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Account xxxx Requires an Assignment to a CO

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Mann asked Apr 30, 2012 | Replies (7)

Hello CO Experts,
When a document is being posted, system gives a message that A/c xxxx requires an
assignment to a CO object. It is basically requiring you to enter a cost center or other CO
object (like sales order, production order etc.) this is because a cost element is created for the
P&L account. Accounting have created several P&L accounts without cost elements in the past
and so they are able to post documents without cost center but assign profit center to the
documents directly. To my understanding cost elements have to be created for every P&L
accounts so that the cost / revenue is carried over to controlling. What are the impacts of P&L
accounts created without cost elements and how possibly can we fix this issue?
Please advise.
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Best Answer
Updated

Hello! First off, if you have activated CO, there really isn't anything to fix. It's the way SAP
works, and you would not want a P&L account without a cost or profit center attached to it. If
you had that situation, it would throw off your P&L reporting out of CO.
That said, typically, any type of expense account (cost element type 1) should have a
corresponding "cost collector" in the form of a cost center, internal order (including Plant
Maintenance Work Orders), or WBS element from Project System. Any revenue or cost of sale
account (cost element type 11) should have a collector in the form of a Profit Center. Balance
sheet accounts don't usually have cost or profit centers associated with them, but you can
define balance sheet accounts that can be transferred to profit center accounting.
When posting, cost elements will not require a profit center - it will be supplied by the cost
center on the posting - and revenue elements will not require a cost center.

Remember that you are writing to 2 different ledgers, one for the expense and one for revenue
and cost of sale, unless you're using the New G/L.
- Lou
Original answer by Louis Corato
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Apr 30, 2012

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All Replies (7)

Best Answer

Louis Corato

replied Apr 30, 2012

Hello! First off, if you have activated CO, there really isn't anything to fix. It's the way SAP
works, and you would not want a P&L account without a cost or profit center attached to it. If
you had that situation, it would throw off your P&L reporting out of CO.
That said, typically, any type of expense account (cost element type 1) should have a
corresponding "cost collector" in the form of a cost center, internal order (including Plant
Maintenance Work Orders), or WBS element from Project System. Any revenue or cost of sale
account (cost element type 11) should have a collector in the form of a Profit Center. Balance
sheet accounts don't usually have cost or profit centers associated with them, but you can
define balance sheet accounts that can be transferred to profit center accounting.
When posting, cost elements will not require a profit center - it will be supplied by the cost
center on the posting - and revenue elements will not require a cost center.
Remember that you are writing to 2 different ledgers, one for the expense and one for revenue
and cost of sale, unless you're using the New G/L.
- Lou
0

Mann replied Apr 30, 2012

Hello Lou,

Thank you for the quick reply. Let me try to explain my issue more clearly. I understand what
you have explained and that's the same base of my concern.
Like I mentioned initially, some GL accounts were created in the past but no cost elements
were created for those GL accounts. So, I am concerned that the values of documents for such
GL accounts are not flowing correctly to CO, since cost elements are not created for them.
And, since the cost elements are not created, accounting team were using this as an
opportunity to post documents without cost center (since system, in this case will allow to post
without cost object) and they were manually assigning profit center to those documents, while
posting. My concern is that, this way of posting is incorrect and that a profit center should only
be assigned on a FI document through a cost center or through other assignment and not
manually.
Please clarify.
Thank you,
Nathan
0

Louis Corato

replied Apr 30, 2012

Ah. I understand. If you think there are documents which have no CO component, there is a
program that can be run that will check to see what's "missing" in CO and another one for
PCA. I know that OKBA and IKE8 can be used to post missing documents to cost center and
profit center accounting, respectively. I apologize, but I cannot remember what the programs
are that you run to find the document numbers to put into the transactions.
Perhaps one of the other experts can shed some light on those programs.
- Lou
0

helenrrico replied May 1, 2012

Not all P&L accounts need cost elements. This object is necessary only for cost related items.

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0

Mann replied May 3, 2012

Thank you Helen. As you can infer, I am new in to CO. Your point have given me additional tips
to ponder upon this topic. I like to know if you would be willing to spare some time in your busy
schedule to perform some mentoring / advising?
0

anurag saxena replied May 4, 2012

Please maintain the relationship for cost element and profit ctr /cost ctr in
OKB9 for P&L A/c.
0

Louis Corato

replied May 8, 2012

With a little digging, I found the programs that do the comparisons. Try transactions
S_ALR_87013603 or 3604. Those reports will show you what's missing in CCA or PCA. From
there, you will have the document numbers you need to supply the transactions I listed.