Samuel Blog

SAP FICO InterviewDaily how many tickets you are getting?
You can answer the number tickets/issues raised and routed to you for solution

In your career, have you face any critical ticket? What is that ? Can explain?
Explain any critical issue faced.

What is difference between company code & business area?
Company Code and Business area are the Organizational units in FI. But Company Code is a must where as Business area is optional. Company code is the Org. unit under which all the activities of the finance takes place where as the Bus. Area can cut across company codes.Company code is a legal entity and the books of accounts are maintained at this level.

What is enterprise structure of your client?
Explain the ES of your client, the structure of the company and the organizational units defined under the client

What is the use of “Relevant cash flow check box?
This check box in the GL account helps u to take the account for cash flow analysis

After run the depreciation. can you reverse of that transcation?
Yes, it is possible

While transcation entry you are given the cost center & internal order so, where it will be effected — both or one?
The posting goes to Internal Order and from there the settlement goes to the Cost Center. The Cost Center gets only the Statistical Posting. We can have any number of statistical Postings, but only one real posting to the CO object

Can you forward the controlling number ranges to next year?
Yes, we can continue the existing number ranges

What is valuation class ? Can you change the valuation class after transcation posting?
The materials are assigned to valuation class through the account determination happens

How many GR/IR a/c’s are created?
They are provision accounts, and the balance becomes zero after the completion of the cycle. This is done in order to care of the good /invoice received in advanceov vice versa

How many retained earning a/c’s are created?
Generally we have one retained earnings account. We can also have more than one also. This is usually done for having different financial statements based on the depreciation areas for tax, Costing etc.     *– Jaggu

What is the significance of Posting Key? (OB41)

Ans: Posting key is a two charecter numberical key, which controls the entry of line items. It specifies the accounting area to which an account belongs to. ex: Customer, Vendor or GL etc, It controls Field Satus (Supress, Recquired and Optional) It also controls its reverse posting key also.

In summary, the Posting Key has control functions within the line items. It controls:
i)  On which type of account the line item can be posted to
ii)  If the item is posted as a debit or credit
iii) The field status of additional  details

What is the use of Account Groups in GL?

Account Group Controls the Master records. It controls the number range of Master record and Field status group (Supress, Required, Optional and Display) also. SAP follows a Grouping principle all throughout SAP to handle the Master Records that may be in GL, AR AP any thing. See to create a GL Account group you define at OBD4 there itself you assign the Number Range or those groups which also controls Field Staus of GL Master Records. And for Creating AR and AP Master Records you create at OBD2 and Vendor at OBD3 which will also controls Field Status Group of And Number range of Master record. The only difference between GL and AR/AP is assigning of number range. For GL will specify at OBD4 itself but for AR/AP we need to create a number range at FBN1 then assign to AR And AP at OBD2 and OBD3 respectively.

One more thing. Remember only Field Status group of Master recard (OBD2, OBD3, OBD4) only contain Display option but not to Posting Key or Field Satus Group (OB41 or OBC4). I am so specifing becoz I commited this mistake in one interview.        *– Satish

In summary, the account group controls:
i) The number ranges of the accounts,
ii) The status of the fields in the company code segment of the master record.  Since a chart of accounts contains many different types of accounts, they can be bundled into different “account groups “. Usually one account group bundles
accounts with the same tasks within the general ledger, e. g. cash accounts, material accounts, asset accounts, profit and loss
accounts,…

Give a summary of Product Costing?

The purpose of Product costing planning is to arrive the total planned cost of the product. It is integrated with the following modules in arriving the Product cost and supplies the information to other modules
1. MM to arrive at the raw material and semifinished goods cost based on the price indicator in Material master record.
2. PP to arrive at the cost of Operations required for producing the Finished product with the planning based in Cost Center Accounting.
3. SD to pass the information of COGS to COPA based on the Value fields linked to condition types.

Two manfacturing scenarios are there in production one is Repetitive manfacturing (e.g Pharma industry) costing type is Product cost by period and Discreet manfacturing (Order based industry) costing type is Product cost by period.
*– Ratna

Useful SAP FI Related Transaction CodesOrganizational Structure
1. Define Company code – OX02 / Copy Company Code – EC01
2. Define / Edit Chart of Accounts – OB13 / Copy Chart of Accounts – OBY7
3. Assign Company Code to Chart Of Accounts – OB62
4. Maintain Fiscal Year Variant – OB29
5. Assign Company Code to Fiscal Year Variant – OB37
6. Define Posting Period Variant – OBBO
7. Open and Close Posting Period – OB52
8. Assign Posting Period Variant to Company Code – OBBP
9. Define Document Number Ranges – FBN1
10. Define Document Types – OBA7
11. Define Posting Keys – OB41
12. Define Field Status Variant – OBC4
13. Assign Company Code to Field Status Variant – OBC5
14. Screen Variants for document Entry – OB71
15. Define Tolerance group for Employees – OBA4
16. Assign User Tolerance Group – OB57
17. Define Business Area – OX03
18. Company Code Global Parameters – OBY6
19. Define Countries – OY01
20. Define Parallel currencies – OB22

Customer Creation and Payments
1. Define Vendor Account Groups – OBD3
2. Define Number Ranges for Vendor Accounts – XKN1
3. Assign Number Ranges to Vendor Account Groups – OBAS
4. Create Recon Account – FS00
5. Define Customer/Vendor Tolerance Group – OBA3
6. Define Payment Terms – OBB8
7. Create Vendor – FK01
8. Post Invoice – FB60, Doc KR, number range 19
9. Make incoming payments (full, partial or residual payments) – F- 53, Doc KZ, number range 15

Automatic Payment
10. House Bank Configuration – FI12.
Enter Company code and select House Bank tab. Click on the Create bank to create a new house bank Enter Bank Country and bank key details and click Bank Accounts.
Enter the Bank Account num and the Bank GL account.
11. Payment Program Configuration – FBZP
All Company Codes – Enter Sending and Paying Company Code, outgoing payment with cash discount from.
Paying Company Code – Enter Minimum amount of Incoming and outgoing payment and Form for the Payment advice.
Payment methods by country – Select Check will be created, Allowed for personal payments, Street P.O. box or P.O. box pst code (bank details for Wire transfer) and RFFOUS_C (RFFOUS_T for wire transfer) as the print (payment) program.
Payment methods by Company Code – Enter min and max amounts and form for payment transfer. Payment per due day, optimize by bank group or postal code can also be selected.
Bank Selection – If more than one house bank, ranking order can be given. Under Amounts, amount available for outgoing payment should be given. Under Accounts, enter bank-clearing account for bank sub
account.
12. Define Check numbers – FCHI and Void Reasons – FCHV
13. Payment Run – F110
Enter Run Date and Identification and go to parameters tab. Enter Company codes, payment methods, next pay date and vendor accounts. Go to Additional Log Tab and select Due date check, Payment method selection in all cases and line items of the payment documents. Go to Print out/data medium tab, enter variant against the Payment program and select Maintain Variants. Enter Paying company code, House bank details, and check lot number. Select Print Checks and Print payment summary for checks and Print payment advice notes for Wire(enter printer and select print immediately). Also make no. of
sample printouts to zero. Then execute Proposal, Payment run and Printout. Number range 20 should be defined.

General Ledger
1. Define G/L Account Groups – OBD4
2. Define Retained Earnings Account – OB53
3. Journal Entry – FB01, F-02, FB50, Document Change / Display – FB02 / FB03
4. Recurring Document – FBD1, FBD2, FBD3, F.56 – Delete
5. Sample Document – F-01, FBM2, FBM3, F.57 – Delete
6. Individual Reversal – FB08, Mass Reversal – F.08
7. Parked Documents – FBV0 – Post/Delete, FBV2- Change, FBV3 – Display
8. FS10N – Display Acct Balances, FBL3N – Display Change Line Items, F-03 – Clear
9. F.19 – Clearing of GR/IR account.

Tips by Vidya
[http://www.sap-basis-abap.com/fico/useful-sap-fi-related-transaction-codes.htm]

R/3 Financial Accounting gives you the ability to centrally track financial accounting data within an international framework of multiple companies, languages, currencies and charts of accounts. The fully integrated SAP finance accounting systems offers a comprehensive range of capabilities with open, integrated data flow and user-friendly handling for the external accounts. Every company needs Accounting to provide information to shareholders, creditors, employees, and general public. SAP Accounting application consists of the following components, which are,  Accounting, Controlling, and Treasury. Accounting is integrated with  Logistics and Human Resources components. SAP provides Preconfigured systems for various industries with specific charts of accounts. SAP supports  multilingual approach, flexible currency handling, and country-specific functions for taxes, reporting, and payment transactions.

SAP  Accounting System offers you a complete set of applications:

Financial Accounting (FI) includes

• General Ledger Accounting
• Consolidation
• Accounts Payable
• Accounts Receivable
• Asset Accounting
• Special Ledgers

Treasury (TR) includes

• Cash Management
• Treasury Management
• Funds Management

Controlling (CO) includes:

• Overhead Cost Controlling
• Product Cost Controlling
• Profitability Analysis

SAP’s Accounting component includes:

Chart of Accounts
The G/L Accounting function uses a chart of accounts that can be installed in individual companies or in entire corporate groups. If the system must meet both international corporate and specific national demands, you can use different charts of accounts side by side.

Currencies
To satisfy specific statutory requirements at a national level, the system allows you to balance the books of foreign subsidiaries in up to three currencies simultaneously. Every business transaction is recorded in historical values from local, corporate group, and hard currency perspectives.

Balance Sheet
The FI application maintains different types of balance sheets:

• List of balances
• Funds flow analysis

You can also maintain balance sheets by purpose:

• Closing date balance sheet
• Annual financial statements

Sub-Ledgers
Besides integrating Logistics with Financial Accounting functions, it is also essential to link sub-ledgers with the General Ledger itself. All movement involving the sub-ledger Debtors and Creditors accounts, as well as the asset accounts, are immediately reflected in the assigned General Ledger balance sheet. As a result, sub-ledgers are always reconciled with the General Ledger.

Accounts Receivable
Accounts Receivable monitors and controls customers’ accounts. Account analyses, maturity lists, as well as a flexible dunning system, make it easier to pursue open items.

Accounts Payable
Accounts Payable  manages accounting data for all vendors.  It serves as an important information source for the sales department regarding delivery, invoicing, and payment values.

Special Ledgers
Special Ledger provides special calculations for a particular customer. A ledger is an accounting book that has been expanded to include various dimensions from the account assignment feature (cost center, product). It maintains and analyzes figures to meet the reporting wishes of the individual firm. All firm-specific ledgers come with validation and derivation of characteristic features. You can perform planning, allocation, and currency conversion calculations for each ledger. SAP automatically updates ledgers whenever business transactions take place. Data collected at a more detailed level is stored in compressed form using a rollup function

Corporate Group
Complex organizations need to have the big picture. Corporate group financial statements have grown in importance compared to individual statements. Another trend is the need to portray the corporate group to the public by making conscious balance sheet policy decisions. This may be at odds with the picture painted by individual financial statements.

The corporate group can be broken down into consolidation units. You can base it on legally autonomous companies or on business area segments. In centralized companies, data from operative company codes are typically incorporated directly into a corporate group ledger.

Otherwise, they are periodically incorporated into this ledger using ALE. This often involves external data from non-SAP accounting systems. The R/3 System has special tools to capture this data. The ability to regroup corporate groups and consolidation units is an essential function for internal corporate reporting. This allows the corporate group ledger to fulfill information needs along with those required by law. This includes meeting the needs of national or regional distribution companies.

Company: This represents a legally autonomous entity, composed of one or more company codes.

Company code: This represents the tax law (national) view of the company. Fiscal calendar, chosen currency, and tax reporting requirements determine the design of the complete and reconciled tracking system. In the context of a company, the company code can also represent a foreign operation that carries inventory.

Business area: This helps depict internal structures for external segment reporting. You use business area to analyze selected balance sheet items and profit and loss statements for product divisions or regional structures.

Functional area: This area displays profit and loss calculations according to cost-of-sales accounting. This is in comparison to period accounting, which differs depending on the request. By grouping functional areas, such as administration and manufacturing, cost-of-sales accounting shows what company costs were incurred for what and displays business expenses for the operation.

Profit center: With its flexible design, this Controlling term depicts internal areas of responsibility. The objects of a company’s operating readiness are assigned to profit centers. These objects include cost centers, assets, materials, and those that measure performance (such as production and customer orders). Consequently, areas of responsibility are more detailed than can be captured by just using the business areas.

Profit center provides more than a determination of revenues, costs, and corresponding profit margin for an area of responsibility. Relevant items from the balance sheet, such as inventory, work in progress, receivables, payables, or investments can also be used to produce a targeted yield report, such as return on investment (ROI).
[from http://planetsap.com/fi_main_page.htm]