You Are Now a Step Closer to Real-Time Profitability in SAP S/4HANA Finance with Fewer Settlements

So far you may know this about SAP S/4HANA:

• The new data model in SAP S/4HANA Finance merges the general ledger (G/L) account and cost elements
• It offers a universal table to manage the financial and management accounting information at one single place
• It helps you get rid of redundant data in the form of index tables and summary tables
• It makes many reconciliations redundant, too

However, you must also know that there are many innovations in SAP S/4HANA Finance. I describe one feature that can help you simplify the business processes with fewer and faster steps. Many businesses processes now run in real time, not just in SAP ERP Financials, but also in logistics (for example, Material Requirements Planning).

Did you ever feel that postings to time-bound cost objects such as internal orders or Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) elements are cumbersome? First, you need to post the expenses to the cost objects (internal orders or WBS elements). Second, you need to settle them.

The settlements are usually a period-end affair so you need to wait until the period end to see the posted data settled to Profitability Analysis (CO-PA). Until then, the profitability analysis would be incomplete. If you forget to settle them, the profitability between FI-GL and CO-PA may not reconcile.

What if I tell you that you no longer need to settle the internal orders to CO-PA, and yet you will see the data posted to the internal orders in CO-PA in real time? Yes, it is now a reality. Let’s see how to set this up.

How to Set Up the Real-Time Data Flow to CO-PA

Following are the customizing steps required to set up the real-time data flow to CO-PA.

Step 1. Activate account-based CO-PA. To complete this step, execute transaction code KEA0 or follow menu path SPRO > Controlling > Profitability Analysis > Structures > Define Operating Concern > Maintain Operating Concern.

In the screen the system displays (Figure 1), you need to ensure that account-based CO-PA is active for your operating concern. To complete this step, select the Account-based check box as shown in Figure 1.