200200 ##FS
320000 ##FS
321000 ##FS
330000 ##FS
Control data tab
Account Group pull-down
Account group radio button Short text
Balance sheet accounts Balance sheet account Inv – Raw Mat
Balance sheet accounts Balance sheet account Inv – Semi
Balance sheet accounts Balance sheet account Inv – Finish
Balance sheet accounts Balance sheet account Acc Tax - Out
Balance sheet accounts Balance sheet account Acc Tax – In
Balance sheet accounts Balance sheet account Ret Earn
Acct.
Number
Account
Currency
200000 USD
200100 USD
200200 USD
320000 USD
Only balances in local crcy
Checked
Checked
Checked
Checked
321000 USD
330000 USD
Checked
Checked
Create bank/interest tab
Acct.
Number
Field status group
200000 ZGBS
200100 ZGBS
200200 ZGBS
320000 ZGBS
321000 ZGBS
330000 ZGBS
Line item display
Post automatically only
Checked
Checked
Checked
Checked
Sort key
Checked 001
Checked 001
Checked 001
Checked 001
Checked 001
Checked 001
G/L acct long text
Inventory – Raw Material
Inventory – Semi-finished Products
Inventory – Finished Products
Accrued Tax – Output
Accrued Tax – Input
Retained Earnings
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3.3 Create P&L Accounts
The next set of accounts to be created is the profit and loss accounts. These accounts are entered in the same manner as the balance sheet accounts. There are some differences. For example, the
Account group is now Profit and loss accounts . In addition, on the Control data tab the item
Only balances in local crcy is no longer checked, while the item Posting without tax allowed is checked. Also, Posting automatically only is not checked.
The tables on the following pages summarize the entries for the P&L accounts.
Note that account 760100 uses sort key 008!
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Type/description tab
Acct.
Number
Company code
600000 ##FS
610000 ##FS
700000 ##FS
720000 ##FS
720100 ##FS
720200 ##FS
740000 ##FS
750000 ##FS
751000 ##FS
751100 ##FS
760000 ##FS
760100* ##FS
780000 ##FS
781000 ##FS
790000 ##FS
790100 ##FS
*Requires sort key 008
Account Group pull-down
Account group radio button Short text G/L acct long text
Profit and loss accounts PL statement acct Sales Revenue Sales Revenue
Profit and loss accounts PL statement acct Sales Discount Sales Discount
Profit and loss accounts PL statement acct Labor Labor
Profit and loss accounts PL statement acct Raw Mat Con Raw Material Consumption Expense
Profit and loss accounts PL statement acct Semi Prod Con Semi-finished Product Consumption Exp
Profit and loss accounts PL statement acct Fin Prod Con Finished Product Consumption Exp
Profit and loss accounts PL statement acct Supplies Exp Supplies Expense
Profit and loss accounts PL statement acct Utilities Utilities Expense
Profit and loss accounts PL statement acct Man Out Sett Manuf. Output Settlement
Profit and loss accounts PL statement acct Man Out Var Manuf. Output Settlement Variance
Profit and loss accounts PL statement acct Pur Price Var Purchase Price Variance
Profit and loss accounts PL statement acct Prod Var
Profit and loss accounts PL statement acct Rent
Profit and loss accounts PL statement acct Misc
Profit and loss accounts PL statement acct COGS
Profit and loss accounts PL statement acct Sales Diff
Production Variance
Rent Expense
Miscellaneous
Cost of Goods Sold
Sales Price Difference
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Control data tab Create bank/interest tab
Acct.
Number
Account
Currency
600000 USD
610000 USD
700000
720000
USD
USD
Posting without tax allowed
Checked
Checked
Checked
Checked
Checked
Checked
Checked
Checked
Checked
Checked
Checked
Tax
Category
Line item
Display
Checked
Sort key
Checked 001
Checked 001
Checked 001
001
Checked 001
Checked 001
Checked 001
Checked 001
Checked 001
Checked 001
Checked 001
Field status group
ZREV
ZREV
ZEXP
ZEXP
ZEXP
ZEXP
ZEXP
720100 USD
720200 USD
740000 USD
750000 USD
751000 USD
751100 USD
760000 USD
760100
780000
781000
USD
USD
USD
790000 USD
790100 USD
Checked
Checked
Checked
Checked
Checked
*
Checked
Checked
Checked
Checked
Checked
008
001
001
001
001
ZEXP
ZEXP
ZEXP
ZEXP
ZEXP
ZEXP
ZEXP
ZEXP
ZEXP
Notes: Accounts 600000 and 610000 are in field status group ZREV. All others are in ZEXP.
Make sure to enter tax category * (all types allowed) for account 760000.
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Module 3: G/L Account Creation
3.4 Create General Ledger Reconciliation Accounts
The accounts that are required are the G/L Reconciliation Accounts. The first reconciliation account we will set up is the Accounts Payable Reconciliation Account.
This account is created like the other accounts. The following information is required:
Account information:
Account number: 300000
Company code: ##FS
Type/description tab:
Account group:
Account group
Reconciliation account radio button:
Short text:
Balance sheet account
AP Recon
G/L acct long text: Accounts Payable Reconciliation
Control data tab:
Currency:
Recon. Acct for acct type:
USD
Vendors
Create/bank/interest tab:
Field status group: ZRAA
(from pull-down list)
Click on the save icon ( ) to save the new account.
Next, we need to create the Accounts Receivable Reconciliation Account using the following data:
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Account information:
Account number: 110000
Company code: ##FS
Type/description tab:
Account group: Reconciliation account
Account group radio button: Balance sheet account
Short text: AR Recon
G/L acct long text: Accounts Receivable Reconciliation
Control data tab:
Currency:
Recon. Acct for acct type:
USD
Customers (from pull-down list)
Create/bank/interest tab:
Field status group: ZRAA
Click on the save icon ( ) to save the new account.
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Module 3: G/L Account Creation
3.5 Create Goods Received/Invoice Receipt (GR/IR) Account
The next account that is required is the GR/IR account. The GR/IR account is used for invoice verification. In purchasing, the quantity and price can be different between the purchase order, received goods and received invoice. The GR/IR account is used to properly manage these quantity and cost variances.
This account is created like the other accounts. The following information is required:
Account information:
Account number: 310000
Company code: ##FS
Type/description tab:
Account group:
Account group
Balance sheet account radio button: Balance sheet account
Short text: GR/IR Account
G/L acct long text: GR/IR Account
Control data tab:
Currency:
Only balances in
Local crcy:
Tax category:
Posting without tax allowed:
Open item
USD
Checked
* (all tax types allowed)
Checked
Management: Checked
Line item display: Checked
001 Sort key:
Create/bank/interest tab:
Field status group: ZMMA
Post automatically only: Checked
Click on the save icon ( ) to save the new account.
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Module 3: G/L Account Creation
Master Data Report for Module 3
To verify all the accounts that have been created, it would be nice to print them out. To do this, exit to the SAP Easy Access screen, then follow the menu path:
Accounting

Financial Accounting

General Ledger

Information System

General Ledger Reports

Master Data

G/L Account List

SAP minimal variant
This will produce the following screen:
Enter company code, then click on the execute icon
This will produce the following screen:
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Module 3: G/L Account Creation
To print this G/L Account Listing, click on the print icon ( ).
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