Table of Contents

Settings............................................................................................................................................2
Global Settings.............................................................................................................................2
GL Settings..................................................................................................................................3
General Settings...........................................................................................................................3
Fiscal Year Variant...........................................................................................................................3
Can we maintain two fiscal year variants for one company code...............................................3
Whether fiscal year is defined only at once or it is defined for each year...................................4
Year shift:.....................................................................................................................................4
Fiscal Year Types.........................................................................................................................4
Fiscal year variant........................................................................................................................4
Special Periods.............................................................................................................................4
1 Year-independent:.....................................................................................................................4
2 Year-dependent or year specific:...............................................................................................4
Short end fiscal year:...................................................................................................................5
The precautions or options available for defining a shortened fiscal year..................................5
How do you open a new ‘Fiscal Year’ in the System?.................................................................5
Posting Period Variant.....................................................................................................................5
Authorization Group:...................................................................................................................6
Account type................................................................................................................................6
How does posting happen in MM (Materials Management) during special periods?.................7
What is difference between posting period and fiscal year variant?...........................................7
When we use the open and close posting periods........................................................................7
Can You Selectively ‘Open’ and ‘Close’ accounts?.....................................................................7
Why is it not Possible to Post to a Customer A/C in a Previously Closed Period’?....................7
Can You Open a ‘Posting Period’ only for a Particular User?.....................................................7
What is the Maximum Number of ‘Posting Periods’ in SAP?....................................................7
Document types...............................................................................................................................7
Document Views........................................................................................................................10
How is ‘Account Type’ connected to ‘Document Type’?..........................................................10
What is the ‘Document Change Rule’?.....................................................................................10
What is posting key and what does it control?..........................................................................11
Field Status variant........................................................................................................................11
 What is the difference between Field Status Variant and Field Status Group...........................12
What is the difference between g001, g005 and g067 field status group ?...............................12
Global parameters..........................................................................................................................12
What is max exchange rate difference?.....................................................................................14
Where we have to define VAT Registration Number?...............................................................14
In customizing “ company code productive “ means what? What it denotes?..........................14
Optional Steps................................................................................................................................14
Tax procedure............................................................................................................................14
General Settings.............................................................................................................................15
Chart of Accounts..........................................................................................................................16
1. Operational chart of accounts................................................................................................16
2. Group/Global chart of accounts.............................................................................................16
3. Country specific chart of accounts........................................................................................16
If there are two company codes with different chart of accounts how can you consolidate their
activities?...................................................................................................................................17
Can one ‘Chart of Accounts’ be Assigned to Several Company Codes?...................................17
When you copy the chart of accounts (COA), only one financial statement version (FSV) is
being copied. However, a COA can have more than one FSV. Why does copying the COA
allow only one FSV?.................................................................................................................17
Can one group COA be assigned to two operational charts?.....................................................17
I want to copy all my GL accounts (which created centrally) to another Chart of Accounts at
COA level only(FSPO)..............................................................................................................18
It is possible to copy financial statement version with different chart of accounts?.................18
Where we configure country specific chart of accounts and how we consolidate it with
operational chart of accounts?...................................................................................................18
Account groups..............................................................................................................................19
What is a ‘Screen Layout’?........................................................................................................20
Retained Earnings Account............................................................................................................20
How many ‘Retained Earnings’ A/C can be Defined?..............................................................21
How do you ‘Carry-Forward’ Account Balances?.....................................................................21
Is there a Prerequisite for ‘Carry-Forward’ Activity?................................................................21

Settings
Global Settings
Global settings are mandatory settings which used by many company codes based on situation
1. Fiscal Year Variant OB29
2. Assign Company code to Fiscal year Variant OB37
3. Posting Period Variant OBBO
4. Assign Company code to Posting Period Variant OBBP
5. Open and close posting periods OB52
6. Number ranges for document types OBA7 / FBN1
7. Field Status variant OBC4
8. Assign Company code to Field Status variant OBC5
9. Global parameters OBY6
10. Define Posting Keys (Optional) OB41
11. Optional Steps
Define calculation procedure OBYZ
Assign Country to Calculation Procedure OBBG
GL Settings
1. COA OB13
2. Assign Company code to COA OB62
3. Account Groups OBD4
4. Retained Earnings OB53
5. Tolerance group for GL OBA0
6. Tolerance group for Employee OBA4
7. Assign Users to tolerance group OB57
General Settings
1. Create country OY01 Table is T005
2. Create Regions OVK2

Global Settings

Fiscal Year Variant

Fiscal year means accounting period. It contains mostly 12 months. It is satisfies accounting
period concept. Financial statements are drawn for a fiscal year. The fiscal year, in SAP, is
defined as a ‘Fiscal Year Variant.’ used to define the fiscal year. Defining the fiscal year is
Compulsory.
Fiscal year determines posting periods. Posting periods are used to assign business transactions.
Generally fiscal year variant assigned to many company codes when same country
Can we maintain two fiscal year variants for one company code
No, we can’t maintain two fiscal year variant for same co.co. Yes in case of controlling we can
maintain different number of special posing period. Generally we don’t create fiscal year variant.
We can use standard fiscal year variants. Select calendar check box if same number and dates for
every year
Whether fiscal year is defined only at once or it is defined for each year.
This depends upon the client requirement. Generally Fiscal year will be defined once. But in
some cases (where business will run for certain period means business will run for 6 months or 8
months) every year they will define fiscal year.
Year shift:
When the fiscal year is not the same as the calendar year, we need to define a displacement factor
for each of the posting periods to correctly identify the number of posting periods.
+1 if the fiscal year is later than the calendar year. -1 if the fiscal year is before the calendar year.
0 if same calendar year
Fiscal Year Types
Calendar year Jan1 to Dec31.
Non calendar year other than Jan1 to Dec31. Normally non calendar year starting month in
current and ending month in Next year
Fiscal year variant
April to March +4 special periods V3
Jan to Dec.+4 Special Periods K4
July to June+4 Special periods V6
Oct. to Sep+4 special periods V9

April 2007-March 2008 9 3 2007

July 2007-June 2008 6 6 2007
October 2007-September 2008 3 9 2008
If current year above 6 months then current year is fiscal year otherwise next year is fiscal year
Special Periods.
These can be used for posting of yearend adjustments, auditors adjustments etc. Special periods
subdivide the year-end closing period. This enables you to create several supplementary financial
statements. You can define up to four special periods. When defining the fiscal year variants. You
cannot exceed a maximum of 16 periods.

When posting to special periods, you must take the following into consideration:
• The posting date must fall within the last regular posting period. The system derives the posting
period from the posting date. When the posting date falls within the last normal posting period,
the transaction may be posted into one of the special periods.

• You have to enter the special periods in the document header in the Period field, since the
special periods cannot be determined automatically by the system.
Periods 1-12 can be closed and periods 13-16 left open during year end closing

1 Year-independent: the same number and dates for the periods every year (Jan1 to Dec31 or
Apr1 to Mar31). Fiscal years are normally year-independent

2 Year-dependent or year specific: Periods can be differing from year to year. This means that
the fiscal year only applies to a specific calendar year. You then have to enter the period ends,
defined by month and day limits, for each calendar year. (Ex: Leap Year). Shortened fiscal is also
year dependent

Example:- For the year 2005 the period January ends on 29th, Feb ends on 27th, March ends on
29.
For the year 2006 January ends on 30th, Feb ends on 26th, March ends on 30th.
This is applicable to many countries especially USA.

Short end fiscal year: A shortened fiscal year is a fiscal year having less than twelve months,
but for which year-end closing must be carried out. The definition of a shortened fiscal year is
always year-dependent.
A shortened fiscal year could be necessary in the following cases, for example:
 Establishment of a company

 Changeover from a calendar year to a non-calendar fiscal year, or vice versa.

The precautions or options available for defining a shortened fiscal year.

 If you are using Financial Accounting without Asset Accounting, each fiscal year can
start with any period.

 If you use Financial Accounting with Asset Accounting, each fiscal year must start with
period 001, so that the depreciation can be calculated correctly.

How do you open a new ‘Fiscal Year’ in the System?

You do not need to ‘open’ the new fiscal year as a separate activity. Once you make a posting
into the new fiscal year, the new fiscal year is automatically opened. Or, the new fiscal year is
automatically opened when you run the ‘balance carry-forward’ program.
However, you need to have
(1) The relevant posting period already open in the new fiscal year,
(2) Completed the document number range assignment if you are following a year-dependent
number range assignment, and
(3) Defined a new fiscal year variant if you follow the year-dependent fiscal year variant.

Path: SPRO. Financial Accounting  FA Global settings  fiscal year  Maintain fiscal
year variant (Maintain shortened fiscal year) (TCode OB29) Table: T009, T009T

SPRO  Financial Accounting  Global Settings  Fiscal Year  Assign Company Code to a
fiscal year variant (T.Code is OB37) Database Table: T001, T882

Posting Period Variant

Posting periods defined in the fiscal year variant. A fiscal year, in SAP, is divided into various
posting periods. When you record a document, you enter the posting date. The system uses the
posting date specified to automatically determine the posting period.
In the posting period variant we opened number of normal posting periods and special posting
periods for postings.
But normally we open only current period and all the other periods are closed.
Note: For best practice you have to create your company code as posting period variant
Authorization Group:
Authorization will give to some persons like Manager (Accounts) –ID,
Dy. Managers (Accounts) – ID at user level.

Note: For best practice open two periods (Previous and Current)

For postings to the previous fiscal year, the system carries out the following adjustments:
 For balance sheet accounts, the system adjusts the carry forward balance of the accounts
concerned in the current fiscal year.
 For profit and loss accounts, the profit or loss carried forward to the retained earnings
account is adjusted.

The fallowing activities are involved in the maintains of posting periods variant
1 Define posting period variant
2 Assign posting period variant to company code
3 Open and close posting periods
Account type
It describes the nature of accounts in SAP. It already defined in system. We can modify them or
we can’t create our own. The following are account types.
1. GL account (S)
2. Vendor account(K)
3. Customer account(D)
4. Asset account (A)
5. Material account(M)
“+” indicates that posting period variant is applicable to all account types.
Define posting period variant
Path: SPRO  financial accounting  financial accounting Global settings  document 
posting periods  define variants open posting periods. Transaction code: OBBO Database
Table: T010O, T010P

Assign posting period variant to company code

Path: SPRO  Financial Accounting  Financial Accounting Global settings  document 
posting periods  Assign variants to Company code. Transaction code: OBBP Database
Table: T001
Open and close posting periods
Path: SPRO  Financial Accounting  Financial Accounting Global settings  document 
Posting periods  Open and close posting periods. Transaction code: OB52 Database Table:
T001B

User level maintenance posting periods

SAP easy access – accounting – financial accounting – general ledger – environment – current
settings – open and closed posting periods. (Transitions code is S_ALR_87003642)
How does posting happen in MM (Materials Management) during special periods?
There is no posting which happens from MM in special periods. Special periods are only
applicable for the FI module. They are required for making any additional posting such as
closing entries, provisions. Which happen during quarter end or year end?
What is difference between posting period and fiscal year variant?
Fiscal year: It determines company accounting year i.e., financial year academic year in SAP
terminology that called "fiscal year".
Posting period: in the posting period we are mentioning which period onwards company
transactions will be started.
When we use the open and close posting periods
Go to transaction code ob52(define open and closed posting periods) we will define from period
1 to 12 for our fiscal year instead of giving 1 to 12 give 1 to 3, and try to post the transaction
with f-02 with period 4 you get the error message that "posting period 004 in current year not
open".. it means the periods which your transactions are made has to be open.
Can You Selectively ‘Open’ and ‘Close’ accounts?
Yes. It is possible to selectively control the ‘opening’ and ‘closing’ for various types of accounts.
Usually, a ‘+’ is mentioned in the top-most entry indicating that all the account types are allowed
for posting.
Why is it not Possible to Post to a Customer A/C in a Previously Closed Period’?
When you want to selectively ‘close’ or ‘open’ the posting period of some accounts (account
range), there will be no problem with that if you are doing it for GL accounts. But, if it is a sub
ledger account (such as the customer), it has to be achieved via opening or closing the account
interval of the ‘reconciliation account’ of that account type.
Can You Open a ‘Posting Period’ only for a Particular User?
Yes. SAP allows you to open or close the posting period only for specific users. This can be
achieved by maintaining an authorization group at the document header level.
What is the Maximum Number of ‘Posting Periods’ in SAP?
Under GL accounting, you can have a maximum of 16 posting periods (12 regular plus 4 Special
Periods). However, you can have up to a maximum of 366 posting periods as is the case in
‘special purpose ledgers.’

Document types
No Range Document type Description Account type Number range
Intervals
01 SA GL account posting GL accounts 1-100000
19 KR Vender invoice posting Vender account 100001-200000
15 KZ Vender payment posting Vender account 200001-300000
17 KA Vender other document Vender account 300001-400000
posting
18 DR Customer invoice Customer 400001-500000
posting account
14 DZ Customer payment Customer 500001-600000
posting account
16 DA Customer other Customer 600001-700000
document posting account
04 AF Depreciation posting Asset account 700001-800000
03 RE Returns
Returns

02 RV Sales (Depot)
DR Debit memo request
CR Credit memo request
OR Standard sales order
BV Cash sales order
IN Sales enquiry
QT Sales quotations
NB PO's – STANDARD
PR Purchase requisition
WA GOODS ISSUE
WE GOODS RECEIPT
Document types:
These are defined at client level. Number ranges for document types are created company code
level. It is noted in the document header.
Document type is nothing vouchers containing line items. The main purpose of document type is
to classify the accounting documents and distinguish between the business transactions to be
posted.

The business transactions are entered into system through accounting process called posting.
Evidence of posting a record is generated and stored in database. This recorded is called
document. Document represent the link between the business transaction and posting in
accounting.
Document types classify business transactions and control filing. Only complete documents can
be posted in the SAP system. "Complete" means that the balance from the debit and credit items
is zero.

We specify a number range key for each document type. Max number ranges one billion. After
one billion we can use alpha numeric.
No range can assign to more than one document type
No range is company code specific or year specific
No overlap
X1,X2 may not use for no ranges
For depreciation posting use ext check box in no range

Menu Path: IMG – Financial Accounting – Financial Accounting Global Settings – Documents –
Document Header – Define Document Types T Code : OBA7/ FBN1
Database Table: T003, T003T

No range for year specific 2010

No range for not year specific 9999 in this case we don’t know how many document posted
for each year
You can create alphabetic number range using external check box

Number interval not included in customization request. We enter manually click on

Interval menutransport

1. Defining the number ranges

2. Copying the number ranges to Company Code(s)
3. Copying the number ranges to fiscal year(s)

Two categories of document.

1. Original document: This includes purchase invoices, copies of sales invoices, receipts,
vouchers, check counting files, etc. The businesses transactions are accounted always are
the original documents only.

2. Processing documents (IT): These include sample documents, recurring documents and
accounting documents. The accounting document represents the business transactions
posted into the system. On the evidence of original document that is the accounting
document represent the accounting entry which is stored in the database. The accounting
documents contain two parts.
1. Document header: The document header is a part of the document that contains
information that applies to the entire document. It also includes controlling
information such as the document type. It contains document date, posting date,
company code, currency, country, posting period, and document type. The document
header describes whole business management.
2. Document line items:
Salaries account dr. 30000 – line item1
To bank account- 30000 - line itme2
The document line item is a part of the document that contains information on an
item. An account document should contain minimum two line items. One should
debit and other should be credit line item. The total of debit line items should be
equal to total of the credit line item. This is called document principle in SAP. An
account document can contain max 999 line items including debit and credit. A
 document line item can also contain additional account assignments (for example,
profit center, cost center) and an explanatory text.

Document type: The following of the functions of document.

1. It controls the number to be assigned to the individual
2. It describes account type to which business transaction is created.
3. It controls whether the number internal assignment or external assignment
4. It controls the Header part of document and line item level of the document
5. It controls the type of accounts that can be posted
6. Document type to be used for reversal of entries
7. Whether it can be used only for Batch input sessions
8. Helps filing of physical document

Document Views
You can display a document in two different views in General Ledger Accounting:
● Entry View: Entry view shows basically the line items you enter into the system. Data is
retrieved from BKPF and BSEG tables. While entry view shows the Customer/ Vendor and other
revenue/ Expense GLs

● General Ledger View: Documents in the general ledger view always apply to a specific ledger.
General ledger view shows the Reconciliation GL and revenue/ Expense GLs. We cannot find
Customer and Vendor details here.

The ‘Document Header’ contains information that is valid for the whole document such as:
􀂃 Document Date
􀂃 Document Type (Control Information)
􀂃 Document Number
􀂃 Posting Date
􀂃 Posting Period
􀂃 Company Code
Besides the above, the document header also has information (editable, later on) such as (a)
trading partner, (b) document header text, (c) reference, (d) cross-Company Code number, etc.
How is ‘Account Type’ connected to ‘Document Type’?
‘Account Type’ is denoted by a 1-character code such as A, D, etc., specifying which accounts a
particular document can be posted to. The common account types include:
􀂃 A Assets
􀂃 D Customer (Debtor)
􀂃 K Vendor (Creditor)
􀂃 M Materials
􀂃 S GL
What is the ‘Document Change Rule’?
The functionality ‘Document Change Rules’ configured in the system maintains the
information relating to ‘what fields can be changed?’ and ‘under what circumstances?.’
SAP’s document principle does not allow changing the ‘relevant’ fields once a document is
posted; any changes can only be achieved through ‘Reversal’ or additional postings.
However, SAP allows changing some of the fields in the line items such as payment method,
payment block, house bank, dunning level, dunning block, etc. These can be changed document
by document or by using ‘mass change’ for a number of documents in a single step.
The changes to ‘master data’ are tracked and stored per user for an ‘audit trail.’
What is posting key and what does it control?
These are special classification keys. Two character numerical key it controls the entry of line
items. Posting keys are SAP delivered. Posting key determines Account type, Debit/credit
posting, Field status of transaction, layout

Field Status variant

It controls display of fields (appearance of screen at the time of posting transactions). At the time
of posting transactions the user can enter the information in 70 fields for each line item. So that
user can enter the information in total 140 for two line items. But all the fields are not required
by all the accounts. Several field status groups together in one field status variant. You cannot
enter field status group in customer or vendor accounts

Suppressed status Required status Optional status

Text No Yes No
Cost center No No Yes
Quantity No No Yes
Business Area No Yes No
Tax rate No No Yes
In SAP there are 3 statuses are available
1. Suppressed status: If This is selected for a field then that field hides at the time of
posting transactions
2. Required s: If This is selected for a field then that field is compulsory to enter
information in that field
3. Optional status: if this field selected then that field is displayed at the time of posting
transactions but user may or may not enter the information in that field
Based on the nature of GL accounts all 70 fields have been categorized into 41 groups. These are
called field status groups. All Groups are stored in one variant that variant is called field status
variant. Every group contains all 70 fields. For every field in every group all the 3 above statuses
are available.

It is compulsory that every company code should be assign with one filed status variant for this
purpose we can define our own field status variant by copying from one of the system defined
field status variant 001 or 1300

Value date: It is expected date of realization of fund involved in the bank instruments such as
Chq, DD etc. we have selected required status against value field. In the field status group G005
enter. We assign field status group G005 in the bank accounts then at the time of either Dr or Cr
the bank the user has to enter “value date”. This information is used by the cash department for
the purpose planning the cash resources.

Bank account (In our Books) Our Account (In Bank books)
1-3-15 Balance 100000 1-3-15 Balance 100000

2-3-15 Chq issued 30000

Balance 70000 Balance 100000

5-3-15 (Value Date) Chq Honour 30000

Path: SPRO  Financial Accounting  Financial Accounting Global settings  document 

Line Item  Controls  Maintain field status variants.

Assign Company code to Field Status variant

Path: SPRO  Financial Accounting  Financial Accounting Global settings  document 
Line item  controls  Assign company code to field status variants.
What is the difference between Field Status Variant and Field Status Group
Field Status Group is used to control the screen appearance for document posting. This is
achieved through General Ledger For, this we need Field Status variant, which contains field
status groups, and assign the field status variant to your company code.
Field status determines how a field is displayed or maintained.
Field status variant is a collection of field status group.
What is the difference between g001, g005 and g067 field status group ?
We have by default 41 f.s.g
G001 is used for general accounts
G005 is used for Bank accounts and have to select "relevant to cash flow"
G001, G005 controls the appearance of Text, business area
G067 is used for Reconciliation accounts. It controls the appearance of customer and vendor
fields.
Global parameters
The settings done in these activities are applicable to the company code as a whole
Transaction code OBY6. Company code global settings are where you can assign different types
of variants that control various parameters for a company code.

Note: Select additional details button

TDS No, TAN No,

Business area financial statements: by selecting this check box system will allows user to
allow financial statement for each business area
Propose fiscal year: by selecting this check box system allows automatically defaults current
fiscal year at the time of displaying documents
Define default value date: by selecting this check box system will take the current date (System
date) as value date
No Forex rate diff when clearing in LC: When items in foreign currency are cleared in local
currency, the local currency amount stored in the document is used as the amount to be cleared
Negative postings permitted: by selecting this check box system will allow the user to use the
reversal function to rectify error document when the document is reversed. The system keeps the
total of the account unchanged by posting rectification. On the same side with negative sign
instead of posting on the opposite side
Rent A/c
1-4-15 To bank 10000 5-6-15 By Salaries 50000
(Rectified)
1-5-15 To bank 10000 31-3-16 By Transfer 120000
to P& L
1-6-15 To bank 10000
5-6-15 To bank (- 50000
50000)
…..

170000 170000
(120000)

Path: SPRO  Financial Accounting  Financial Accounting Global settings  Company

code  Enter Global parameters.
Select addition data button
49A – PAN (Permanent Account No)
49B – TDS No (Tax deduction of source)
PAN & TDS Number given at company code level
What is max exchange rate difference?
It is used for how much rate enters manually in document header. It checks with forex table and
give warning message when exceed
Where we have to define VAT Registration Number?
Global setting under company code.
In customizing “ company code productive “ means what? What it denotes?
Once the company code is live this check box helps prevent deletion of many programmers
accidently. This check box is activated just before go live.

Optional Steps
Tax procedure
It contains all the elements which are necessary to calculate country specific taxes. It is
compulsory that we should define tax procedure and it should be assigned to the country then
that tax procedure is applicable to all company codes of the country
Calculation procedure
Basic xxx
+ Excise xxx
xxx

Sales Tax on (Basic + Excise)

Step 1 Define calculation Procedure (OBYZ)
Path: SPRO-Financial Accounting-Financial global Settings-Tax on sales & purchases-basic
settings-Check Calculate procedure
Double click on control data
Step Control Description From TO ACC Key
Type
(Ctype)
100 BASB Basic Amount
110 MWVS Input Tax 100 100 VST
120 MWAS Output Tax 100 100 MWS

Path: SPRO 􀂃 Financial Accounting 􀂃 Financial Accounting Global Setting 􀂃 Tax on sales or
purchases 􀂃 Basic settings 􀂃 Assign country to calculation procedure. OBBG
Note: above 2 steps are to be do when we are doing in our own laptop

General Settings
1. Create country
Menupath: SAP NetWeaver >> General Settings >> Set Countries >> Define Countries in
mySAP Systems ('New Entries') OY01 Table is T005
You can also directly maintain new entry in this table in SM30 with V_T005
2. Create Regions
The IMG path to create region is SAP NetWeaver --> General Settings --> Set Countries -->
Insert Regions OVK2

Define Posting Keys (Optional)

PATH: SPROFinancial Accounting (New) Financial Accounting Global Settings (New)
Document Define Posting Keys. Transaction Code: OB41
Most of all required posting are provided by SAP so need to create any new one.

GENERA
CUSTOME MATERIA
VENDORS L ASSETS
RS LS
LEDGER
Transaction Dr Cr Dr Cr Dr Cr Dr Cr Dr Cr

0:Accounting Document 40 50 70 75
1: Invoice / Credit
01 11 21 31
Memo
2: Reverse Invoice /
Credit 02 12 22 32
Memo
3: Bank Charges / 03 13
Reverse
Bank Charges
4: Other Receivable
04 14 24 34
Payments
5: Outgoing / Incoming
05 15 25 35
Payments
6: Payment Clearing 06 16 26 36
7: Other Clearing 07 17 27 37
8: Payment Clearing 08 18 28 38
9: Spl GL Transaction 09 19 29 39
0: Inventory Taking 80 90
1: Inventory Cost 81 91
2: Inventory Difference 82 92
3: Prince Difference 83 93
4: Consumption 84 94
5: Changes in Stock 85 95
6: GR / IR 86 96
9: Stock Inward
89 99
Movement

GL Settings
Chart of Accounts
It controls the structure of the GL accounts. This is a list of all G/L accounts used by one or
several company codes. This could be the case if all company codes are in the same country.

It is compulsory that every company code should be assigned with one chart of account. It is
client level. We can assign max 3 COA per company code

1. Operational chart of accounts

It is used for daily business transactions are posting. It is compulsory that every company code
should be assigned one operational chart of account. The financial statements prepared according
to home country. Legal requirements are prepared from the operational chart of account.
Financial Accounting and Controlling both use this chart of accounts. It is also known as a
‘Standard’ chart of accounts.
2. Group/Global chart of accounts
It is also known as the Corporate Chart of Accounts. It is used by corporate group to prepare
consolidated financial statements. The definition of group chart of account is optional.
The assignment of group chart of accounts to company code is optional
The group chart of account is assigned to the operational chart of accounts (OB13)
Group chart of account GL accounts created in COA Level only FSPO
A group COA can be assigned to any number of operating COA.

Depending upon the configuration, the same COA may be an operational COA, a country COA,
or a group COA.
3. Country specific chart of accounts
It is also known as an Alternate Chart of Accounts, It is used by the company code to meet the
country specific legal Requirements. This allows you to provide statements for the country's
legal requirements. The assigning of a country-specific chart of accounts to a company code is
optional. (OB62)

It is possible that both the operative and the country chart of accounts are the same. In this case,
you will not need two different charts of accounts.

In cases where the operative and country chart of accounts are different, a link needs to be
established by entering the GL account number in the GL master record (under the Company
Code section) of the ‘Operative Chart of Accounts’ in the field ‘Alternate Account Number.’

BPL1 (India) BPL2 (US) BPL3 (UK)

BPL1 operational COA BPL2 operational COA BPL3 operational COA
BPL1 Country specific COA BPL1 Country specific COA

Enter transactions in operational COA only. Length of the Account Number  Max 10 digits.
But companies are normally using 6 digits.
If there are two company codes with different chart of accounts how can you consolidate
their activities?
In this case you either need to write an ABAP program or you need to implement the Special
Consolidation Module or New GL of SAP. If both the company codes use the same chart of
accounts then standard SAP reports give you the consolidate figure.
Can one ‘Chart of Accounts’ be Assigned to Several Company Codes?
Yes. One chart of accounts can be assigned to several Company Codes. However, the reverse is
not possible; i.e., you will not be able assign more than one chart of accounts to a single
Company Code.
When you copy the chart of accounts (COA), only one financial statement version (FSV) is
being copied. However, a COA can have more than one FSV. Why does copying the COA
allow only one FSV?
An FSV corresponds to the COA, wherein individual (operational) accounts are assigned to
corresponding financial statement items on the lowest level of the FSV.
However, in case of rollup of the account, it is not possible to copy all of the FSVs.
You will have to manually create multiple FSVs, depending on the financial statements that are
necessary for the organization.
Can one group COA be assigned to two operational charts?
Yes. This assignment is done via transaction code OB13.
While creating the G/L accounts of an operational COA, you need to key the group COA. This
way, you are making a relation between the operational COA and the group COA.
Controlling Integration: It can create cost elements create manually or automatically. Most of
cases choose manual only. But remember whenever you create GL codes in FI, immediately
create cost elements in controlling under 1 or 11 categories.
I want to copy all my GL accounts (which created centrally) to another Chart of Accounts
at COA level only(FSPO).

Please go to OBY7. Enter the COA and Ref COA. All your GL from Ref COA will get copied in
newly created COA.

It is possible to copy financial statement version with different chart of accounts?

It does not make much sense, as FSV is based on chart of accounts. You will have to build your
FSV from the scratch.

Where we configure country specific chart of accounts and how we consolidate it with
operational chart of accounts?

You create G/L accounts in both charts of accounts,

In FS00, there is field called 'Alternative Account number'. This is the link between the two.
Assign Company Code to chart of Accounts:

Path: SPRO Financial Accounting  General Ledger AccountG/L Accounts  Master

Records  Preparations  Assign company code to chart of Accounts. (T. code OB62)

Account groups
The account group is a classifying the G/L account master records for easy and convenient.
These are called GL accounts groups. The account group is a required entry.
There is no limit for no of account groups creation but there are two minimum account groups
(BS,PL). We can add new account groups during the fiscal year.

The account group determines:

The number interval from which the account number is selected when a G/L account is created.
The screen layout for creating G/L accounts in the company code-specific area

There are 2 types of field statuses in SAP

1 Field status for document entry (At the time of posting transaction): It is controlled by field
status variant through field status group
2 Field statuses for GL master records: It is controlled by account groups.
The field status for vendor master record is controlled by vendor account groups
The field status for customer master record is controlled by customer account groups
The field status for asset master record is controlled by asset classes through screen layout
groups
Path: SPRO  SAP Ref IMG  Financial Accounting  General Ledger Accounting  G/L
Accounts  Master Records  Preparations  Define Account Group (Transaction code
OBD4) Database Table: T077S, T077Z
Chart of Account Name From Account To Account
accounts group
AML SCPL Share Capital 100000 100099
AML RSPL Reserves & 100100 100199
Surplus
AML ACDN Accumulated 100200 100299
depreciation
AML SCLN Secured Loans 100300 100399
AML UNSL Unsecured Loans 100400 100499
AML CLPR Current liabilities 100500 100599
&provisions
AML FAST Fixed assets 200000 200099
AML CAST Current Assets, 200100 200199
Loans and
advance
AML SALE Sales 300000 300099
AML OTHR Other Income 300100 300199
AML INCR Increase/Decreas 300200 300299
 e in stocks
AML RMCN Raw Material 400000 400099
consumption
AML PRSN Personnel Cost 400100 400199
(Staff cost)
AML MFRG Manufacturing 400200 400299
AML ADMN Administration 400300 400399
AML INTR Interest 400400 400499
AML DEPR Depreciation 400500 400599
Note: You can copy existed account groups from another company also. After copying you have
to change chart of account as per your chart of account
What is a ‘Screen Layout’?
The ‘account group’ determines which ‘Screen Layout’ should be used while creating a GL
account master record. For each of the account groups, you can define different screen layouts,
which essentially determine the ‘Field Status’ of a field.
The field status refers to whether the field is:
1. Suppressed (field is invisible, hidden from display)
2. Required (display on, entry mandatory)
3. Optional (display on, entry not mandatory)

There are two levels of controls of field status:

1. Field status at the account group level. Company code Level
2. Field status at the activity (create/change/display) level (i.e., at the transaction level). Client
level

Retained Earnings Account

It is also called profit & loss account. At the time of creating GL accounts we have to specify
either it is profit & loss account type or balance sheet type. So it is mandatory to define
minimum one profit & loss account type. Based on the business requirement we can define any
number of profit & loss account types. Retained earnings account is used during year-end closing
to calculate the company's result. At end of fiscal year system carried forward balances of P&L
account retain earning accounts. You have to create GL Account later

Operating Revenues: these are the revenues generated from the main business operation
Ex: Sales
Operating Expenses: these are the expenses which are incurred to run the main business
Ex: Rent, Wages, Salaries etc
Non Operating profit & loss: it is difference between non operating revenues and non operating
expenses
Non Operating Revenues: These are the revenues received from the business operation which
are not related to the main business
Ex: Dividends received on the share if main business is textile manufacturing
Non Operating Expenses: These are the expenses which are incurred to earn non operating
revenues
Ex; commission paid on purchase of shares

Operating profit & loss account- Type X – 100100

Sales account- Type X
Wages- Type X
Salaries- Type X

Non Operating profit & loss account- Type Y – 100101

Dividend on shares – Type Y
Brokerage on shares – Type Y
How many ‘Retained Earnings’ A/C can be Defined?
You can define as many ‘Retained Earnings Accounts’ as you need. But normally, companies
use only one retained earnings account. Remember, to define more than one, you should use the
profit & loss account type.
How do you ‘Carry-Forward’ Account Balances?
If you have already posted into the new fiscal year, you do not need to ‘carry-forward’ the
balances manually. But you can use the various ‘carry-forward’ programs supplied by SAP for
this task.
Is there a Prerequisite for ‘Carry-Forward’ Activity?
Yes, for Profit & Loss accounts, you should have defined the Retained Earnings account in the
system. Additionally, you should have also specified the ‘Profit & Loss Account Type’ in the
master record of each of these for Profit & Loss accounts. There are no such requirements for GL
accounts, customer and vendor accounts.