9

An integrated approach to analyzing liquidity

How to perform successful cash accounting in SAP R/3
In-depth details on exact cash flow planning using

SAP BW and SAP SEM

Cash Accounting and Cash Flow Planning with SAP Liquidity Planner

Cash Accounting
and Cash Flow
Planning with SAP
Liquidity Planner

SAP PRESS Essentials

Stephan Kerber, Dirk Warntje

SAP PRESS Essentials 9

Cash Accounting and Cash Flow Planning with

SAP Liquidity Planner
Stephan Kerber, Dirk Warntje

Content
Introduction .............................................. 3

3.4

Cash Accounting Processes ................... 28

Structure of the Book .....................................

Information Acquisition from

Acknowledgments ..........................................

Assignment Mechanisms ...................... 28

Information Acquisition from

Business Overview .................................. 5

Bank Statement Information ................ 29

1.1

The Concept of Cash Accounting ..........

Information Acquisition from

1.2

Tasks of Cash Accounting and

Financial Accounting ............................ 31

Liquidity Planning .................................

1.3

Manual Assignment and Manual

Recipients and the Need for

Transfer Posting ................................... 36

Information ..........................................
1.4

Analysis Reports ................................... 36

Financial Accounting and

3.5

Cash Accounting ...................................

1.5

Differences to Cash Management .........

1.6

Conclusion ........................................... 11

Case Scenario: Implementing Cash

Accounting and Liquidity Planning .... 13
2.1

Conclusion ........................................... 37

SAP Liquidity Planner: Liquidity

Planning and Reporting
Using SAP BW/SEM ............................... 39
4.1

Modeling in SAP BW/SEM .................... 40

SAP Business Content

Conclusion ........................................... 15

......................... 40

Master Data ......................................... 45

Characteristics ..................................... 53

SAP Liquidity Planner: Liquidity

Analysis Using SAP Actual
Calculation ................................................. 17

4.2

The Liquidity Planning Process .............. 63

3.1

Overall Process and System

4.3

Extracting Actual Data .......................... 64

Integration ............................................ 17

4.4

Reporting in SAP BW ............................ 67

Technical Settings in SAP Actual

4.5

Conclusion ........................................... 69

3.2

Planning Layout in
SAP SEM-BPS/BW-BPS ........................ 54

Calculation ........................................... 17
3.3

(Cash Accounting) ................................ 19

Liquidity Planning and Reporting

Without SAP BW/SEM .......................... 71

Data Model and Master Data ............... 19

5.1

Overview .............................................. 71

FunctionalityOverview ..................... 21

5.2

Customizing .......................................... 71

Customizing SAP Actual Calculation

SAP Actual Calculation

... 21

5.3

Master Data and Actual Data ................ 75

Tools .................................................... 26

5.4

Planning ............................................... 76

Tables ................................................... 27

5.5

Reporting ............................................. 77

5.6

Conclusion ........................................... 78

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Content

Outlook ...................................................... 79
Appendix .................................................... 81
Lee Iacocca and Cash Flow ............................. 81
Indirect Cash Flow .......................................... 81
Plug-in ........................................................... 81
Case Scenario ................................................. 82

Bibliography .............................................. 83
Index ........................................................... 85

Galileo Press 2006. All rights reserved.

Introduction

This book is about money. Where does money come

you can meet these requirements using SAP Liquidity

from and where does it go? Because liquidity is one of the

Planner and also, how you can implement this product.

critical success factors for a company, it is integral to run-

Readers of this book should have a sound knowledge of

ning a business. The most important aspects of liquidity

the accounting application in SAP R/3 as well as SAP BW

are the ability to ensure solvency and generate payment

and SAP SEM.

surpluses. In this context, companies constantly try to analyze and plan their cash ow. Unfortunately, established
applications such as Accounting or Cash Management

Structure of the Book

dont provide the necessary information on cash ow re-

Chapter 1 outlines the business principles and provides

quired by companies; however, SAP Liquidity Planner af-

clear denitions of the terms used in the context of cash

fords you with the much needed relief in this area, as

accounting and liquidity planning. In addition, the con-

shown by its rst implementations in both nationally and

cept of cash accounting is introduced, along with a de-

internationally operating companies. The complex re-

scription of its interdependencies with accounting. In the

quirements placed on a retrograde liquidity analysis, a

nal sections of this chapter, we clearly distinguish SAP

decentral planning tool, and an efcient reporting were

Liquidity Planner from SAP Cash Management.

met by the use of SAP Liquidity Planner.

Chapter 2 describes a case study that is referred to and

SAP Liquidity Planner is a component that consists of

further developed throughout the book. We use this ex-

two applications: Cash Accounting (SAP R/3) and Liquid-

ample to help you understand the functionality and the

ity Planning (prior to Release 3.5, it was part of SAP Stra-

technical concept of SAP Liquidity Planner, but it should

tegic Enterprise Management (SAP SEM), from SAP Busi-

also serve as an aide to you in implementing this compo-

ness Information Warehouse (SAP BW) Release 3.5 on-

nent.

wards, it has been included in BW). Cash accounting

Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 contain a detailed description

determines the cash ow either based on an electronic

of SAP Liquidity Planner. They provide an insightful intro-

bank statement or data from nancial accounting. Liquid-

duction to the two main areas of the product: Chapter 3

ity planning is carried out using the planning functionality

describes Cash Accounting (SAP R/3), while Chapter 4

in SAP BW. Reporting is performed by SAP BW.

deals with Liquidity Planning (SAP BW). In both chapters,

In the past, this component was part of Corporate Fi-

you will also nd detailed information on customizing

nance Management (CFM), and since the introduction of

and the various functions of the application. Wherever

mySAP Enterprise Resource Planning (mySAP ERP) in 2004,

necessary, the case scenario is referred to, enhanced, and

it has been located in the Cash Management and Liquid-

completed.

ity Management area as part of Financial Supply Chain

Management (FSCM).
This SAP Press Essentials book outlines the concepts of

Chapter 5 describes a workaround for simplied liquidity planning and reporting in SAP R/3 without using SAP
BW.

cash accounting and liquidity planning, as well as the re-

Chapter 6 addresses possible developments and future

sulting requirements that a business software must be

requirements of SAP Liquidity Planner. The Appendix con-

able to meet. In this book, the authors demonstrate how

tains additional information.

www.sap-press.com

3 SAP Liquidity Planner: Liquidity Analysis Using

SAP Actual Calculation

In this chapter, we will describe the concept of SAP Li-

Liquidity Planning using SAP SEM/BW

quidity Planner as well as its technical aspects and func-

R
E
P
O
R
T

Liquidity Planning using SAP SEM

tionalities. Based on the case scenario, customizing activities and using the application will be described step-

BW Database

by-step.

Extraction

3.1

Overall Process and System Integration

Operative
R/3 System

SAP Liquidity Planner consists of two applications (see

Section 3.2 for technical requirements):

SAP Actual Calculation (SAP R/3)3

SAP Business Information Warehouse (SAP BW) and

SAP Strategic Enterprise Management (SAP SEM)

The task of SAP Actual Calculation (cash accounting) is to

identify the cash ows in the operative systems according
to their source and application of funds and to document

Operative
R/3 System

Operative
R/3 System

Cash Accounting using SAP Actual Calculation

Figure 3.1 Overview of SAP Liquidity Planner

3.2 Technical Settings in SAP Actual Calculation

them in terms of liquidity items. Extractors are then used

In this section, well describe the technical aspects and re-

to extract the identied data into SAP BW where it is

quirements for using SAP Actual Calculation in cash ac-

made available for reporting. The results can be validated

counting. Since SAP Actual Calculation is not contained in

using the analysis reports available in SAP R/3. Figure 3.1

the R/3 standard version, it must be installed via a Plug-in

provides an overview of the architecture of SAP Liquidity

(PI) into the SAP R/3 system. The PI contains all applica-

Planner.

tion and customizing functionalities for cash accounting as

SAP BW/SEM contains the planning functionality where

well as extractors for transferring data into SAP BW. Since

the planning values are recorded. This planning data is

PI 2001.1, these functionalities are available for release

automatically updated in SAP BW and can be used for

status 4.5 B and higher. Depending on the release status

evaluation purposes in SAP BW Reporting (for example,

of your system, you must install one of the PIs listed be-

plan/plan comparison or plan/actual comparison), just

low. The following PIs were available in 2004:

like the actual data mentioned above. During planning,

Plug-in

2004_1_45B

different plan versions can be created for different fore-

Plug-in

2004_1_46B

casts using the version concept. Moreover, you can de-

Plug-in

2004_1_46C

ne rolling planning scenarios.

Plug-in

2004_1_470

Plug-in

2004_1_500

3 The concept of cash accounting is implemented with SAP Actual Calculation. Therefore, the terms cash accounting and actual calculation can
be used synonymously.

SAP provides updated versions of the Plug-ins every year.

For more information on Plug-ins, you should refer to the

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17

SAP Liquidity Planner: Liquidity Analysis Using SAP Actual Calculation

SAP Notes via the OSS under XX-PI. As of mySAP Enter-

4. In Table TRWPR, make the necessary entries in the FI

prise Resource Planning (mySAP ERP) 2004, the compo-

component or in any other active component under

nents of the PI are included in the package.

a sequence number that is greater than 45. Table 3.1

contains a list of these entries.

Case scenario: Check the technical settings and the

5. Save your entries as shown in Figure 3.4.

release status of your SAP R/3 system and install the

corresponding Plug-in.
Have the corresponding Plug-in installed in the R/3 system by your SAP basis team and save the following settings in the R/3 system:

Perform entries in Table TRWPR

Perform entry in Business Transaction Events

Initialize cash accounting tables

Activity

Time

Function Module

DOCUMENT

POST

FLQ_DOCUMENT_POST

DOCUMENT

PROJECT

FLQ_DOCUMENT_PROJECT

DOCUMENT

POST

FLQ_DOCUMENT_POST

DOCUMENT

PROJECT

FLQ_DOCUMENT_PROJECT

Table 3.1 Additional Entries in Table TRWPR

Throughout this section, we will describe step-by-step

how to perform the individual settings in SAP R/3.
First, you must make entries in Table TRWPR. To do
this, proceed as follows:
1. Call the table via Transaction SM31 (see Figure 3.2).

Figure 3.4 New Entries in Table TRWPR

Next, you must make the entry in the Business Transaction Events. To do this, go to Customizing and proceed as
follows:
1. You can nd the business events via the following in
the customizing path: Financial Accounting Financial Accounting Global Settings Business Transaction Events.
Figure 3.2 Table TRWPRInitial Screen

2. Using the menu path Settings P/S Modules of an

2. Click on the Maintain button. Now youre in Table

3. You can now use the New Entries button to make

SAP Appl. you can access the table.

TRWPR.
3. Click on the New Entries button. This enables you to

your entry (see Figure 3.5).

4. Enter the function module listed in Table 3.2.

make table entries (see Figure 3.3).

Publish/Subscribe Event

Function Module

00001110

FLQ_DOCUMENT_CHANGE

Table 3.2 Entry in Business Transaction Events

5. Save your entry (see Figure 3.5).

Figure 3.3 Entries in Table TRWPR

18

Galileo Press 2006. All rights reserved.

3.3 SAP Actual Calculation (Cash Accounting)

tomizing SAP Actual Calculation. Finally, you will learn

how to use SAP Actual Calculation.
Data Model and Master Data
SAP Actual Calculation (cash accounting) determines the
Figure 3.5 Entry in Business Transaction Events

cash ows that exist within a company code according to

their source, their application, and the time at which they

To initialize the system tables in SAP Actual Calculation,

occurred and their amount, and it documents them in a

you must start the program RFLQ_INITTBL.

liquidity item (LI). The central master data of the applica-

1. You can do this via System Services Reporting or

via Transaction se38.
2. Enter the report name RFLQ_INITTBL in the Program

tion consists of:

Company code

Liquidity item

eld (see Figure 3.6) and run the program by pressing

the F8 key.

Lets start with the company code. The actual data is determined per company code. The planning units in liquidity planning (SAP SEM/BW) correspond to the company
codes in cash accounting (SAP R/3).
Since the company codes are dened in nancial accounting, you merely have to activate the company codes
that are relevant for cash accounting. When you activate

Figure 3.6 ABAP EditorInitial Screen

these company codes, the documents that are provided

by nancial accounting are updated online in default

3. Then start the report by pressing the F8 key again, or

items (see the following two sections, Functionality

by clicking on the button, which is identied in Fig-

Overview and Customizing SAP Actual Calculation). To ac-

ure 3.7 (see arrow).

tivate the company codes, proceed as follows:

1. You can call Customizing via Transaction FLQCUST.
The menu path is: Basic Settings Activate Company Code.
2. Click on the New Entries button to go into the subsequent table and enter the company codes to be ac-

Figure 3.7 Starting Report RFLQ_INITTBL

tivated in the Co column and one number range

per company code (N) (see Figure 3.8).

Case scenario: Make the settings described above.

Once you have done this, you have completed the
technical preparations necessary for using the cash accounting functionality (SAP Actual Calculation).

3.3 SAP Actual Calculation (Cash Accounting)

Figure 3.8 Activating Company Codes

This section contains a detailed description of Customizing and the application functions in SAP Actual Calcula-

3. Save the entry (F8).

tion. After describing the data model and the master

data, well provide an overview of the functions in SAP

The number range is required for manual transfer postings

Actual Calculation. This is followed by a section on cus-

between liquidity items within SAP Actual Calculation.

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19

SAP Liquidity Planner: Liquidity Analysis Using SAP Actual Calculation

The number range object is called FD_IDENT and corre-

a level deeper than the lowest levelfrom which actual

sponds to the one that is used for payment advice notes

data is retrieved from the R/3 systemit is virtually im-

in Cash Management. To differentiate manually entered

possible to carry out meaningful plan/actual analyses.

documents in SAP Actual Calculation and Cash Manage-

When you dene the liquidity items (revenue and ex-

ment, we recommend that you use a separate number

penditure items), you must consider the following

range for Actual Calculation, for example, 99. You can

points:

create a separate number range via Transaction OT20.

Planability
Which revenue and expenditure items are to be

Case scenario: Create a number range. Activate the

company codes 1000, 2200, and 2600 with the cor-

planned in your company?

responding number ranges.

Planning depth
Down to what level do you want to plan in your
company? Make sure there is an adequate relation-

We will now introduce you to the concept of the liquidity

ship between the planning depth and the benet of

item. Liquidity items can be freely dened, however, the

denition should reect the nancial evaluation and plan-

the information gained!

Determinability of actual data

ning values. Furthermore, because these items are used

Determine to what extent you can evaluate the post-

in both cash accounting and liquidity planning, the de-

ing data for cash accounting.4

nitions of the liquidity items should be the same for both

areas. Only then will you be able to carry out meaningful

Recipients
Include all recipients of a cash accounting statement
(for example, accounting departments for cash ow

plan/actual analyses as shown in Table 3.3.

statements) and liquidity planning (for example, treaLiquidity Item

Actual Data

Liquidity Item
Planning Data

Wages and salaries

Wages and salaries

Auxiliary wages

Auxiliary wages

Social insurance contributions

Social insurance contributions

sury departments for liquidity analyses) at an early

stage.
Technically, the liquidity items consist of a ten-digit key
and a language-dependent short text and long text. You
can create liquidity items in Customizing of SAP Actual

Table 3.3 Structure of Plan/Actual AnalysesSample Evaluation

Calculation. To do this, proceed as follows:

1. Use the following menu path: Basic Settings Edit

Of course, you can combine and summarize the actual

data in BW Reporting in any given way as shown in Table
3.4 (see also Section 4.4).

Liquidity Item.
2. Click on the New Entries button to access the table
and dene the liquidity item (see Figure 3.9).

Actual Data

Planning
Data

Report

Salaries $100

Personnel
$200

Personnel
$225

Auxiliary
wages $50

Social ins. $75

Personnel
$200

Table 3.4 Summarization of Plan/Actual AnalysesSummarized

Evaluation

Figure 3.9 Dening the Liquidity Item

3. Save your entry.

When you dene the liquidity items in SAP Actual Calculation (cash accounting), you must consider the planning
depth, the reason being that if your planning extends to

20

Galileo Press 2006. All rights reserved.

4 In many implementation projects, this represents a real challenge primarily because of the quantity and complexity of the posting data.

3.3 SAP Actual Calculation (Cash Accounting)

Case scenario: Enter the liquidity items listed under

Case Scenario in the Appendix into the table. You now

which the bank subaccount is cleared (3a). Only now has

cash left the company.
Starting with the bank account, SAP Actual Calculation

have dened the liquidity items.

(cash accounting) traces the document chain back to the

source (in the example above this is the expense account)
FunctionalityOverview

and shows the outgoing cash amount of $100 in the li-

SAP Actual Calculation (cash accounting) analyzes the

quidity item LI Rent.

electronic or printed bank statement, or retrogradely the

posting data provided by accounting with regard to rev-

Bank

enues and expenditures, and documents the values in liquidity items. Wed like to further clarify this by using the

Bank subaccount

following two examples:

3a 100

Electronic bank statement

Invoice for the rent

Retrograde
Determination

100 3a

100 2a

Vendor
2a 100

100 1a

The electronic bank statement is read into the SAP system

where it is available any time, as shown in Figure 3.10.

Posting
Transactions

LI Rent

Rent

100

1a 100

Assignment Based on Account StatementsExample

Sample AG
New York
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Post office Manhattan
Account holder:
John Smith
Sort code: 66010075
Account no.:
179097-756
Statement no.:
00051
Currency:
USD
Statement date:
09/24/2000
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------CNr

Val.dte

Pst dte Note to payee

Posting text

BTC

Daybook no.

09/24
09/24
09/24

09/24
09/24
09/24

00004 09/24
00005 09/24

09/24
09/24

00006 09/24

09/24

CHECK DEPOSIT
Doc. 1500000285
AS 8899100 / X4711
WorldTEL GmbH
Check 1500000282
Paid on 06/03/YY
Pmt no. 17100008111
CAcct 3 %
Paid on 06/12/YY

DEBIT MEMO

Telephone costs WorldTEL

070
004
005
001
051

Based on the bank account information, cash accounting

Amount

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

00001
00002
00003

Figure 3.11 PostingsRetrograde Determination

determines the liquidity item via assignment reports that

Beginning balance 33,900.00

--------------------------------------------30,000.00
3,300.00
386.16

are discussed in more detail further down in this section.

documents in a document chain (in the example above:

600,00
10,700.00

051
1,000,000,000.00
------------------------------------------------------------Total
Debit
4,286.16
Total
Credit
1,000,040,700.00
------------------------------------------------------------Ending balance 1,000,070,314.00

Figure 3.10 Electronic Bank Statement

For the assignment mechanisms to become effective, the

the bank subaccount and the vendor account) must be
cleared. The linking elements between these accounts are
the clearing documents that enable you to determine the
liquidity item.
The main component of the process consists of the as-

The assignment mechanism that reads out the electronic

signment mechanisms that can use both the data from

bank statement evaluates this according to dened rules

the electronic bank statement and the data from nancial

(see the next section, Customizing SAP Actual Calculation)

accounting. Both data sources can be used separately or

and assigns the payment amount to a liquidity item. Such

simultaneously. The cash accounting results are then ex-

a rule could look as follows: If the note to the payee reads

tracted into SAP BW: Figure 3.12 illustrates the overall

WorldTEL and the posting text says DEBIT MEMO,

process of cash accounting.

the corresponding amount is to be documented in the

liquidity item Telephone.

Customizing SAP Actual Calculation

Our second example is based on an incoming invoice

You must dene additional settings in Customizing so

for the rent. The posted invoice (1a) is cleared through a

that you can use the functions in SAP Actual Calculation.

payment run. After that the amount can be found in a

In this section, we will describe how you can perform the

bank subaccount for outgoing payments (2a). Up until

following customizing activities:

now no cash has left the company. Then the bank ac-

Storing global data

count is debited and the transaction is posted during

Dening actual accounts

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21

SAP Liquidity Planner: Liquidity Analysis Using SAP Actual Calculation

Figure 3.13 CustomizingStoring Global Data

ings from bank to bankdont represent real cash

Figure 3.12 Overall Process of Cash Accounting

ows in the sense of cash accounting, these transactions are shown in separate default items to make

Installing assignment mechanisms

things clearer. In the INIT_TRANS default item, a

Dening query sequences

bank transfer is shown with the value zero, since it is

Allocating assignments from FI information

the same amount that leaves one bank account and

Dening query-relevant G/L accounts

arrives in the other account.

3. If the posting date is supposed to correspond to the

At the beginning of Section 3.3, we mentioned that when

payment date, check the Posting Date eld in the

you activate a company code the documents are updated

Store global data view. This setting ensures that in

online. This is the case whenever postings are made to a

cash accounting the payment date is updated to the

bank account (see Figure 3.11) or to an actual account

posting date. In cash accounting, the term date de-

(see the information in the following sections). These up-

scribes the payment date. The payment date is de-

dated documents are also referred to as actual docu-

rived from the value date shown in the account state-

ments. At the time a document is updated, a default

ment as that point in time when the business trans-

item is assigned to each actual document. You can store

action that affected the cash ow has taken place.

a maximum of four default items (see customizing item

4. If you check the Business Area eld, the data in the

Dene global data in Figure 3.13). The default item determines whether the payment is an incoming or outgo-

business area is also updated.

5. Save your entries.

ing payment, or if it is a bank transfer.

To store the global data, you should proceed as fol-

Then, you can dene actual accounts. Cash accounting

lows: Use the menu path Basic Settings Dene global

considers all accounts that serve as a basis for the cre-

data or call Transaction FLQC2 (see Figure 3.13). Make

ation of actual documents, which is the beginning of the

the following entries in the Liquidity Calculation Global

cash ow. For instance, these accounts can be bank ac-

Settings tab:

counts or cash accounts. For the remainder of the book,

1. Enter the default items for an incoming payment in

well refer to them as actual accounts. Depending on the

the eld N-Assign.In.Pmt (non-assigned incoming

algebraic sign that appears (debits () for incoming pay-

payments). Then enter the default item for non-as-

ments or credits (+) for outgoing payments), a line item

signed outgoing payments in the eld N-Assign.

posted in these accounts appears in one of the two de-

OutPmt.

fault items.

2. In the Inc.Transfer and Outg. Transfer elds, you can

In cash accounting, all accounts that are dened as

enter the item INIT_TRANS. As bank transferspost-

house bank in Table T012K are automatically identied as

actual accounts. Thus, documents that are posted to

5 See SAP Note 412605.

22

Galileo Press 2006. All rights reserved.

house bank are updated without having to make any en-

3.3 SAP Actual Calculation (Cash Accounting)

tries in the subsequent table. You only need to make an

and Information Acquisition from Bank Statement Informa-

entry there if you want to dene additional accounts as

tion).

actual accounts.

The mechanism From bank statement information evaluates the items shown in a manual or electronic bank

Case scenario: The IDES company wants to dene the

statement. You can nd the necessary customizing entries

cash account 100000 that applies to all company

under Assignment From Bank Statement (see Figure

codes as an additional actual account.

3.15).

To dene additional actual accounts, go to Customizing

and select Dene other actual accounts or use Transaction FLQC4 (see Figure 3.14). Make the following settings:
1. Enter the chart of accounts and under G/L account
no., enter account 100000, as shown in Figure 3.14.

Figure 3.15 CustomizingAssignment From Bank Statement

In the next step, you must dene the query sequence

From Bank Statement. This query sequence is relevant
for the assignment mechanism From bank statement
information and is described in more detail.
Figure 3.14 Dening Other Actual Accounts

1. Double-click on Dene Query Sequences (see Figure

3.15).

2. If you want to exclude an account that has been dened as house bank in Table T012K from the status of
an actual account, enter the account into the table
and check the eld Not Actual.

2. This will open the screen shown in Figure 3.16. Click

on the New Entries button to dene the query sequence and save your entry (see Figure 3.16).
3. Save the entry.

3. Save the entry.

Now that we have completed the activities Store global
data and Dene actual accounts, lets consider the item
Install assignment mechanisms. In the Customizing area
Assignment, you can make the settings for the three as-

Figure 3.16 Query Sequence Bank Statement

signment mechanisms that determine the liquidity item

in the application. These assignment mechanisms are:

Because you can dene query sequences for any mecha-

From bank statement information

nism, the system identies the data that has been deter-

From FI information

mined by a query sequence by its origin. In our example,

From invoices

the identier B was set in the Orig column (see Figure

3.16).

For each assignment mechanism, query sequences are

In addition, it is advisable to assign query sequences to

dened that form the framework for the queries within

bank accounts. Since it is common for several bank state-

the application. You can restrict the query sequences to

ments with varied information from different banks to be

specic company codes. We will now describe the three

read into the system, it makes sense to dene a separate

assignment mechanisms and the corresponding query se-

query sequence for each bank or even for each bank

quences. The tasks to be performed by queries and query

account. Each bank account can be uniquely identied by

sequences are described in more detail in Section 3.4

a restriction to the company code, the house-bank ID,

(see Information Acquisition from Assignment Mechanisms

and the house-bank-account ID.

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23

SAP Liquidity Planner: Liquidity Analysis Using SAP Actual Calculation

You can make the assignment as follows:

1. Call Transaction FLQC6 in Customizing. Make the following settings:
2. Click on the New Entries button.
3. Complete the table by lling out the elds CoCd,
House bk, Acct ID and Seq. (see Figure 3.17). By
making these entries, you can ensure the direct relationship between a bank account and a query sequence.
4. Save your entries.

Figure 3.17 Query Sequence for Bank Account

The second mechanism well describe is the Assignment

from FI information. This Assignment From FI Information analyzes both the subledger accounts and the G/L
accounts. You can nd the necessary customizing entries
under Assignment From FI Information (see Figure
3.18).

Figure 3.19 Customizing FI Settings

corresponding documents in the document chain have

been cleared entirely. Until that time, the complete
amount will remain in the original liquidity item.
Next, you can check the N:M Treatment eld (see Figure 3.19). In accounting, it is commonplace that several
bank statement postings (N) are cleared collectively with
a multitude of postings (M) in the bank subaccounts. This

Figure 3.18 Customizing from FI Information

is referred to as N:M Treatment. In this case, it isnt possible for the assignment mechanism to retrace the docu-

You can make the settings for the FI mechanisms in Cus-

ment chains without any additional effort. Therefore, no

tomizing in the Settings for FI Mechanisms tab; alterna-

liquidity items can be determined. If you check the N:M

tively, you can use Transaction FLQC13. Figure 3.19

Treatment eld, a workaround is activated in order to

shows the options available in this customizing tab.

avoid this problem. This workaround enables you to re-

In the upper part of the screen, you can make several

settings under First Step.

trace the document chains.6

If you check the Info Accts in Appl. eld, the assign-

If you check the Part. Reassign. (partial reassignment)

ment of the G/L accounts to liquidity items (see Dene

eld, an assignment to a liquidity item occurs even if the

Query Relevant G/L Accounts) wont be carried out in

payment has been made only partially. The actual docu-

Customizing, but rather in the application (Transaction

ment is divided temporarily and the partial amounts paid

FLQINFACC).

are assigned to the determined liquidity item, whereas

the remaining amount stays in the original liquidity item.

In the central part of the screen, you can see the setting options under Second Step.

If you dont check the Part. Reassign. eld, a complete

assignment will not take place until the payment and the

24

Galileo Press 2006. All rights reserved.

6 See SAP Note 791744.

3.3 SAP Actual Calculation (Cash Accounting)

The setting Evaluation of Goods/Invoice Lines (Sec-

In the customizing item Dene G/L Accounts Rele-

ond Step) is relevant only in the second step of the

vant for Query (Transaction FLQC7) that follows, you can

mechanism From Invoices. However, we will describe

assign all accounts that are relevant for the source and

this function as you can make the entry now.

application of funds (actual data) to the corresponding

Goods invoices or invoices with a purchase order ref-

liquidity items. These accounts represent the nal result

erence are usually posted via the GR/IR clearing account

of the liquidity analysis. Accordingly, outgoing or incom-

(goods receipt/invoice receipt account). Because the GR/

ing cash is shown in the corresponding liquidity item.

IR account doesnt provide sufcient information for cash

This assignment constitutes the actual link between -

accounting, you should create a reference to the expense

nancial accounting and cash accounting.

accounts and material stock accounts. You can do this in

1. Go to the table Liquidity Calculation Accounts

the second step of the mechanism (see From Invoices in

Information Acquisition from Financial Accounting in Section 3.4). However, since the GR/IR account is often

with Assignment Information and enter the liquidity

items specied in the case scenario (see Figure 3.20).
2. Save the entry.

cleared with a large time delay and also, since many items
are often cleared with just one clearing document, you

The Further eld has the function to consider all clearing

might encounter performance problems. To avoid these

documents from G/L accounts during the determination

potential problems, check the Order Informat. eld. If

of document chains in the From Invoices mechanism.

you do, the GR/IR account is replaced by the purchase

We will describe this in more detail in the following sec-

order (PO) account (for POs with account assignment), or

tion using the GR/IR account.

by the material stock or expense account (for POs without account assignment).

Because the GR/IR account doesnt provide any information that is relevant to cash accounting, you must es-

For POs without account assignment, the account de-

tablish a relationship with the downstream accounts. The

termination account can be derived in materials manage-

document chain that traces the application of the funds

ment by using the standard transaction key BSX. If you

begins with the bank account and leads you via the ven-

use a different key, you can enter it in the Account Key

dor account and GR/IR account to the material stock ac-

eld.
In the bottom part of the screen (see Figure 3.19), you
can dene the Reduction of Document Cluster in FI.
Typically, a company doesnt always post all its posting
data in a linear manner (for example, transfer and retro-

count Raw Materials. For cash accounting, the material

stock account is the key source of information since it can
now assign the amount of the outgoing payment sourcerelated to the liquidity item, in this case, raw materials.

active postings of accounts like transitory items) accord-

Without the Further eld, the assignment mechanism

ing to cash accounting. Additionally, often many clearing

would trace only the document chains back to account

transactions are linked to other clearing transactions.

159999 because the corresponding liquidity item would

These two facts can both lead to substantial problems in

be found due to the assignment. Consequently, the value

cash accounting. As a workaround, you can use your own

would be shown in the liquidity item Tech. Pos. GR/IR.

exit modules that can be dened during an implementa-

However, as this assignment is not clear, the Further eld

tion project.

is checked. If the eld is checked, the mechanism traces

the cash ow down to the account Raw Materials 1 and

Figure 3.20 Assigning Accounts to Liquidity Items

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25

SAP Liquidity Planner: Liquidity Analysis Using SAP Actual Calculation

then shows the amount in the liquidity item Raw Materials. If you use the GR/IR account in your company, you
should check the eld, as shown in Figure 3.20 in account 159999.
Case scenario: Assign G/L accounts to the corresponding liquidity items. Use the data provided in the
Appendix. Its important to know that you can assign

Figure 3.22 Customizing the Mechanism From Invoices

a G/L account to a liquidity item only once, and that

postings (accounts receivable and accounts payable ac-

several G/L accounts can be assigned to one liquidity

counting) are handled separately.

item. For example, in Figure 3.20, the account 800002

1. You can nd the necessary customizing activities un-

could also have been assigned to LI 110000, but not

der the following menu path: Assignment From In-

to both liquidity items.

voices (see Figure 3.22).

2. The customizing items Settings for FI Mechanisms
and G/L Accounts Relevant for Query are the same

Case scenario: Assign the liquidity item 310000 In-

as those in From FI Information. You dont need to

coming payment from borrowing.

set them again.

3. Using the Customizing item Dene Query

In the customizing item, Dene Query Sequences (Trans-

Sequences, you can dene query sequences for the

action FLQ8), you can dene the query sequences neces-

second step of this mechanism. These sequences are

sary for the assignment mechanism From FI Information.

marked as D in the system. Since the process is

These sequences are marked as C by the system.

similar to Transaction FLQ8, we wont repeat it here.

1. Click on the New Entries button (see Figure 3.21).

2. Make the entries shown in Figure 3.21.

Tools

3. Save the entry.

Under the Tools node in Customizing, you will nd three

reports that support your cash accounting activities:

Figure 3.21 Dening the Query Sequence From FI Information

Delete Flow Data

Rebuild Flow Data

Analyze FI Assignments

Lets take a brief look at these reports.

Although the tables in cash accounting arent compre-

The third mechanism introduced in this section is called

hensive (see the following section, Tables), you should

From Invoices. From Invoices analyzes the posting data

regularly delete transaction or ow data that is no longer

from vendor and customer accounts as well as the G/L

used. You can run the Delete Flow Data report (RFLQ_

accounts in two steps ( see Information Acquisition from

DELETE) as follows:

Financial Accounting in Section 3.4 ). In the rst step, the

1. Call the report via Transaction FLQC9.

mechanism traces the payments to the customer and

2. Enter the restrictive information for the dataset to be

vendor accounts as well as to the query-relevant G/L accounts. Starting with the customers and vendors, the

deleted in the individual elds (see Figure 3.23).

3. Run the report (F8).

mechanism evaluates the expense and revenue lines of

the invoices in the second step.

You can restrict the deletion process to individual items

In cash accounting, it is important that document

so that you only lose the assignment history. The totals

chains for G/L account postings and subledger account

records can be excluded from the deletion process so

26

Galileo Press 2006. All rights reserved.

3.3 SAP Actual Calculation (Cash Accounting)

Tables
The most important tables in cash accounting are the totals table and the line items table. In the following sections, well briey describe the structure of these tables
and the most important elds.
The most important elds of the totals table are (see
Figure 3.24):
BUKRS

Company code

LQPOS

Liquidity item

TWAER

Transaction currency

LQDAY

Payment date

that they remain in the table for future analysis. You

ZBUKR

Paying company code

should always run the report in the background.

LQTYPE

Liquidity type

Figure 3.23 Deleting Flow Data

Now lets look at the Rebuild Flow Data report: You

GSBER

Business area

can use the program RFLQ_REBUILD (Transaction

WRBTR

Amount in local currency

FLQC10) to retroactively transfer old posting documents

DMBTR

Amount in transaction currency

from nancial accounting into cash accounting. All postings that refer to bank accounts and actual accounts are

The most important elds of the line items table are (see

updated as actual documents. As with online updates,

Figure 3.25):

the values of the documents are shown in the global de-

ZBUKR

Paying company code

fault items. The assignment mechanisms process the re-

BELNR

Document number (of the

constructed documents in the same way as the directly

accounting document)

updated documents. You should run this report in the

GJAHR

Fiscal year

background.

BUZEI

Posting item

It is used whenever you need data from the previous

BUKRS

Company code

year or years for comparative analyses, or when you acti-

GSBER

Business area

vate cash accounting during the course of the year for

LQPOS

Liquidity item

which you need the entire year as a data basis.

LQORIG

Source symbol of the assignment

The third report wed like to draw your attention to is

mechanism

the Analyze FI Assignment report. This report (RFLQ_FI-

HKONT

G/L account

CHAIN) that you can call via Transaction FLQC14 sup-

LQDAY

Payment date

ports you in understanding and implementing the assign-

TWAER

Transaction currency

ment mechanism From FI Information. Depending on

WRBTR

Amount in local currency

the selection criteria you have specied, the report lists

DMBTR

Amount in transaction currency

actual lines and the documents related to the actual lines

with or without liquidity items.

Figure 3.24 Totals Table in SAP Actual CalculationFLQSUM

Figure 3.25 Line Items TableFLQITEMFI

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27

Index

Cash account 15

Document update 75

ABAP editor 19

Cash accounting 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 14, 19,

Drilldown report 78

ABAP report 28
Account-based integration 8

22, 28, 75, 79

Cash Budget Management 5, 71, 72, 75,

Accounting 8, 11

77

Cash inflow 8, 13

Electronic bank statement 21

Cash Management 5, 9, 10

Element definition 73

Account assignment type 9

Cash outflow 8, 13, 14

External capital 6

Accrual accounting 5

Characteristic 49, 50, 52, 53, 54, 56, 73

Extraction 64, 66

Accounts receivable and accounts

payable accounting 26

Actual account 22, 23

value 73

Extractor 17

Actual Calculation 14, 17, 19, 21, 27, 35

Chart of accounts 8

Actual data 14, 41, 64, 75, 76

Clearing document 21, 28

Administrator Workbench 41, 64

Clearing transaction 25

Allocating assignments from FI informa-

Commitment item 72, 73, 74, 75, 76

Financial accounting 8, 9, 19, 21, 31

Communications structure 51, 64

Financial accounting-related liquidity 5

Analysis report 36

Company code 19, 72

Financial management area 71, 72

Application menu 28

Company structure 71, 76

Financing requirement 7

Application of funds 9

Consistency check 37

Fiscal year variant 72

Assignment 23

Corporate accounting 13

FI Document Chains 37

from FI information 24

Corporate Finance Management 28

Flow-of-funds analysis 5, 6, 7

mechanism 21, 23, 28

Cost accounting 5

Flow-of-funds planning 6

Creditworthiness 8

Flow data 26, 27

Crystal Reports 40

FM area 72, 75

Customizing 18, 19, 21, 22, 24, 71

From Bank Statement 23, 30

tion 22

B
Bank account 23
Bank statement 23, 30, 31
item 29

From Bank Statement Information 23, 29

From FI Information 24, 26, 27, 33, 34,

35, 37

Basic InfoCube 44

DataSource 40

Buffer item 35

Data flow 45, 51

Business Area 22

Data model 19, 28, 36

Business Content 40, 41, 42

Data target 40

Business transaction code 30

Default item 19, 22

G/L account 26, 32

Business Transaction Events 18

Defining

G/L accounts list 37

From Invoices 26, 35

actual accounts 21

Global treasury 13, 14

query-relevant G/L accounts 22

GR/IR clearing account 25

query sequences 22, 26

Case scenario 13, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23,

26, 31, 34, 36, 45, 52, 54, 55, 56, 59
Cash flow 5, 6, 7, 10
accounting 5

Deletion process 26
Determinability 20

Direct determination 9

Having an effect on liquidity 9

Document chain 21, 24, 31

Having no effect on liquidity 9

statement 5, 7, 81

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85

Index

Hierarchy 52

House bank 22, 30

N:M Treatment 24

Rebuild 27

Net cash flow 13

Recipients 20

New Formula 68

Release status 17

Number range 19, 36

Reporting 14, 40, 43, 71, 77

I
IAS 5

Report Painter 73

IDES 13
IDES system 15

platform 14

object 20

Retrograde determination 21

Implementing SAP Liquidity Planner 13

Indirect cash flow statement 14

ODS object 43

InfoCube 43, 44, 48, 52, 66

Online update 27, 28, 32

InfoObject 40, 43

Overall process 21

SAP Actual Calculation see

InfoProvider 43
Information System 28, 36, 71

Actual Calculation
SAP Business Content see

InfoSource 40, 64, 65

Insolvency 81

Partial reassignment 24

SAP BW 14, 17, 39

Plan/actual

SAP BW-BPS 54

risk 6

Business Content

Installing assignment mechanisms 22

analysis 14, 20

SAP Liquidity Planner 6, 17, 39

Internal financing potential 6, 7

comparison 17, 71, 72

SAP R/3 3, 14, 17, 65

deviation 69

SAP R/3 Enterprise 71

K
Key figure 57

Planability 20

SAP SEM 3, 14, 17, 39

Planned data 14

SAP SEM-BPS 48, 53, 54

Planning 76, 79

Scheduler 66

area 54, 55, 56, 61, 74

Solvency 6, 7

data 41, 44, 60

Source of funds 9

depth 20

Source symbol 36

Layout Builder 54

function 54, 55, 61, 76

Storing global data 21, 22

Lead column 73

functionality 17

Strategic liquidity 7

interval 53

System integration 17

Line item 28

layout 48, 53, 54, 59, 60, 73, 74

System table 19

Line items table 27, 29, 36

level 55, 56, 57

Liquidity

package 55, 58, 61

structure 74

analysis 25

process 14, 15, 79

forecast 10

profile 74

Test run 28

item 15, 19, 20, 25, 30, 31, 32, 35

screen 61

Tools 26

planning 3, 5, 6, 14, 39, 63, 71, 77

unit 53

Totals list 37

relationship 7

value 74

Totals table 27, 31, 36, 71

workbench 55

Total cash flow 7

Plan version 74, 75

Transactional InfoCube 44

Plug-in 17, 81

Transaction Events 18

Manual transfer posting 19

Posting data 25

Transfer posting 36

Master data 19, 45, 46, 47, 49, 75

Posting transaction 31

Transfer rule 65

Modeling 40

Profit 6

Transfer structure 51, 65

Multi-planning area 54
MultiCube 41, 45

Treasury 71, 72, 73, 74, 76, 77

MultiProviders 43

mySAP ERP 71

Query 32, 40, 67, 68, 69

sequence 23, 30, 37

86

Galileo Press 2006. All rights reserved.

U
Update rule 50

Index

V
Variable 40
Version concept 17

W
Web Template 40

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87