Customizing for the SAP General Ledger Accounting Contents

First-hand knowledge.

Reading Sample
These sample chapters describe the customizing steps you must perform for the new SAP General Ledger and the new Asset Accounting prior to your migration to SAP S/4HANA Finance.
“Customizing for the SAP General Ledger” “Customizing for the New Asset Accounting” Contents
Index The Author
Anup Maheshwari
Implementing SAP S/4HANA Finance
535 Pages, 2016, $79.95 ISBN 978-1-4932-1350-4
www.sap-press.com/4045

Chapter 3

This chapter highlights the Customizing for SAP General Ledger and

currencies, the integration of postings from Controlling, and the creation

of ledger groups required as part of the migration to SAP S/4HANA

Finance.

3 Customizing for the SAP General Ledger
Following are some of the key customization steps that you need to perform for migration to the new SAP General Ledger (new G/L) as part of the overall SAP S/4HANA migration:
̈ Checking and adopting fiscal year variants ̈ Migrating G/L settings ̈ Defining settings for the journal entry ledger ̈ Defining the ledger for the Controlling (CO) version ̈ Defining document types for postings in CO ̈ Defining offsetting account determination ̈ Defining the source ledger for migration of balances ̈ Executing a consistency check of G/L settings ̈ Activating the required business functions
This configuration is completed under SAP Customizing Implementation Guide Ⴇ Migration from SAP ERP to SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA Ⴇ Preparations and Migration of Customizing Ⴇ Preparations and Migration of Customizing for the General Ledger, as shown in Figure 3.1.

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Figure 3.1 Customizing the General Ledger
Let’s begin by activating the SAP reference IMG structure for SAP ERP Financials (FI).
3.1 Activate SAP Reference Implementation Guide for SAP ERP Financials
In this activity, you activate the SAP reference IMG structure for FI and the menu path that is associated with it by following these steps: 1. Select Transaction SA38. 2. Enter the Program RFAGL_SWAP_IMG_NEW. 3. Select Execute.
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3.2

4. Under Activate/Deactivate New Implementation Guide, choose Activate New IMG, and then select Execute (Figure 3.2).

Figure 3.2 Activating the New Implementation Guide
5. In another SAP session, enter the Program RFAGL_SWAP_MENU_NEW. 6. Select Execute. 7. Under Activate/Deactivate New Menu, choose Activate New Menu (Figure
3.3), and then select Execute so that the relevant structure is visible.

Figure 3.3 Activating the New Menu
3.2 Check and Adopt Fiscal Year Variants
The migration to the Universal Journal requires the same fiscal year variant to be used in both FI and CO. In this activity, you compare the fiscal year variants between controlling areas and their assigned company codes. If an inconsistency exists in the fiscal year variant configuration, a report is created with a proposal for the required configuration change. You need to execute the report as part of the migration process. The fiscal year variants of CO and FI have to be aligned before the migration of the transaction data can be started. The report lists all CO areas and company codes that need to be changed, as well as the number of the posting periods and special periods.
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The Det. FYV for CoAr (determined fiscal year variant for controlling area) and Det. FYV for CoCd (determined fiscal year variant for company code) columns provide the proposal for the configuration change. The report must be executed using Transaction FINS_MIG_FYV for all relevant controlling areas.
If no changes are required, the information window shown in Figure 3.4 appears.

Figure 3.4 Aligning Fiscal Year Variants between CO and FI
3.3 Migrate General Ledger Customizing
In this activity, you migrate all the ledgers to the new configuration using Transaction FINS_MIG_LEDGER_CUST, as shown in Figure 3.5.

Figure 3.5 Migrating General Ledger Customizing
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The following settings are migrated: ̈ Company code assignments ̈ Currency settings ̈ Fiscal year variant ̈ Open period variant ̈ Settings for real-time integration of CO and FI
After all these items are migrated successfully, you can proceed to the next step.

3.4 Define Settings for the Journal Entry Ledger
In this activity, you define ledgers, which you use in accounting. Only one ledger can be defined as the leading ledger (the standard leading ledger is 0L). There are two types of ledgers:
̈ Standard ledger The standard ledger consists of all journal entries related to any business transactions.
̈ Appendix ledger Introduced in SAP S/4HANA Finance, an appendix ledger is assigned to a standard ledger from where it inherits all the journal entry postings. Any specific adjustments required to be posted only to the appendix ledger aren’t duplicated in the standard ledger. Thus, the appendix ledger takes the base values from the standard ledger and then combines the specific appendix ledger postings. This prevents multiple data footprints and significantly reduces data redundancy because the journal entries don’t need to be posted to both the appendix and the standard ledger.
You also need to assign company codes to ledgers and define currency settings and fiscal year variants. The step-by-step configuration settings are shown in Figure 3.6 through Figure 3.9.
The following requirements must be met before performing this Customizing activity:
̈ Company codes are configured with currency, fiscal year variants, and open period variants.

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̈ Controlling areas are configured with currency types and fiscal year variants. ̈ Company codes are assigned to controlling areas. ̈ Migration and customization of the ledger is completed. ̈ Ledger 0L is configured as the leading ledger. ̈ The leading ledger is assigned to all company codes.
In this Customizing setting, Ledger 0L needs to be assigned as the Leading Ledger (Figure 3.6). Here, you also need to create all the other standard (nonleading) ledgers and extension (appendix) ledgers required for parallel accounting for the organization.

Figure 3.6 Standard Ledger Customizing
In this Customizing setting, all company codes need to be assigned to the leading ledger 0L. Here, you also need to configure company code assignments to other ledgers along with currency settings, fiscal year variants, and open period variants for nonleading ledgers. If you want to do parallel accounting using G/L accounts instead of various ledgers, you need to select the Parallel GL Accts checkbox (Figure 3.7).
Figure 3.7 Ledger Assignment to Company Code
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Define Ledger Groups

3.5

In this Customizing setting, you need to assign accounting principles to the ledger. This assignment ensures that documents posted for a particular accounting principle get posted to the assigned ledger while documents where the accounting principle hasn’t been assigned are posted to all ledgers (Figure 3.8 and Figure 3.9).

Figure 3.8 Accounting Principle Assignment to Ledger 0L and Company Code

Figure 3.9 Accounting Principle Assignment to Ledger L1 and Company Code References/Tips For more information, see SAP Note 1951069: Different Fiscal Year Variants in General Ledger Accounting (New).
3.5 Define Ledger Groups
In this activity, you define ledger groups, as shown in Figure 3.10. The creation of ledger groups simplifies the individual functions and processes of SAP General
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Ledger Accounting. You can create as many ledger groups and can assign any number of ledgers in a ledger group as needed to meet your business goals.

Figure 3.10 Customizing the Ledger Group
When a ledger is created in the system, a ledger group with the same name is automatically created whereby data to an individual ledger can be posted and accessed by merely entering the ledger group. Some of the properties of ledger groups include the following: ̈ You can rename the ledger group that was created automatically when creating
the ledger. ̈ You can create ledger groups that enable you to bring several ledgers together
for joint processing in a function. ̈ If a ledger group isn’t specified while posting an entry, the system by default
posts to all the ledgers. Thus, creating ledger groups for all ledgers isn’t required. Within the ledger group, you need to assign and check one ledger as the representative ledger as shown in Figure 3.11. The best practice is to have the leading ledger 0L as your representative ledger. Posting to all the ledgers is determined
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Assign the Accounting Principle to the Ledger Group

3.6

by the posting period of the representative ledger. If the posting period of the representative ledger is open while the posting period of the nonrepresentative ledger is closed, the system still posts to all the ledgers. The criteria for a representative ledger are listed here:
̈ Any ledger can be assigned as a representative ledger if all the ledgers in the group have a fiscal year variant that is different from the one assigned to the company code.
̈ If a ledger in the group has the same fiscal year variant as assigned to the company code, that ledger must be assigned as the representative ledger within the ledger group.
Thus, you may not be able to use the same ledger group for all the active company codes within the organization.

Figure 3.11 Defining the Ledger Group and Representative Ledger
3.6 Assign the Accounting Principle to the Ledger Group
After the ledger groups are created, you need to assign the ledger group to the accounting principle for the organizational legal and statutory reporting requirements. You can do this by choosing SAP Customizing Implementation Guide Ⴇ Financial Accounting (New) Ⴇ Financial Accounting Global Settings (New) Ⴇ Ledgers Ⴇ Parallel Accounting Ⴇ Assign Accounting Principle to Ledger Groups, as depicted in Figure 3.12. Upon execution of this Customizing transaction, you then assign the accounting principle to the ledger group, as shown in Figure 3.13.
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Figure 3.12 Assign Accounting Principle to Ledger Groups
Figure 3.13 Ledger Groups Assigned to Accounting Principles
3.7 Define the Ledger for the Controlling Version
In this activity, you define a ledger where all actual data relevant to CO are posted by assigning Version 0 to a ledger. The version is assigned at the company code level, and the same ledger needs to be used for all company codes. Currently, Version 0 need to be assigned to the leading ledger for all company codes that are assigned to a CO area, as shown in Figure 3.14. The fiscal year variant of the company code must be identical to that of the controlling area. 136

Define Document Types for Postings in Controlling

3.8

Figure 3.14 Assigning the Ledger to the CO Version
3.8 Define Document Types for Postings in Controlling
In this activity, you create and define new document types for CO-related postings. For example, you can create a separate document type that can be used for the reposting or allocation of primary costs. For document types used in CO, you must select the G/L account indicator under the Account types allowed section. In the example shown in Figure 3.15, Document Type CO is defined with account type G/L account checked.

Figure 3.15 Document Type Properties for CO
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3.9 Define Document Type Mapping Variants for Controlling Business Transactions
In this activity, you define a variant for mapping CO business transactions to document types. You must conduct and define this mapping exercise for all CO actual posting business transactions.
A default mapping variant is generated during the Customizing activity for the migration of the ledger where all CO business transactions are mapped to the document type associated with the CO-FI real-time integration, as shown in Figure 3.16.

Figure 3.16 Variant for Mapping the CO Transaction to Document Types
Figure 3.17 depicts how the CO business transactions are assigned to the document type.

Figure 3.17 Mapping of CO Transactions to Document Types
3.10 Check and Define Default Values for Postings in Controlling
In this activity, you define default values for posting CO business transactions in which the user interfaces don’t allow any document type or ledger group as an
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Check and Define Default Values for Postings in Controlling

3.10

input while posting. If a default ledger group isn’t specified in this Customizing activity, all CO-related transactions are posted to all the ledgers, as shown in Figure 3.18.

Figure 3.18 Default Values for Postings in CO
To define the ledger group and assign the ledgers (Figure 3.19), you use the Customizing menu path, Financial Accounting (New) Ⴇ Financial Accounting Global Settings (New) Ⴇ Ledgers Ⴇ Ledger Ⴇ Define Ledger Group.
Figure 3.19 Ledger Group Assignment
Here, you first create ledger groups as required, provide a description to each of the groups, and then assign ledgers as applicable to each of the ledger groups. When posting a document, you can specify a ledger group so that all the documents get posted only to those ledgers that are in that group. The system assigns a representative ledger within a group that has more than one ledger. The representative ledger is used to determine the posting period and to check if the period is open for posting. If the representative ledger is open, the system still posts to all the ledgers in the group, even though the posting period for the other ledgers in the group might be closed.
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3.11 Define the Offsetting Account Determination Type
In this activity, you define the offsetting account determination for all applications. This activity needs to be executed before the migration to SAP S/4HANA Finance.
You should choose the As case 2, but including line items generated automatically option, as shown in Figure 3.20, because this option always displays the offsetting account with the highest amount along with the line items that are generated automatically.

Figure 3.20 Define Offsetting Account Determination
3.12 Define the Source Ledger for Migration of Balances
In this activity, you define the source ledger and the source database table of the balances for SAP General Ledger Accounting from which you want to transfer the opening balances. To do so, you use the following: ̈ Target ledger ̈ Company code (you can specify * to apply the settings to all company codes) ̈ Starting fiscal year (by specifying year “0001”, you apply the settings for all fis-
cal years) Organizations using the new G/L can specify one entry per ledger, where the source and target ledger are equal. In the example in Figure 3.21, 0L is defined as both the source and target ledger for CoCd 1000 for the purpose of migration of balances.
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Figure 3.21 Source Ledger for Migration of Balances
3.13 Execute Consistency Check of General Ledger Settings
In this activity, the Customizing settings for the ledgers are checked using Transaction FINS_CUST_CONS_CHK. This check must be executed before migration of transaction data with no error messages. You should receive the Check passed message, as shown in Figure 3.22, upon execution of this consistency check.
Figure 3.22 Consistency Check of General Ledger Settings
3.14 Activate Business Functions
In this activity, you need to activate the business functions that are necessary for migrating to SAP S/4HANA Finance. You have to activate the following business functions in the Customizing system using Transaction SFW5 and then import them into the production system: ̈ FIN_GL_CI_1
This new SAP General Ledger Accounting business function helps to optimize the processes related to parallel accounting as well as planning and reporting based on profit centers. ̈ FIN_GL_CI_2 This new SAP General Ledger Accounting business function enhances the processes for parallel accounting by enabling its integration with CO.
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̈ FIN_GL_CI_3 This business function helps to improve the processes related to periodic tasks and optimize the usage of archive functionality. Analysis of actual/actual comparison between the ledgers can be done while conducting the financial statement analysis. This business function also plays an important role in managing the assigned numbers when assets are transferred.
All three business functions activate functionality in G/L, which is mandatory for the implementation of SAP S/4HANA Finance (Figure 3.23).

Figure 3.23 New General Ledger Business Functions Activated
3.15 Summary
You’ll need to execute the Customizing steps for the G/L before migration to SAP S/4HANA Finance to accommodate the required changes. This requires checking the consistency of the fiscal year variants between company code and controlling area, defining the ledgers and their assignment to the accounting principle, setting up the postings in CO, and activating any missing business functions.
You now understand the prerequisites, preparations, and migration requirements related to the new SAP General Ledger Accounting, and you can perform the Customizing steps as well. Let’s now move on to Chapter 4, where we’ll discuss the Customizing for the new Asset Accounting.

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Chapter 4

With the installation of SAP S/4HANA Finance, classic Asset Accounting

is replaced by new Asset Accounting. This chapter focuses on the Custom-

izing and activation steps related to new Asset Accounting, including

performing the prechecks, migrating and defining the chart of deprecia-

tion, and specifying the posting rules.

4 Customizing for the New Asset Accounting
Prior to the migration, you need to customize the new Asset Accounting (new FIAA) in the system, which is replacing the classic Asset Accounting (classic FI-AA) in SAP S/4HANA Finance. Some of the key customization steps that you need to perform for migration to the new FI-AA are covered in this chapter.
The SAP S/4HANA Finance migration includes performing prechecks for using the new FI-AA, checking accounting principle and ledger group settings, assigning the accounting principle to the ledger group, making any additional manual settings in Customizing for new FI-AA, and checking the prerequisites for activating the new FI-AA. Other tasks you must perform include determining and migrating active charts of depreciation, changing definitions of depreciation areas, defining transfer rules for the posting values and depreciation terms of a depreciation area, checking the currency type of depreciation areas, and finally activating the Customizing switch for new FI-AA. All of the major steps, along with any additional details, are shown in Figure 4.1.
When you install SAP S/4HANA Finance, the system shows the Customizing structure for new FI-AA in the SAP Reference IMG, as shown in Figure 4.1. By default, it hides the Customizing structure for classic FI-AA.

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