FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING

This section covers the introduction of Financial Accounting

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

In the following activities you make the settings for General Ledger Accounting. These settings
affect:
 G/L account creation
 G/L business transactions
 Information system
 Bank-related accounting
Additional Information: To fully understand this Implementation Guide, you should be familiar with using the
SAP R/3 System. You will find additional information on this in the "Getting Started with the R/3 System"
document. Before making any settings in the system, you should be familiar with the business-related
functions and concepts of the Financial Accounting (FI) application component. For information on these
functions and concepts, see the "Financial Accounting" section of the R/3 Library.
For information on the functions in the Basis application component, see the "Basis" section of the R/3 Library.

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

G/L Accounts
This section contains the settings for G/L accounts. The individual activities are divided uup as
follows:
MASTER DATA: The section ‘Master Data’ contains the activities involved in creating G/L accounts.

LINE ITEMS: The section ‘Line Items’ contains the activities involved in displaying line items.

BALANCES: The section ‘Balances’ contains the activities involved in processing open items and displaying
account balances.

G/L Accounts/Master Records

The following section contains the settings for G/L account master data. The individual activities are
distributed as follow:

PREPARATIONS: Under ‘Preparations’ you will find the activities that you need to carry out before creating
G/L accounts The section Additional Activities contains extra activities that can also be carried out..

G/L ACCOUNT CREATION: Under ‘G/L Account Creation’ you will find different procedures for creating G/L
accounts.

G/L Accounts/Master Records/Preparations

The following section contains the settings you have to make before creating G/L accounts. For
example, you must enter your chosen chart of accounts in the chart of accounts list, and assign the chart of
accounts to the required company code before creating G/L accounts.

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

G/L Accounts/Master Records/Preparations/Revise Chart of Accounts

 Before you prepare for G/L account creation in the R/3 System, you may have to revise your existing G/L
chart of accounts. This may be necessary because:
 You want to reduce the number of G/L accounts you are already using.
 Your current organization has several legally independent companies using different G/L accounts, but
you now want them all to use the same chart of accounts in the R/3 System.
 You want to extend the length of the account numbers.
 Your cost accounting operations are currently carried out in financial accounting, but in the future you want
to implement cost accounting as a separate component.

Activities

1
Prior to creating a chart of accounts and G/L accounts in the system, you should go through the following
activities to find out which accounts your organization requires.
1. Determine the account classification (such as account system) you want to use to structure your chart of
accounts with.
2. Find out from your employees which G/L accounts are needed for which business transactions and which
accounts they currently post to.
3. Identify the accounts which are no longer required.
4. Determine which particular accounts are used for automatic postings or special G/L transactions in the R/3
System. Decide which ones you want to include in your chart of accounts. To do this, analyze the charts of
accounts delivered with the standard system.
Additional Information
The Financial Accounting documentation describes those G/L accounts that are specially needed in the R/3
System from a business perspective.
PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/G/L Accounts/Master
Records/Preparations/Revise Chart of Accounts
** This section is informational only.

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

G/L Accounts/Master Records/Preparations/Edit Chart of Accounts List
 In the chart of accounts list you enter the charts of accounts that you want to use in your organization
(at client level).
Standard settings
The list already contains sample charts of accounts for some countries. Charts of accounts GKR and IKR, for
example, have been entered for Germany.
Activities
1. Check whether you can use one of the charts of accounts supplied with the standard system. To do this,
you can display the charts of accounts on the screen or print them out using the "Chart of Accounts" program.
You can find the program under Accounting -> Financial accounting -> General ledger -> Information system -
> General Ledger Reports -> Master Data -> -> Chart of Accounts Chart of Accounts.
2. If you want to create your own chart of accounts, enter it in the chart of accounts list.
PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/G/L Accounts/Master
Records/Preparations/Edit Chart of Accounts List

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

2
 G/L Accounts/Master Records/Preparations/Assign Company Code to Chart of
Accounts
 For each company code, you need to specify which chart of accounts is to be used. Several company
codes can use the same chart of accounts.

Requirements
The chart of accounts must be defined in the chart of accounts list. Choose Edit Chart of Accounts List to enter
a chart of accounts in the chart of accounts list.

Standard settings
Corresponding charts of accounts were assigned to the standard company codes.

Activities: If you use a standard company code, check whether the chart of accounts you require is assigned
to it. Assign the required chart of accounts to your company code.

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/G/L Accounts/Master
Records/Preparations/Assign Company Code to Chart of Accounts

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

G/L Accounts/Master Records/Preparations/Define Account Group
 When creating a G/L account, you must specify an account group.
The account group determines:
 The interval in which the account number must be
 Which fields are required and optional entries when creating and changing master records
 Which fields are suppressed when creating and changing master data.
It enables you to control the layout of screens.
You use account groups to combine accounts according to the above criteria (for example, a P&L account
group, asset account group and material account group).

Note: Account groups for G/L accounts are based on the chart of accounts.

Standard settings: Account groups are defined for the standard charts of accounts.

Activities
Check and change the standard account groups as needed. If you set up your own charts of accounts, you
must specify account groups for them.

3
PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/G/L Accounts/Master
Records/Preparations/Define Account Group

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

G/L Accounts/Master Records/Preparations/Define Retained Earnings Accounts
 You assign a retained earnings account to each P&L account by specifying a P&L statement account type
in the chart of accounts area of each P&L account.
At the end of a fiscal year, the system carries forward the balance of the P&L account to the retained earnings
account. You can define one or more P&L statement account types per chart of accounts and assign them to
retained earnings accounts.

Note: Your specification depends on the chart of accounts.

Requirements
The chart of accounts must be specified in the chart of accounts list.

Standard settings
Account 332000 was defined for chart of accounts IKR and account 900000 was defined for GKR, using the
key "X" respectively.

Activities
1. Change the standard settings if necessary.
If you do not use one of the standard charts of accounts, you must specify the P&L statement account
type(s) and the retained earnings accounts for each new chart of accounts you set up.
2. Make sure the accounts you specify are created.

4
PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/G/L Accounts/Master
Records/Preparations/Define Retained Earnings Account

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

G/L Accounts/Line Items
In the following activities, you make the settings for the G/L account line items.

G/L Accounts/Line Items/Line Item Display

In the following activities, you make the settings for displaying G/L account line items.

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

G/L Accounts/Line Items/Line Item Display/Determine Standard Sorting for Line Items

 In this activity, you determine rules by which the system fills the Assignment field during document entry.
Data can be transferred to the field from the document header or from the line item. The field contents
determine the standard sort sequence for the line items. Every rule is stored under a freely assignable key.
Enter the required key for the account in the master records for G/L accounts. This key is proposed for the
account when entering a business transaction.
Note
The rules are valid for all clients. As an alternative to the standard sort sequence, you can define sort
sequences yourself.
Standard settings
Some common rules (for example, sorting by document date or by name and city for one-time accounts) are
defined.
Activities
1. Check the standard rules.
2. Change the standard rules if necessary.
3. If you want to store default values in the master records of the accounts, you must make sure that
the required keys are entered.

PATH:
5
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/G/L Accounts/Line
Items/Line item Display/Determine Standard Sorting for Line Items

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

G/L Accounts/Line Items/Line Item Display/Define Line Layout

 In this activity, you determine which information is to be made available on the screen when displaying line
items (for example, document number, document type, amount).
Activities
1. Check to what extent you can use the standard settings. Change or add to the specifications if
necessary.
2. If you want to assign a line layout variant to a user, enter the value as a parameter in the user
master record.

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/G/L Accounts/Line
Items/Line item Display/Define Line Layout

6
GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING
G/L Accounts/Line Items/Line Item Display/Choose Selection Fields

 In this activity, you specify the fields via which the system is to make selections when displaying line items.
Activities
1. Check to what extent you can use the standard settings. Change or add to these specifications if
necessary.

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/G/L Accounts/Line
Items/Line item Display/Choose Selection Fields

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

G/L Accounts/Line Items/Line Item Display/Choose Sort Variants

 In this activity, you define the fields by which line items are sorted up to three levels.
Activities: Enter the required sort variants.

7
PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/G/L Accounts/Line
Items/Line item Display/Choose Sort Variants

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

G/L Accounts/Line Items/Line Item Display/Define Totals Variants

 In this activity you define the fields for up to three levels for totaling line items.
Activities
1. Check to what extent you can use the standard settings. Change or add to the specifications if
necessary.

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/G/L Accounts/Line
Items/Line item Display/Define Totals Variants

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

8
 G/L Accounts/Line Items/Line Item Display/Choose Standard Line Layout and
Standard Totals Variant

 In this activity you define what information you want to be available as a standard in line item display and
which fields you want to offer users as a standard for totaling line items. When displaying line items, the
standard variant is displayed if you do not choose a different line layout variant. The standard totals variant is
also used if you do not choose a different one when totaling items.
Activities
1. Check to what extent you can use the standard settings. Change or add to these specifications if
necessary.

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/G/L Accounts/Line
Items/Line item Display/ Choose Standard Line Layout and Standard Totals Variant

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

G/L Accounts/Line Items/Line Item Display/Choose Additional Fields

 In this activity, you define the additional fields with which the system is to make selections when displaying
line items.

Activities: Check to what extent you can use the standard settings. Change or add to these specifications if
necessary.

PATH:

9
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/G/L Accounts/Line
Items/Line item Display/ Choose Additional Fields

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

G/L Accounts/Line Items/Line Item Display/Choose Search Fields

 In this activity, you define the fields which you can use to search for individual items in the system.
Activities: Check to what extent you can use the standard settings. Change or add to these specifications if
necessary.

PATH:

10
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/G/L Accounts/Line
Items/Line item Display/ Choose Search Fields

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

G/L Accounts/Line Items/Line Item Display/Choose Sort Fields

 In this activity, you define the fields you can use to sort items in the system.
Activities
1. Check to what extent you can use the standard settings. Change or add to these specifications if
necessary

PATH:
11
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/G/L Accounts/Line
Items/Line item Display/ Choose Sort Fields

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

G/L Accounts/Line Items/Line Item Display/Choose Totals Fields

 In this activity, you define the fields that the system can use to total items.
Activities
1. Check to what extent you can use the standard settings. Change or add to these specifications if
necessary.

PATH:

12
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/G/L Accounts/Line
Items/Line item Display/ Choose Totals Fields

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

G/L Accounts/Line Items/Line Item Display/Define Master Record Information

 In this activity you define the master record data for which you are writing a function module. This module
refers to a form on which the master record information you require is displayed.

Activities: Check to what extent you can use the standard settings. Change or add to these specifications if
necessary.

PATH:
13
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/G/L Accounts/Line
Items/Line item Display/ Define Master Record Information

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

G/L Accounts/Line Items/Line Item Display/Maintain Worklist for Line Item Display

 You can use work lists to combine G/L accounts so that their line items and balances can be displayed
together or so that their open items can be processed together. You can even group together company codes
for line item display purposes.
Accounting clerks can choose whether they want to process various accounting transactions using work lists
or with the individual objects (G/L accounts, company codes) themselves.
You define work lists for G/L accounts manually. Automatic work list maintenance is not possible.
When manually defining a work list, enter the keys of the objects you want to process together. (G/L account
numbers, for example).

Activities
1. Determine which accounts you want to group together for line item and balance display and which for open
item processing.  You can also group together company codes for line item display.
2. Create the work lists by grouping together the accounts and company codes.
3. Make sure that accounting users do not suppress the Work list fields for line item and balance display as
well as for open item processing. To check this, choose the Settings menu option in line item and balance
display. In the Settings, you can also hide the work list fields. For open item processing, choose Settings ->
Editing options -> Goto -> Open items and select the "Use work lists" option. In this case, a separate field for
entering the work list does not appear. Instead you enter the key of the work list in the account number field. If
a work list does not exist, the key is interpreted as an account. If both a work list and an account exist for a
key, the work list has priority.

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/G/L Accounts/Line
Items/Line item Display/ Maintain Worklist for Line Item Display

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

14
 G/L Accounts/Line Items/Open Item Processing/Define Line Layout

 In this activity, you determine which information is to be made available on the screen when processing line
items (for example, document type, document number, account number, company code).

Activities
1. Check to what extent you can use the standard settings. Change or add to the specifications if necessary.
2. If you want to assign a line layout variant to a user, enter the value as a parameter in the user master
record.

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/G/L Accounts/Line
Items/Open Item Processing/Define Line Layout

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

G/L Accounts/Line Items/Open Item Processing/Choose Standard Line Layout

 In this activity, you define what information is to be available as a standard when processing line items. If
you display the line items and have not selected any other line layout variant, the standard variant is displayed.
Activities
1. Check to what extent you can use the standard settings. Change or add to these specifications if
necessary.

PATH:

15
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/G/L Accounts/Line
Items/Open Item Processing/Choose Standard Line Layout

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

G/L Accounts/Line Items/Open Item Processing/Choose Selection Fields

 In this activity, you specify the fields via which the system is to make selections when processing line items.
Activities
1. Check to what extent you can use the standard settings. Change or add to these specifications if necessary

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/G/L Accounts/Line
Items/Open Item Processing/Choose Selection Fields

16
GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING
G/L Accounts/Line Items/Open Item Processing/Choose Search Fields

 In this activity, you define the fields via which it is to be possible for the system to find individual items.
Activities: Check to what extent you can use the standard settings. Change or add to these specifications if
necessary.

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/G/L Accounts/Line
Items/Open Item Processing/Choose Search Fields

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

G/L Accounts/Line Items/Open Item Processing/Choose Sort Fields

 In this activity, you define the fields via which it is to be possible for the system to sort items.
Activities: Check to what extent you can use the standard settings. Change or add to these specifications if
necessary.

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/G/L Accounts/Line
Items/Open Item Processing/Choose Sort Fields

17
GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING
G/L Accounts/Line Items/Open Item Processing/Maintain Worklist for Processing Open
Items

 You can use work lists to combine G/L accounts so that their line items and balances can be displayed
together or so that their open items can be processed together. You can even group together company codes
for line item display purposes.
Accounting clerks can choose whether they want to process various business transactions using work lists or
with the individual objects (G/L accounts, company codes) themselves.
You define work lists for G/L accounts manually.  Automatic work list maintenance is not possible.
When manually defining a work list, enter the keys of the objects you want to process together (G/L account
numbers, for example).

Activities
1. Determine which accounts you want to group together for line item and balance display and which for open
item processing.  You can also group together company codes for line item display.
2. Create the work lists by grouping together the accounts and company codes.
3. Make sure that accounting users do not suppress the Work list fields for line item and balance display as
well as for open item processing. To check this, choose the Settings menu option in line item and balance
display. In the Settings, you can also hide the work list fields. For open item processing, choose Settings ->
Editing options -> Goto -> Open items and select the "Use work lists" option. In this case, a separate field for
entering the work list does not appear. Instead you enter the key of the work list in the account number field. If
a work list does not exist, the key is interpreted as an account. If both a work list and an account exist for a
key, the work list has priority.

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/G/L Accounts/Line
Items/Open Item Processing/Maintain Worklist for Processing Open Items

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

G/L Accounts/Balances
In the following activity you make the settings for account balance display.
GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING
G/L Accounts/Balances/Maintain Worklist for Displaying Balances

 You can use work lists to combine G/L accounts so that their line items and balances can be displayed
together or so that their open items can be processed together. You can even group together company codes
for line item display purposes.
Accounting clerks can choose whether they want to process various business transactions using work lists or
with the individual objects (G/L accounts, company codes) themselves.
You define work lists for G/L accounts manually.  Automatic work list maintenance is not possible.
When manually defining a work list, enter the keys of the objects you want to process together (G/L account
numbers, for example).
18
Activities
1. Determine which accounts you want to group together for line item and balance display and which for open
item processing.  You can also group together company codes for line item display.
2. Create the work lists by grouping together the accounts and company codes.
3. Make sure that accounting users do not suppress the Work list fields for line item and balance display as
well as for open item processing. To check this, choose the Settings menu option in line item and balance
display. In the Settings, you can also hide the work list fields. For open item processing, choose Settings ->
Editing options -> Goto -> Open items and select the "Use work lists" option. In this case, a separate field for
entering the work list does not appear. Instead you enter the key of the work list in the account number field. If
a work list does not exist, the key is interpreted as an account. If both a work list and an account exist for a
key, the work list has priority.

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/G/L
Accounts/Balances/Maintain Worklist for Displaying Balances

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

Business Transactions
Several specifications are necessary for entering and posting accounting transactions in
General Ledger accounting. You make these in the following activities.

Business Transactions/G/L Account Posting

In the following steps, you make the settings for G/L account postings.

Business Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document Settings

You can make new document settings here, or check existing settings, so that they correspond to the
business transaction you are currently processing: If you have already made document settings in the
"Financial Accounting Global Settings" Implementation Guide, you can check that those settings are correct
here. If you have not yet made any document settings, you can do so here.

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

Business Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document
Settings/Define Document Types

 In this activity you create document types for customer, vendor and general ledger business transactions
in Financial Accounting. Document types differentiate business transactions and control document filing.
You specify a number range for each document type. Document numbers are chosen from this number
range. You can use one number range for several document types.
Document types are valid for all clients. You specify a number range key for each document type. You create
the desired number range intervals for each number range key based on the company code. This means that
you can specify intervals of different sizes for the same number range.
Example

19
You defined a document type for incoming invoices. In company code 0001 there are a lot of invoices to be
posted. Thus you create a large number interval for the number range in this company code. In another
company code there are only a few incoming invoices that need to be posted. For this company code you can
define a small number interval for the same number range.
If a document type is not used in a company code, do not store a number interval for that company code.
Note
To use the net method of posting documents, you need a net document type (for example, KN). In this
document type, you have to set the "Net document type" indicator found under the "Control" area. You can
define a common document type (for example, AB) and a common number range for clearing open items in
accounts receivable, payable and G/L acccounts.
For automatic posting transactions (for example, transfer postings with clearing), you have to define a clearing
document type (for example, AB). If you do not want to use the standard setting AB for the clearing document
type, you can delete it and define your own. Under the document type properties, you can assign an individual
reverse document type to each document type. For document types with external number ranges, you have to
define an individual reverse document type because the system can make automatic reverse entries only in
document types that have internal number assignment.
Standard settings
The preset document types cover business transactions
 in Financial Accounting for:
o General ledger accounting
o Accounts receivable
o Accounts payable
o Asset accounting
o Consolidation
 in Materials Management and Sales and Distribution for:
o Goods receipt and issue
o Incoming and outgoing invoices
o Physical inventory (stocktaking)
o Invoicing
Activities
1. Find out whether you can use the standard settings.
2. Change or extend the default settings, if necessary.
3. Check the specified document number ranges via the "Define document number ranges" activity if
you use the standard document types.
These number ranges must be created for your company codes and contain the number intervals you
require.

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/Business
Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document Settings/Define Document
Types

20
GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING
Business Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document
Settings/Define Posting Keys

 In this activity you define posting keys. Users specify a posting key before entering a line item. The posting
key controls how the line item is entered and processed.
For each posting key, you define among other things:
 which side of an account can be posted to,
 which type of account can be posted to, and
 which fields the system displays on the entry screens and whether an entry must be made (field
status).
Note: The system also uses the field status group you specify in a G/L account to determine the status of
fields in document entry. Field status groups are defined within a field status variant.

Recommendation
Use the posting keys delivered with the standard system.
Activities: Check the standard settings. Modify them if necessary. In particular, you may need to make
changes to customer and vendor posting keys if a different field status is required.

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/Business
Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document Settings/Define Posting Keys

21
GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING
Business Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document
Settings/Validation in Accounting Documents

 In this activity, you define additional checks for accounting documents in the form of validations for each of
your company codes. You can assign a validation for the document header and one for the line items to each
company code. The assigned validations are valid both for manual entry of documents as well as for the
automatic creation of documents (for example, payment program).
For every company code to which you want to assign a validation, you store the following information:
 Validation callup point
Here you enter key "1" for "Check document header" and key "2" for "Check line item".
 Validation
Here there are the names of validations which already exist which you can display or change. A new
validation must firstly be created by you. Afterwards the name appears in the overview.
 Description of the validation
 Activation level
Here you enter key "0" for inactive, key "1" for active and key "2" for active except for batch input.
Example
For example, you can use the validation for the following situation: You want to make sure that postings to the
expense account "Telephone costs" can only be posted to the services cost center "Telephone". You can carry
out the checks needed for this by using the validation.
Activities
If you want to define new validations, go through the following activities:
1. Place the cursor on a line in which company code and callup point are entered (you can enter company
code and validation callup point via Edit -> New entries).
2. Afterwards select Environment -> Validation. You reach the first screen for maintaining a validation.
3. Select Validation -> Create. Enter the required name. After pressing ENTER, you come to an overview
screen of the validation activities belonging to the validation.
4. Select Insert entry. On the next screen you can describe a new validation activity. You describe the check
requirements and the actual check for this. The syntax to be used for this is described in the online help (F1

22
help) for the input fields for Requirements and Check. You can also define a message (warning or error
message) which is sent if the check is not successful.
If you want to change validations which already exist, proceed as follows:
1. Place the cursor on an already existing entry and select Goto -> Validation.
2. On the next screen select Validation -> Display or Validation -> Change. After pressing ENTER, you get to
the overview screen of the validation activities belonging to the validation. If you select Insert entry, you can
carry out changes if necessary.

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/Business
Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document Settings/Validation in Accounting
Documents

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

Business Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document
Settings/Maintain Field Status Variants

 In this activity you can define and edit field status variants and groups. You group several field status
groups together in one field status variant. You assign the field status variants to a company code in the
activity Assign Company Code to Field Status Variants. This allows you to work with the same field status
groups in any number of company codes.
You can also define and process field status groups. You must define a field status group in the company
code-specific area of each G/L account. The field status group determines which fields are ready for input,
which are required entry fields, and which are hidden during document entry. Bear in mind that additional
account assignments (i.e. cost centers or orders) are only possible if data can be entered in the corresponding
fields.
Standard settings: Field status variant 0001 is entered for company code 0001 in the standard SAP software.
Field status groups are already defined for this variant.
Note
You cannot attach a field status to some fields, such as those in the document header. You can, however,
switch between required and optional entry field designations in the document type for some of these header
fields.
The field status group you enter in the reconciliation accounts affects postings to the related customer or
vendor accounts. You cannot enter a field status group in the customer or vendor accounts. Field status
groups are determined for customer and vendor accounts from their respective reconciliation accounts, via the
G/L account number in their master records.
There are other factors, besides the field status group itself, which have an influence on the field status.
Among these are:
 the field status defined for the posting key.
The status "optional entry field" was assigned to posting keys 40 and 50 in the standard system. These
are the standard posting keys for G/L account postings. The "optional entry field" status has no effect on
the field status.
 Specifications for the document type.
You can specify here that a reference number and document header text must always be entered, for
example.

23
Recommendation
Designate field status via the field status groups in the G/L accounts. This allows you a more account-specific
screen layout. You cannot differentiate by posting key, since there are only two such keys for postings to G/L
accounts.
The situation with reconciliation accounts is different. You do not make any differentiated field status definition
via the master record for these special G/L accounts. You use the debit and credit posting keys instead.
Activities
1. Create new field status variants using Edit -> New entries . You can also use the copy function to create
new field status variants. To do this, select Edit -> Copy as . When copying field status variants, the
accompanying field status groups are also copied.
2. Look at the standard field status groups.
3. Find out which fields on the entry screens should be
o ready for input
o required entry fields
o hidden for the G/L accounts in your company.
You do not make this definition for each account, but rather for groups of accounts. This is why you may
want to adapt the field status groups included in the standard system.
4. If necessary, change the standard field status groups, or define your own for each field status variant.
5. You can delete field status variants that are no longer required via Edit -> Delete . The accompanying field
status groups will also be deleted.

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/Business
Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document Settings/Maintain Field Status
Variants

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

Business Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document
Settings/Assign Company Code to field Status Variants

 In this activity, you assign the company codes in which you want to use identical field status groups, to the
same field status variant.
Standard settings: A field status variant with an identical name has already been assigned to company code
0001 in the standard system.
Activities: Assign the affected company codes to the same field status variant.
Additional information: You define your field status groups for every field status variant. Refer to the chapter
Define status definition groups for more information.

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/Business
Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document Settings/Assign Company Code
to Field Status Variants

24
GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING
Business Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document
Settings/Screen Variants for Document Entry

 The screen variant which you specify for each company code addresses special screens for documents for
several specific functions. You determine the screen variant dependent on the company code.
Standard settings: A corresponding variant was selected for the standard company codes.
Activities: Check whether the required variants have been selected for your company codes.

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/Business
Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document Settings/Screen Variants for
Document Entry

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

Business Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document
Settings/Define Text IDs for Documents

 In this activity you define text IDs for long texts at document header level. When entering a document, you
can enter texts for every text ID. This means that you can store information on the document that affects the
whole document.
Note: You create text IDs across the system, i.e. for all clients.
SAP standard settings: The system is delivered with the text IDs Note, Correspondence, and Payment
advice info as standard settings.
Activities: Define the required text IDs. Select the Relevant text field in the clients in which the text IDs are to
be used.

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/Business
Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document Settings/Define Text IDs for
Documents

25
GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING
Business Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document
Settings/Define Line Layout for Document Posting Overview

 In this activity, you define the line layout variants for document posting by specifying which information you
want to have available onscreen (i.e., document number, account number, company code).  You can also
assign a display format to each field.
Activities: Check the extent to which you can use the standard settings. Change or enhance the settings, if
necessary. If you want to assign a line layout variant to a user, enter the value as a parameter in the user's
master record.

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/Business
Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document Settings/Define Line Layout for
Document Posting Overview

26
GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING
Business Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document
Settings/Define Line Layout for Document Change/Display

 In this activity, you define the line layout variants. For the functions Change document or Display
document, you define which information from the line item is displayed on the screen.
For the function Edit payment proposal, you define the layout for displaying the payments or exceptions.
Activities: Check whether you can use the standard settings. Change them or add to them as required. If you
want to assign a line layout variant to a user, enter the value as a parameter in the user master record.

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/Business
Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document Settings/Define Line Layout for
Document Change/Display

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

Business Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document
Settings/Select Standard Line Layout for Document Change/Display

 In this activity, you select the standard default values for the following functions:
 Displaying or changing documents
 Displaying or processing payment proposals
These variants are used when the display or change functions are first called up if you do not select any other
variant.
Activities: Choose a corresponding line layout variant.

27
PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/Business
Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document Settings/Select Standard Line
Layout for Document Change/Display

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

Business Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document
Settings/Document Change Rules, Document Header

 In this activity, you determine under which circumstances fields within posted documents can be changed.
Note: For a number of fields, the system itself determines that they can no longer be changed after posting.
This includes all fields which are central to the principles of orderly accounting, for example, the amount
posted and the account. The system also prevents the update objects from being changed in documents
which have already been posted, independent of the document change rules. Update objects are elements in
the system for which transaction figures or line items are updated, for example, business area or cost centers
(if cost center accounting is used in the SAP system). Update objects are entered as additional account
assignments during posting. If you are using the Special Purpose Ledger application, you should ensure that
fields which are updated there are protected against changes in the document. Document changes do not
affect updating in the special purpose ledger. Activities: Check the default settings. Change the
specifications if necessary.

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/Business
Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document Settings/Document Change
Rules, Document Header

28
GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING
Business Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document
Settings/Maintain Fast Entry Screens for G/L Account Items

 In this activity you define screen templates for the fast entry of G/L account items when posting
documents.  You can generate screen templates with the fields account, amount and company code, for
example.
Activities: Check to what extent you can use the standard settings. If necessary, change or enhance the
definitions. If you want to assign a screen template to a user, enter the value as a parameter in the user
master record.

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/Business
Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document Settings/Maintain Fast Entry
Screens for G/L Account Items

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

Business Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Settings for
Document Parking
You can make new settings for document parking here, or check existing settings: If you have already
made settings for document parking in the "Financial Accounting Global Settings" Implementation Guide, you
can check that those settings are correct here. If you have not yet made any settings, you can do so here.

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

Business Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Settings for
Document Parking/Define Entry Screens for Document Parking

 In the following activity, you define fast entry screen templates for parked documents.
You can define several entry screens from a list of possible fields for this.

Activities:
Check to what extent you can use the standard templates.
Define your own screen templates if necessary.

29
PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/Business
Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document Settings for Document
Parking/Define Entry Screens for Document Parking

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

Business Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Settings for
Document Parking/Create Workflow Variant for Parking Documents

 Create a workflow variant. You allocate a workflow template for the account assignment approval to this
variant. You also specify whether the document release is active and from which amount this is necessary.
You can read about how to copy workflow templates within the workflow settings for posting documents and
release.

Activities: Define your workflow variant.

Further notes
You can find out which workflow templates are delivered with the standard system by reading the
documentation under Financial Accounting in the Accounts Payable document. You can find more information
on workflow under cross-application functions in the SAP Business Workflow document.

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/Business
Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document Settings for Document
Parking/Create Workflow Variant for Parking Documents

30
GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING
Business Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Settings for
Document Parking/Assign Co.Code to a Workflow Variant for Parking Documents

 Company codes can be assigned to the workflow variants. If a company code is not assigned to a workflow
variant, then a document release is not carried out.
The currency of the workflow variant and of the corresponding company codes must be the same.
Activities
Assign workflow variants to the company codes for which you want to release parked documents.

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/Business
Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document Settings for Document Parking/
Assign Co.Code to a Workflow Variant for Parking Documents

31
GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING
Business Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Settings for
Document Parking/Define Release Approval Groups for Parking Documents

 In this activity, you define release approval groups. You then enter these in the master records of your
customers and vendors.
You require release aproval groups in the later activities Assign release approval paths and Assign release
approval procedures. On the basis of the release approval path and a certain amount, the system
determines which subworkflow is triggered by the payment release and who is to release the payment. If a
release approval group is not defined, the system subsequently accesses the data with the initial release
approval group.
Activities: 1. Define your release approval groups. 2. Then enter the groups in the customer or vendor
master record.

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/Business
Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document Settings for Document Parking/
Define Release Approval Groups for Parking Documents

32
GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING
Business Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Settings for
Document Parking/Define Release Approval Paths for Parking Documents

 In this activity you define your release approval paths. You need these for the steps "Allocating release
approval paths" and "Allocating release approval procedures".
Activities: Define your release approval paths.

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/Business
Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document Settings for Document Parking/
Define Release Approval Paths for Parking Documents

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

Business Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Settings for
Document Parking/Assign Release Approval Paths for Parking Documents

 In this activity you assign a release approval path to a combination of workflow variants, document types
and release approval groups. You need to make this assignment before you can carry out the activity "Assign
release approval procedures".

Requirements
Prior to this activity you must have defined release approval groups and release approval paths. For
information on this, refer to Define release approval groups and Define release approval paths.
Activities: Make the necessary assignments.

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/Business
Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document Settings for Document Parking/
Assign Release Approval Paths for Parking Documents

33
GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING
Business Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Settings for
Document Parking/Assign Release Approval Procedure for Parking Documents

 For each workflow variant and release approval path, you determine as from which amount which
release approval procedure is triggered and carried out. These procedures are referred to as "subworkflows" in
workflow terms. They control how the release is to proceed in detail, for example, how many release levels are
to be run.
Standard settings
The standard system comes with subworkflows predefined as workflow templates for use as a reference for
your own subworkflows. The first of these (WS10000052) contains a single-level release, the second,
(WS10000053), a two-level release and the third, (WS10000054), a three-level release. The single-level
requires just one person to release the document. The two-level version supports dual control, whilst the three-
level procedure allows for triple control of payment releases. Each subworkflow is triggered the first time
parked documents are entered.
Activities
Assign the release approval procedure (subworkflow) that you require dependent on the workflow variant,
release approval path, and amount. You can also enter your own subworkflows here. However, they must
receive the same data from the workflow (WS10000051) as the predefined workflow example (WS10000052,
and so on). You can also specify the release levels to be executed. You set this specification in the parked
document and it should correspond with the number of release levels of the subworkflow. However, this
specification is not evaluated by the predefined workflow examples and in this case, has only an explanatory
nature. Since the number of release levels is stored in the parked document, (and this number is accessible
within the workflow as Attribute for object type FIPP), this number could be used in customer subworkflows.

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/Business
Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document Settings for Document Parking/
Assign Release Approval Procedure for Parking Documents

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

Business Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Settings for
Document Parking/Define Users with Release Authorization for Parking Docs

 In this activity, you assign the persons authorized to release to the amount release in the form of an
organizational unit (position, organizational unit, job). You assign the organizational object dependent on the
workflow variant, the release approval path, the release approval level reached, and the amount entered. In
turn, these parameters are dependent on the document data entered. To assign organizational objects to an
entry, select the entry and choose Goto -> Detail OrgObject. The organizational objects defined for the amount
release in Customizing for Financial Accounting are automatically assigned to the standard task amount
release in the background.
Activities: Define the persons authorized to release using organizational objects and assign these to an
appropriate combination of
 Workflow variant
 Release approval path
 Release approval level
 Amount

34
PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/Business
Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document Settings for Document Parking/
Define Users with Release Authorization for Parking Docs

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

Business Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Settings for
Document Parking/Reset Release Approval (G/L Accounts)

 If changes are made within certain fields of the "G/L account" account type, the document release is
cancelled and restarted. In this activity, you include the fields to be checked in case of changes to the
document. If you included, for example, the amount field here and the amount is then changed in the G/L
account item, the release is cancelled and the document release must be restarted.
Activities
Include the fields for which the release is to be cancelled if they are changed. All fields that can be entered in
the document are displayed for entry. If the settings have been transported from another system, you have to
start report RFBIPPG2 in the current system. This generates a function module that evaluates the Customizing
settings.

PATH:
SPRO/SAP Reference IMG/Financial Accounting/General Ledger Accounting/Business
Transactions/G/L Account Posting/Carry Out and Check Document Settings for Document Parking/
Reset Release Approval (G/L Accounts)

35