General Ledger

Instructor Name

2005 myCompany

Course Purpose
This course covers General Ledger Accounting in
SAP, including:
General ledger account master records
Creating and working with general ledger documents in
USD and foreign currency
Creating recurring entries in the general ledger
Month-end closing procedures
Bank transactions
Reporting data from general ledger accounts

Course Contents
Topic 1 G/L Overview
Topic 2 Cost Center Master Data
Topic 3 G/L Postings
Topic 4 Recurring Entries
Topic 5 Cleared Items in the G/L
Topic 6 Foreign Currency
Topic 7 Month-End Closing Cockpit
Topic 8 Bank Transactions
Topic 9 G/L Reports
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General Ledger
Topic 1 General Ledger Overview

2005 myCompany

Topic 1 Objectives
Upon completion of this unit, you will be able to:
List the key steps in the general ledger process flow.
Define the key data types in general ledger master
records.
Describe how general ledger master records are
maintained.
Identify the sources of general ledger postings.
Describe the purposes of general ledger account
clearing, balances and reports.

Purpose of General Ledger

Post journal entries of credit and debit balances in the Chart of
Accounts (CoA):
Posting can be made on one-time or recurring basis.
Postings are in real time: all subsequent transactions are made in light
of prior postings.
Postings can be made automatically, manually and through interfaces
with non-SAP applications.

Provide data for balance sheets, profit-and-loss statements and

other financial statements and reports for internal and external
consumption.

General Ledger Master Records

General ledger process flow
begins with the creation of
master records for the G/L
accounts in the Chart of
Accounts (CoA).

Chart of Accounts and the G/L

The Chart of Accounts is the collection of all the
accounts for the company:
Provides a framework for classifying financial and
controlling data revenue, expenses, assets and
liabilities - for one or more company codes.

G/L account master records

contain CoA-specific data.

CoA
CoA Data
Data
Account Name
Account Number
Account Type
Account Group

CoA Account Name and Number

Account name can have a maximum of 30 alphanumerical characters.
Account number is 6 digits.
Related accounts numbers
fall in a specific range.

I/C Rev

Returns
DPAs

Pricing

Adjustments

CoA Account Types

Account type identifies G/L accounts as:
Profit & Loss
Accounts

Revenue
Trading expenses
Allocations
Cost settlements

Balance Sheet
Accounts

Current assets
Non-current assets
Current liabilities (AP)
Non-current liabilities
Shareholders equity

Account types are used to manage debit and credit

entries for all business transactions that affect assets,
liabilities, revenues and costs.

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CoA Account Groups

Each G/L account is assigned to an account
group when its master record is created.
G/L accounts in an account group:
Are related in function or purpose.
Example: Balance sheet account group

Require the same data when creating master records

and making journal entries.
Have account numbers within a specific range.

Financial data from G/L accounts in an account

group can be reported separately and collectively
in financial statements.
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CoA Data in G/L Master Records

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Company Codes and the G/L

Company is the smallest legal entity with its own
balance sheet and profit-and-loss reporting.
G/L master records also contain company-codespecific data, such as:

Company
Company Data
Data
Currency type
Tax status
Field status group

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CoCode Currency Type

Currency of record appears under Control data.
Postings can be made in any currencies, but G/L
account balances are maintained and updated in
the currency of record.

USD
Euro
Yen
Yuan

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CoCode Tax Status

G/L accounts can be taxable or non-taxable:
Tax status may mandate the entry of tax data for
debits and credits when creating a journal entry.

15

CoCode Field Status Group

Different account types (e.g., reconciliation, bank,
clearing) require different data in journal entries.
Requirements are defined by field status group code.

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Display G/L Master Records

G/L master records contain:
Chart of Accounts data shared by all company codes.
Company code data that differs from one company
code to the next.

You can display master records:

CoA data only
Company code data only
CoA and CoCode data (centrally)

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G/L Master Record Display - FS00

Enter
Click

Tabs

Chart of Accounts data

Company Code data

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Sub-Ledger Account Displays

Display customer and vendor sub-ledger account
master records with transactions FD03 and FK03:
Reconciliation account is identified under the Account
Management tab.

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General Ledger Process Flow

Once the G/L accounts and their master records
are created, the G/L process flow can begin:
G/L Account
Master Record
Creation

G/L Account
Maintenance

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G/L Postings
& Recurring
Entries

G/L Account
Balance
Inquiries

Standard
G/L Account
Reporting

Triggers, Actions and Outputs

TRIGGER

ACTION
REQUIRED

Need for
Account
Maintenance

Need for
One-time and
Recurring Postings

Maintain master
record by entering
or changing:

Post transactions
in general ledger:

Account group
Company code
Cost center
Other relevant
data

OUTPUT

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General ledger
master records
are revised

Month-end
accrual
Manual one-time
journal entries

Need for
Account Balances

Need for
Data on Accounts

Review activities
and balances:

Create reports on
G/L accounts:

Review existing
G/L accounts as
part of monthly
analysis of all
accounts

At month-end and
year-end closings

General ledger
account balances
reports

Standard general
ledger reports

On an ad hoc
basis

I/C entries
Foreign
currencies
Reevaluations
General ledger
accounting
documents

General Ledger Maintenance

Once created, G/L accounts and master records
must be maintained:
CoA and CoCode data can be changed.
Accounts can be blocked or marked for
deletion.

Maintenance can be conducted at

CoCode or CoA level:
Changes to master records can be
displayed with transactions FS04
(centrally), FSP4 (in the CoA) and
FSS4 (in a company code).
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G/L Account
Master Record
Creation

G/L Account
Maintenance

Blocked and Deleted Accounts

Blocking prevents activities in G/L accounts:
Postings for one or all company codes to G/L accounts
can be blocked.
G/L account in one company code cannot be created
in another company code.

Delinquent customer accounts and inactive

accounts can be deleted:
Accounts should be blocked from postings before they
are deleted.
Accounts can be deleted for selected company codes
without being deleted from the CoA.
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Demonstration #1
Display Changes to G/L Master Record Centrally, in
CoA and in CoCode FS04, FSP4 and FSS4
2005 myCompany

Exercise #1
Display Changes to G/L Master Record Centrally, in
CoA and in CoCode FS04, FSP4 and FSS4
2005 myCompany

General Ledger Postings

Once G/L master records are created, financial
transactions can be posted to them.
G/L Account
Master Record
Creation

G/L Account
Maintenance

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G/L Postings
& Recurring
Entries

Sources of G/L Postings

G/L accounts receive posting from:
Automated postings from AR, AP, AM and CO modules
of costs, revenues, and asset values and
depreciations.
Interface postings via batch feeds from non-SAP
applications (such as payroll and banking).
Manual postings by end users:
One-time postings with FV50 and other transactions for
customer invoices, vendor payments, goods receipts etc.
Recurring postings with F.14 and other transactions.

Record of postings is an accounting document

of a particular document type.
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Sources of G/L Postings

Automatic postings
Purchase
Purchase
Orders
Orders
(FI
(FIAP)
AP)

Sales
Sales
Orders
Orders
(FI
(FI--AR)
AR)

Asset
Asset
Management
Management
(FI
(FIAM)
AM)

FI
FI -- G/L
G/L

Interface postings
Batch feeds
from
external systems

Uploads
from
MS Excel

Manual postings
Controlling
Controlling
(CO
(CO--CC)
CC)

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SAP
manual-entry
transactions

AP, AR, AM and G/L Accounts

Vendor payments (AP), customer payments (AR)
and asset values and book depreciations (AM):
Posted manually in sub-ledger accounts.
Automatically to G/L reconciliation accounts to
create a clearing document.
Sub-Ledger Posting

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Document Type

Asset Value/Depreciation

AA

G/L Clearing Doc

Vendor Invoice Payment

KR

G/L Clearing Doc

Customer Bill Payment

DZ

G/L Clearing Doc

CO and G/L Accounts

Costs of production, maintenance and projects
are collected by cost centers in CO module.
Costs are simultaneously posted in the G/L module.
See Topic 2 for more information.

FI

CO
Manual

Posted to a
cost center
for plant
maintenance

$643

30

Automatic

Posted to a
G/L account
for PM
costs

$643

Sub-Ledger Reconciliation
Vendor Invoice
Received by AP from
vendor

AP Posting

P
SA

Posted in vendors subledger account

Creates vendor invoice
payment document

G/L Posting

P
A
S

Automatically posted* in
G/L reconciliation account
Creates G/L clearing
document

Customer Payment
Received by AR from
customer

AR Posting

SAP

Posted in customers subledger account

Creates customer invoice
payment document

G/L Posting
Automatically posted* in
G/L reconciliation account
Creates G/L clearing
document

SAP

* No direct postings to reconciliation accounts are allowed.

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General Ledger Balances

Account balances can be displayed for analysis,
review in prep for closings, and other purposes:
Balances can be displayed for open or cleared items,
and for any time periods.
G/L Account
Master Record
Creation

G/L Account
Maintenance

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G/L Postings
& Recurring
Entries

G/L Account
Balance
Inquiries

General Ledger Reporting

G/L reports can be created at any time (including
post-closings) on account reconciliation, balance
sheets and P&L statements.
G/L Account
Master Record
Creation

G/L Account
Maintenance

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G/L Postings
& Recurring
Entries

G/L Account
Balance
Inquiries

Standard
G/L Account
Reporting

Knowledge Check
Under what tab(s) of a G/L master record do
you find:

Chart of Accounts data?

Company code data?

What are the four sources of automatic

postings to the general ledger?
What is the relationship between vendor and
customer accounts and the general ledger?

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