Useful Documents To Introduce You SAP New General Ledger Features

The Odyssey Quarterly Jan – Mar, 2007
www.OdysseyBCS.com (416) 414 - 6350
Highlights of the New General Ledger
With the advent of mySAP ERP 2004, the financials in SAP have been vastly enhanced to
meet various customer needs. Not only are new features introduced in the general
ledger, but some existing functionalities within other areas have been modified to
support the New General Ledger (GL).
Ledgers
Additional ledgers are now a feature of the general ledger, incorporating Special
Purpose Ledger functionality into the general ledger space. A single user interface now
makes data entry much easier for posting specific entries to these additional ledgers and
supports parallel accounting.
Segmental Accounting
Segment is a new organizational object introduced to assist companies in meeting their
segmental reporting needs. A characteristic of the New GL, segment operates in a similar
fashion to business areas, but has the advantage of being directly associated to profit
centers and therefore, can produce accurate segmental reporting information,
regardless of the business partners involved. They typically represent lines of businesses or
geographic regions of an organization.
Parallel Accounting
Parallel accounting has been enhanced with the introduction of “Accounting Principles”.
These are directly associated with ledgers, thereby providing a great opportunity to
leverage the power of ledgers when defining your parallel accounting needs.
Document Splitting
Document splitting allows you to display documents using a differentiated representation
in the New GL. In essence, what document splitting does is assign selected
characteristics to all line items in a financial document, which may include business areas,
functional areas, profit centers and/or segments, or any combination of these. Zero-
balancing documents facilitate the delivery of balanced financial statements below the
company code level, by ensuring that every financial document nets to zero by the
defined characteristics.
Real-Time Integration
Real-time integration replaces the CO reconciliation ledger. The purpose of the real-time
integration is to ensure that movements between predefined New General Ledger
characteristics in Controlling (CO) are capture in the New GL, for example profit centers.
Profit Center Accounting

Profit centers are a characteristic of the New GL. For new installs, it is recommended that
profit center accounting no longer be activated and that profit centers be used within
the New GL. For existing customers using profit center accounting (PCA), SAP does not
recommend prolonged parallel use of the ledger 8A. As of release mySAP ERP 2004,
The above article, wholly or in parts, may not be reproduced or distributed in any format without the consent of the author.
Failure to comply represents a willful copyright infringement and may result in legal actions © 2007
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The Odyssey Quarterly Jan – Mar, 2007
much of the inherent functionality in PCA is no longer available. We refer you to SAP
Note No. 826357 for a detailed discussion on the functionality of PCA in the New GL.
Cost of Sales Accounting

Cost of sales accounting is now managed in financial accounting and is represented by
the characteristic Functional Area. No change to the functionality has occurred.
Allocations
Allocations are now supported in the New GL. Any characteristic of the New GL may be
allocated using either distributions or assessments. Assessment general ledger accounts
must be created to support the assessment process. Allocations can be performed for
both actual and plan values.
Planning
Planning can now be carried out in the New GL. The planning process is similar to that of
planning in Controlling. Since planning creates postings in the New GL, the posting
period variant must be open to facilitate updates to future periods.
Technical Updates
The two main financial tables, BKPF (document header) and BSEG (line item details),
remain intact. In order for postings to flow to the New GL, they must pass through these
two tables. In addition, there are two new key tables that represent the New GL –
FAGLFLEXT, the new totals table, and FAGLFLEXA, the new line item table.
Odyssey Business Consulting Services Inc. have highlighted some of the key features that
can be found in the New GL. Look for our upcoming editions of the Odyssey Quarterly for
further discussion on each of these topics. We welcome your feedback; please contact
us to share your thoughts and ideas.
Stuart Paradies, CA, CA-IT

Odyssey Business Consulting Services Inc.
Stuart Paradies is the Solution Leader of Odyssey Business Consulting Services Inc., a
Canadian-based consulting firm providing project management and integration
expertise in SAP solutions. We specialize in mySAP ERP Financials including the
implementation and migration to the New General Ledger. We are recognized as the
foremost professionals in providing new and sought after functionalities, such as,
segmental reporting, parallel currencies and document splitting capabilities in mySAP
ERP2004 and mySAP ERP2005.
Visit us online www.OdysseyBCS.com or call (416) 414 - 6350 for your solution today!
The above article, wholly or in parts, may not be reproduced or distributed in any format without the consent of the author.
Failure to comply represents a willful copyright infringement and may result in legal actions © 2007
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The Odyssey Quarterly Apr – Jun, 2008
Segment Reporting in the New General Ledger
With the introduction of international accounting reporting standards (IFRS), segment

reporting is now a more wide-spread requirement. IFRS distinguishes between two
reporting formats, both of which must be reported – one as the primary and the other as
the secondary. These are identified as business segments and geographical segments
(IAS14). SAP has now extended its capabilities to support these requirements and these
are briefly highlighted below.
Options Available for Segment Reporting
Previously organizations may have utilized the special purpose ledger to obtain a level of
automation to support segment reporting. As of mySAP ERP2004 / ECC5.0 segment
reporting has been introduced into the financial accounting space.
Segment Reporting
Segment is a new account assignment object that behaves similarly to business areas
and profit centers. These can be defined either as a geographical region or as a line of
business. SAP offers other functionality to facilitate reporting on both dimensions. Once
defined, segments can either be entered manually in financial postings or automatically
assigned through profit centers or derivations using business add-ins (BAdI’s).
To use segment reporting, both the profit center and segmentation scenarios must be
activated in the New G/L. Also, in order to achieve a fully balanced set of financial
statements at the segment level, document splitting should be activated for the segment
dimension.
In addition to document splitting being activated, zero-balancing should also be turned

on. This ensures that every financial posting zero-balances at the segment level. A
constant should also be defined where no segment value can be determined by the
splitting process. A constant provides a default value in these cases.
Reporting
SAP provides a new reporting structure out of the New G/L, which makes reporting off
the segment characteristic possible. Drill-down capability is available and reports are
generated from the new standard library 0FL. Report painter can also be used to create
custom reports to support segment reporting.
Look for our future editions of the Odyssey Quarterly for further discussion on these topics
and more. We welcome your feedback; please contact us to share your thoughts and
ideas.

The abov e article, wholly or in parts, may not be reproduced or distributed in any format without the consent of the author.
Failure to comply represents a willful copyright infringement and may result in legal actions 2007
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The Odyssey Quarterly Apr – Jun, 2008
ERP2004 and mySAP ERP2005 / ERP 6.0.
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The Odyssey Quarterly Jul – Sep, 2008
Account Assignments in the New General Ledger
SAP provides many options for maintaining the automatic assignment of GL accounts.
This article briefly highlights some of this new functionality available in the New G/L. This
involves knowledge of configuration to maintain these settings.
Intercompany Clearing Accounts
As in previous versions, the assignment of intercompany clearing accounts is made

possible and can be found in the real-time integration of controlling (CO) section.
Accounts for intercompany receivables and payables are defined and permits the use
of cross-company code functionality.
Real-Time Integration Account Determination
As of release mySAP ERP2004 / ECC5.0 new functionality has been introduced which
replaces the CO reconciliation ledger – real-time integration. Any CO postings made
that impact a FI characteristic are updated in FI in real-time. In order to create a FI
posting, an account is defined in this section. The system then uses this predefined
account to create the automatic posting.
Reconciliation Ledger / Real-Time Integration Substitution
Should the single real-time integration account be insufficient to capture CO postings, a

substitution rule can be implemented that would substitute the default account with
another based on rules that are defined.
Zero-Balancing Clearing Account
In order to support zero-balancing, a default account is assigned and is used by the

system to post the automatic clearing entry when performing balancing at the
characteristic level.
Allocation Clearing Account
Allocations in the New G/L could generate an entry that crosses characteristics. In that
case an allocation clearing account is defined. This is typically the same account as the
zero-balancing account discussed above.
Other Account Assignment Settings
Other account assignments still exist in the New G/L and include clearing, foreign
currency postings, bank account settings and fixed asset account determination.
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ideas.

ERP2004 and mySAP ERP2005 / ERP 6.0.
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Parallel Accounting using the New General Ledger
Parallel Accounting is not new to SAP; however, this functionality has been streamlined
with the introduction of the New General Ledger (GL). Additional ledgers are now an
inherit element of the general ledger and greatly support parallel accounting needs.
Parallel Accounting
Parallel Accounting is the vehicle that supports multiple accounting principles in your
organization. Accounting principle reporting requirements could include local Generally
Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), US GAAP, International Financial Reporting
Standards (IFRS), or International Accounting Standards (IAS). SAP provides 3 options to
portray different accounting principles and these are: (a) additional accounts, (b)
additional company code, or (c) additional ledgers.
Additional Accounts
This option is useful for minor deviations in reporting requirements between varying
accounting principles and requires the creation of “special accounts” within the
operating chart of accounts. The downside is that this could result in a large set of
accounts in the chart.
Additional Company Code
Difference postings are made in an additional company code and reporting covers all
company codes. There are significant limitations to using this approach and SAP does
not recommend it for new implementations.
Additional Ledgers
This is a new feature of the New GL and provides a specific view of a database table.
Data recorded in the general ledger is recorded in multiple ledgers. The ledgers are
assigned to specific Accounting Principles and difference postings can be recorded to
specific ledgers through a single user interface. Foreign currency valuation methods can
be assigned to specific ledgers and fixed asset accounting for various accounting
principles is managed through the use of depreciation areas and ledgers.
Accounting Principles
Accounting Principles is a new element within the New GL and is a key facilitator in
managing various valuations for reporting purposes and results stored in additional
ledgers. These are defined in configuration and are then accessible to ledgers.
Organizations need to assess their parallel accounting reporting requirements and in so

doing, decide on which approach would be most appropriate. Each of these options
comes with both up- and downsides and a thorough understanding of these methods is
required to ensure that an optimal solution is implemented.
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ideas.

ERP2004 and mySAP ERP2005.
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Useful Documents To Introduce You SAP New General Ledger Features

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Useful Documents To Introduce You SAP New General Ledger Features

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The Odyssey Quarterly Jan – Mar, 2007

www.OdysseyBCS.com (416) 414 - 6350

Highlights of the New General Ledger

Profit Center Accounting

Cost of Sales Accounting

Stuart Paradies, CA, CA-IT

Segment Reporting in the New General Ledger

With the introduction of international accounting reporting standards (IFRS), segment

Options Available for Segment Reporting

In addition to document splitting being activated, zero-balancing should also be turned

Stuart Paradies, CA, CA-IT

Account Assignments in the New General Ledger

Intercompany Clearing Accounts

As in previous versions, the assignment of intercompany clearing accounts is made

Real-Time Integration Account Determination

Reconciliation Ledger / Real-Time Integration Substitution

Should the single real-time integration account be insufficient to capture CO postings, a

Zero-Balancing Clearing Account

In order to support zero-balancing, a default account is assigned and is used by the

Allocation Clearing Account

Other Account Assignment Settings

Stuart Paradies, CA, CA-IT

Parallel Accounting using the New General Ledger

Additional Company Code

Organizations need to assess their parallel accounting reporting requirements and in so

Stuart Paradies, CA, CA-IT

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