Explain the organizational assignment in the PA module?
- The operating Concern is the highest node in Profitability Analysis.
- The operating concern is assigned to the Controlling Area.
- Within the operating concern all the transactions of Profitability Analysis are stored.
- The operating concern is nothing but a nomenclature for defining the highest node in PA.
What do you mean by Period based accounting (GL based) and cost of sales accounting (COPA based)?
Period based Accounting
“Period based” means that during the month or period, all and only actual events / transactions are posted in the appropriate period. At the end of the period estimated accruals and deferrals are made and posted to that posting period to give a more accurate view of profit. IE any expected revenues and expenditures that should relate to the current period are accrued for and equally any prepaid expenses or revenues are deferred to the next period. (Accruals and Deferrals are posted temporarily, usually to special accounts, and reversed prior to the next period end.)
Cost of Sales Accounting
Cost of Sales in SAP means that we attempt to record or rather report the “costs of sales” against the actual sale at as low a level as possible and during the period. (In CO-PA this is down to a transaction level.) This enables the company to get a reasonably accurate view of profitability on a real time basis.
This is done by using either standards or estimates for many of the components that make up the “cost of goods sold”. Any variations from the standards are usually posted through to the cost of sales system either at month end or when they occur.
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What are Non-Fixed characteristics or user defined characteristics?
Up to 50 non-fixed characteristics can be added to an operating concern.
Create -> Derived the value from Table PAPARTNER (SD partner that can be used in COPA) -> Create user defined characteristic name WW008 -> Save
What is a “value field” in the CO-PA module?
Value fields are number/value related fields in profitability analysis such as quantity, sales revenue, and discount value.
What is a “characteristic field” in the CO-PA module?
Characteristics are analytical information fields used in CO-PA. Typical examples include customer number, brand, and distribution channel.
What do you mean fixed characteristic fields?
Predefined characteristic fields in SAP R/3 system, which are obvious, are known as fixed characteristic fields such as product, sales org and customer
What do you mean by value field groups?
Value Field Groups represent the possible combinations of value fields in an operating concern. Value field groups are used to specify:
- Which value should be made available to users entering or displaying a line item
- In what order these value fields should be displayed
- Which specific value fields can be filled
Describe three ways of disposing of an asset from a company code in SAP R/3?
An existing asset can be scrapped (transaction ABAVN), transferred to another company code (ABUMN), sold to a customer account in the accounts receivable module (F-92), sold with revenue but the revenue is booked to a GL account (ABAON).
What is the basic difference in customizing in Profitability analysis as compared to other modules?
In PA when we configure the system i.e. creating operating concern, maintain structures no customizing request is generated. The configuration needs to be transported through a different transaction called as KE3I.
What are the differences between Profit Center Accounting (PCA) and Profitability Analysis (CO-PA)?
| PCA | CO-PA |
| PCA is aimed at Profit reporting on internal responsibility lines or SBU’s | CO-PA is aimed at external market segment reporting for example by customer and customer groupings (industries), geographical areas. |
| PCA is limited to reporting by the profit center hierarchies that you can setup. | PCA can slice & dice your information by a variety of dynamic hierarchies (a ‘Rubik’s’ cube is often used to symbolize this idea. |
| PCA can be reconciled easily back to the GL | PCA has 2 ‘styles’
· Account based which will reconcile to the GL · Costing Based which Allows approximations, estimations or standards to be posted, which may make reconciliation difficult to explain to the user |
How do you configure the assignment of variances from product costing to COPA module?
The variance categories from product costing along with cost element are to be assigned to the value fields in COPA.
What are statistical key figures in CO?
SKF’s are statistical (or information values) used in cost allocations such as assessments and distributions.
What are account assignment models?
AAM’s are blocks of document line items that can be used repeatedly to prevent manual re-entry. Which fields are included in the AAM layout can be configured using O7E3
How data flows from SD to COPA?
The normal SD document flow is as follows:
- Sales order
- Delivery (the delivery creates the goods issue, which debits COGS and credits Inventory – COGS is updated in CO-PA at this time)
- Billing Document (the billing document updates A/R, Sales revenue, Discounts, Freight, etc.)
What are statistical internal orders?
Statistical real internal orders are dummy cost objects used for analysis and reporting purposes. They must be posted to in conjunction with a real cost object such as a cost center.
What is the difference between “costing based” (CB) and “account based” (AB) CO-PA ?
- AB can easily be reconciled with FI at account level through the use of cost elements. In CB can only be reconciled at account group level (such as revenues, sales deductions etc) as values are stored in “value fields” as opposed to accounts.
- In CB data is stored by posting periods and weeks. In AB storage is only by periods.
- In CB transactions can be stored in operating concern currency and company code currency. In AB transactions are stored in controlling area currency, company code currency and transaction currency.
- In CB you can create cross controlling area evaluations or cross controlling area plans. In AB you cannot as the chart of accounts may differ.
- In CB the cost of good sales (COGS) are updated via material price valuations. Stock change values can be transferred to CB COPA during billing. Timing differences can occur if the goods issue and billing documents are in different posting periods. In AB the value posted in the stock change is posted simultaneously to COPA.
Name some settlement receivers for CO Internal Orders?
Typically CO Internal Order is settled to:-
- Other internal orders
- Fixed assets (including assets under constructions)
- GL Accounts
- Cost Centres
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Can both Account based and Costing based Profitability analysis be configured at the same time?
Yes. It is possible to configure both types of costing based profitability analysis at the same time.
Why does SAP talk about statistical assignments in CO – why are these different from real Cost Accounting assignments?
The reason is to facilitate reconciliation between FI and CO. The sum of all ‘real’ assignments in CO should add up to the sum of all expense and revenue postings (where cost/revenue elements have been created for the GL account of course) in FI. A normal expense invoice posting to expense accounts / cost elements will be a ‘real’ posting. If the system is displaying an error message insisting on a ‘cost accounting assignment’ and you think you have entered one, then possibly you have specified a statistical assignment. A common error is in thinking that the business area will do – Business areas are FI elements not CO elements.
In Profit Center Accounting (CO-PCA) explain the process for locking planning data?
Using transaction S_ALR_87004395, you can lock plan data for a specific fiscal year Select version 0 and choose ‘settings for profit center accounting’.