The organizational structure is the backbone within SAP that provides the structure for all further configuration items and impacts the value flow—making it the first place to start a discussion of configuring SAP ERP Controlling.
1Organizational Structure
The organizational structure represents the major structural elements of the business that aren’t likely to change over time (for example, legal entities). Legal structures, management structures, and reporting requirements are represented with the help of the organizational structure as well as the operational environment. Every module within SAP has its own organizational elements; all together, they represent the structure of the enterprise. Therefore it’s very important to spend some time upfront defining the organizational structure of an enterprise and then to set up the organizational structure accurately.
In this chapter, we cover first some of the major organizational elements of the SAP ERP Financial Accounting (hereafter, Finance Accounting) module that have an impact on the SAP ERP Controlling (hereafter, Controlling) module and that are necessary for its configuration, and then the organizational elements of the Controlling module itself.
1.1Financial Accounting Elements
Let’s start with the explanation of the finance account elements because we need them to create the Financial Accounting organizational elements. These elements build the basis for Financial Accounting; in other words, to make postings in Financial Accounting, these organizational elements have to be defined. You’ll soon see how the main settings of these organizational elements have an impact on the Controlling module.
1.1.1Company Code
The company code is an organizational unit of the Financial Accounting module that represents a legal entity. All transactions in Financial Accounting are done on the company code level.
You don’t have to create all company codes from scratch. You can create a company code in SAP by copying an existing one. One best practice is to choose a template company code of the country where the legal entity is located. This way, some country-specific settings will be copied, too. You can change all copied entries later.
Create the company code with Transaction EC01 or by following the IMG path, Enterprise Structure • Definition • Financial Accounting • Edit, Copy, Delete, Check Company Code. Select Copy, Delete, Check Company Code in the pop-up that appears. Click Copy Org. Object or press (F6) to copy an existing company code. It takes a while until you see the pop-up shown in Figure 1.1. The From Company Code field calls for the company code from the template you choose to copy. The To Company Code field calls for the new company code you want to create. Enter a four-digit number (alphanumeric or numerical), and confirm by pressing (Enter).
Figure 1.1Creating a Company Code by Copying an Existing Company Code
After copying the company code, you can go back by pressing
(F3); then select
Edit Company Code Data. You can maintain a name for the company code. By clicking on the
Address icon
, you can maintain address data as well. This data can also be printed on any forms. The currency you enter in this screen is the company code currency
in which the legal entity operates and in which the ledgers
are managed (in
Figure 1.2, this is US dollars). Every currency type
is assigned to an exchange rate type
. The maintenance of the currency translation takes place in a separate transaction on the exchange rate type level.
Figure 1.2Creating Company Code Data and Maintaining Address Data
Additional data to the company code can be maintained via the IMG path, Financial Accounting (New) • Financial Accounting Global Settings (New) • Global Parameters for Company Code • Enter Global Parameters. As shown in Figure 1.3, in the company code global parameters, you maintain different data, such as the following:
-
Chart of accounts
-
Fiscal year variant
-
Posting period variant
All those entries and more can be changed in this screen. It’s very hard to change those entries when the company code is productive, so we recommend that you consider future requirements in advance.
Figure 1.3Maintaining Global Data in the Company Code
1.1.2Chart of Accounts
The chart of accounts is the structured list of all balance sheet and profit and loss (P&L) accounts. In Controlling, we work with the P&L accounts, which we call cost elements. You’ll find more detailed information on cost elements in Chapter 3, Figure 3.2.
You can create a chart of accounts with Transaction OB13 or by following the IMG path, Financial Accounting (New) • General Ledger Accounting (New) • Master Data • G/L Accounts • Preparations • Edit Chart of Accounts List. By selecting New Entries or pressing (F5), you can create a new chart of accounts.
In the chart of accounts, you use the Integration section to determine whether cost elements are created automatically when you create an expense account or manually (Figure 1.4). You’ll learn more details on automatic cost element creation in Chapter 3, Section 3.1.3.
Figure 1.4Creating a Chart of Accounts
You can assign a chart of accounts to multiple company codes using Transaction OB62 or by following the IMG path, Financial Accounting (New) • General Ledger Accounting (New) • Master Data • G/L Accounts • Preparations • Assign Company Code to Chart of Accounts.
1.1.3Fiscal Year Variant
The fiscal year variant determines the posting p...
