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Additionally, you will also be able to post non-financial information such as direct labor hours from
HR or PP modules to cost centers in CO.
315. What is an ‘Activity Type’?
‘Activity Type’ helps you do define the service/action (for example, human labor, machine labor,
repair hours, etc.) performed or provided by a cost center. It forms the ‘basis’ for allocating costs
to other cost centers or internal orders, etc. You may assign an activity type to an operation so
that they are reflected in PP; a CO document is created with the costs of the operation allocated
from the cost center that produced the operation to a production order, when the operation is
completed in PP.
You may group activity types intoactivity type groups for easy maintenance.
You need to arrive at theactivity price, which needs to be attached to that particular activity type
for planning or recording the actual. The activity price is calculated by dividing the total costs by
the total planned/actual activity quantity (hours, units, etc.).
It is not necessary that all the cost centers have activity types associated with them. If there is no
output from a cost center, then there will be no activity type for that cost center.
316. Where do You Assign Activity Type in Cost Centers?
There is no direct assignment. You plan the output for a cost center first by usingTransaction
KP26. Then, plan the value of that cost center with the budget for a period inTransaction KP06.
‘Planned Activity expenditure’/‘Planned Activity Quantity’ gives the ‘planned activity rate,’ which
you can use to valuate your activity confirmations in manufacturing orders. You can also define
your activity prices on your own, but you have to run the ‘price revaluation’ if you want to
revaluate your actual activity prices.
317. What is a ‘Resource’ in CO?
‘Resources’ are goods/services, consumed by CO objects such as cost center/internal
order/WBS element, which are supplied (internally or externally) to an organization in order to
produce business activities. The resources are used only in planning and not for tracking the
actual.
There are three types of resources:
(cid:131) TypeB (used in base planning object)
(cid:131) TypeM (refers to a material)
(cid:131) TypeR (exists only in CO-OM)
318. What is a ‘Statistical Key Figure’ (SKF)?
The‘Statistical Key Figure (SKF)’ is used as the basis(tracing factor) for making allocations
(assessments/distributions). They are the statistical data such as number of employees, area
in square meters, etc. You will make use of a SKF when you are faced with a situation where it is
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not possible to use any other conventional method or measure to arrive at the share of costs to
be allocated to cost centers.
Suppose that you are incurring a monthly expense of USD 5,000 in the cost center cafeteria, the
cost of which needs to be allocated to other cost centers. You can achieve this by the SKF.
Imagine that you want this to be allocated based on the ‘number of employees’ working in each of
the other cost centers such as administrative office (50 employees) and the factory (200
employees). You will now use the number of employees as the SKF for allocating the costs. The
following illustration helps you to understand how SKF is used:
Figure 80:Statistical Key Figure
In SKF allocation, you have the flexibility of using two differentSKF Categories; namely,Total
value or Fixed value. You will use fixed values in situations where the SKF does not change
very often, as in the case of the number of employees, area, etc. You will use total values in
situations where the value is expected to change every now and then, as in the case of power
use or water consumption and the like.
319. Explain the ‘Planning’ steps in CO-OM-CCA.
The three steps involved in planning in cost center accounting include:
(cid:131) Configuration required for planning
o Configure aPlan Version
o Create or CopyPlan Layouts
o CreatePlan Profile
o Insert Plan Layouts into Plan Profile
(cid:131) Inputting the planned data
(cid:131) Completing the planning activity
320. What is a ‘Plan Version’?
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A‘Plan Version’ is a collection of planning data. The version controls whether the user will
maintain plan data or actual data or both. You may create as many versions as you need, though
SAP provides you with the necessary versions in the standard system.
Each version has information stored in the system per fiscal year period. The version ‘000’ is
automatically created for a period horizon of five years, and is normally the final version as this
allows for storing actual information as well. You will be using the data in version ‘000' for all the
planned activity price calculation. Once planning is completed, you need to ‘lock’ that version so
that no one will be able to modify the plan data.
321. What is ‘Integrated Planning’ in CO-OM-CCA?
‘Integrated Planning’ helps you to transfer data from other SAP modules such as PP, HR, FI-AA,
etc. If you have planned data in these modules and just transfer these into CO, without making
any changes, then you do not need plan again in cost center accounting. Before using integrated
planning, you need to activate the integration in the planning menu.
Note that integrated planning is possible only when there has been no data planned on that
version before activating the integrated planning.
322. Explain ‘Plan Layout.’
A‘Plan Layout’ is nothing but a data entry screen or template that you use to input plan data.
In most situations, it would be more than sufficient to use SAP supplied planning layouts;
however, you may create your own by copying one of the existing layouts and altering it with the
help ofreport painter. While creating a custom layout, note that you have the flexibility to create
up to ninelead columns (giving the details the nature of the data associated with the value
columns), and any number ofvalue columns (plan data such as amount, unit, etc.,
corresponding to the lead column).
Figure 81:Report Painter
You also have the option of using MS-Excel spreadsheets as the data input screen in lieu of the
SAP plan layouts; but to achieve this you need to activate the ‘integrating with Excel option’ while
assigning the layout(s) to a planner profile in IMG.
You need to define a plan layout for each of the three planning areas in CO, namely:
i. Primary Cost and Activity Inputs
ii. Activity Output/Prices
iii. Statistical Key Figures
323. Explain a ‘Plan Profile.’
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A‘Plan Profile’ (orPlanning Profile) helps in controlling the whole process of planning by
logically grouping the various plan layouts together. It determines the timeline for planning. You
can have more than one planning layout per plan profile.
Before you actually start inputting the data, you need to set the plan profile so that the system
knows what layout needs to be used for the planning exercise.
324. How do You Copy ‘Plan Data’ from one period to another?
SAP allows you to copy planning data, created manually earlier, from one fiscal year to the other
or from one period to a different period within the same fiscal year. You have the option of
copying existing plan data to a future period as new plan data or copying actual data from one
period to another as plan data.
325. What is the recommended Planning Sequence, in CO?
SAP recommends three steps in the planning. In all three steps, the planning can be carried out
manually or automatically. You may use assessment, distribution, and indirect activity
allocation or inputted costs for planning. You can also havecentralized planning (cost element
planning for all the cost centers) anddecentralized planning (planning for individual cost centers)
in your organization.
Figure 82:Planning Sequence for Cost Center Accounting
326. What are the two options for entering Plan Data?
SAP provides you with a choice of two options to enter your plan data. You may useForm-based
entryorFree entry.
Inform-based entry, all you need to do is fill in the plan data in the rows corresponding to the
characteristic values (cost centers, cost element, etc.) displayed on the screen. But, infree entry,
you have the freedom of inputting even the characteristic values.
327. What are ‘Distribution Keys’?
The SAP system uses‘Distribution Keys’ to distribute planned values across various periods.
With the standard distribution keys supplied by SAP, you will be able to achieve the type of
distribution you need:
(cid:131) DK1 (equal distribution)
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(cid:131) DK2 (distribution as done earlier)
(cid:131) DK5 (copy values to period where there is no value)
For example, if you have a planned annual value of 12,000, by usingDK1 you will be able to
distribute 1,000 each as the monthly values. If you had plan values for last year which were
something like 1,000 for January to June, 500 for July, 1,500 for August, and 1,000 each for
September to December, then by usingDK2, you will be able to copy the same amounts to the
next fiscal year.DK5 will copy values to future periods only if there are no values already
available for those periods.
328. Differentiate ‘Activity-Dependent ‘and ‘Activity-Independent’
Costs.
As you might be aware of already, there are two types of costs; namely,variable costs andfixed
costs.
Variable Costs, such as material costs, factory labor, etc., are always dependent on an activity,
and will vary depending on the activity. The higher the activity the more will be the expenditure
towards variable costs. In short, these costs are directly proportional to the level of activity. In
SAP CO, these costs are known as‘Activity-Dependent Costs.’
In contrast to the variable costs,‘Activity-Independent Costs’ orfixed costs do not usually vary
with the level of activity. And you may need to incur these costs irrespective of whether there is
an activity. Costs such as costs towards security, insurance premiums, etc., fall under the
category of fixed costs.
329. What is a ‘Mixed Cost’?
There are instances where you will come across a costing situation where the costs cannot be
strictly segregated into either fixed or variable costs. These costs are known assemi-fixed costs
orsemi-variable costsormixed costs, because a portion of the total costs is fixed and the
remaining portion is a variable cost.
The classic example is the charges for electricity in a production environment, where there is a
basic minimum charge payable to the electricity provider (or towards heating requirements of the
buildings) which remains fixed whether there is some production activity or not. When there is
production, you will use more electricity, which varies with the level of production.
330. Explain ‘Manual Primary Cost Planning.’
‘Manual Primary Cost Planning’ is used to plan for costs associated with the external
procurement of goods and services. You will plan both fixed and variable costs, and also mixed
costs, if necessary. You will plan costs such as salaries, wages, etc., as activity-dependent costs;
the costs towards security, etc., will be planned as activity-independent costs.
You need to note that planning fixed primary costs is not vastly different from that of planning for
variable primary costs. When you plan for the variable primary costs you need to mention the
activity type associated with that. You may further break down this cost into fixed and variable
proportions. The ‘fixed primary costs’ or ‘activity-independent primary costs’ are planned using
the primary cost elements on various cost centers, based on the activity performed on a particular
cost center.
You may use any of the following SAP supplied planning layouts:
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(cid:131) 1–101— Activity-independent or activity-dependent primary costs
(cid:131) 1–103— Activity-independent costs
(cid:131) 1–152— Activity-independent costs (on a quarterly basis)
(cid:131) 1–153— Cost-element planning (two versions simultaneously)
(cid:131) 1–154— Cost-element planning (previous year’s actual displayed in the lead column)
(cid:131) 1–156— Central planning (Cost element planning from Cost center perspective)
331. Explain ‘Automatic Primary Cost Planning.’
SAP provides you with two ways of handlingPrimary Costs Planning; namely:
(cid:131) Inputted Costs Calculation
(cid:131) Distribution
Inputted Costs Calculation is used to smooth one-time costs (bonus, incentives, etc.) incurred
by spreading them over a period of time though it is posted on the FI side at the end of the year.
You again have two methods of processing these costs:(i) when there is no corresponding costs
equivalent on the FI side such as the inputted family labor or inputted rent, etc., and(ii) when
there is a corresponding cost equivalent on the FI side such as festival bonus, etc.
Distribution helps in planning primary costs from one cost center to the other. The cost center
from where the costs are distributed is known as thesender(orpooled cost centerorclearing
cost center) and the other cost centers to which the costs are distributed or where the costs are
received are known asreceivers.
Note that you will be able to distribute planned/actual primary costs only. Also note that the
pooled cost center does not incur any of these costs but acts only as the ‘clearing center’ for
distribution to other cost centers. During the process, you will use the SKF or the regular
percentage method as thedistribution rule for achieving the distribution. Thedistribution cycle
helps to carry out the whole planning exercise.
Figure 83:Distribution (Automatic Primary Costs Planning)
332. Explain ‘Manual Secondary Cost Planning.’
‘Manual Secondary Cost Planning’ is required when you need to plan consumption quantities
of a sender cost center’s planned activity from the point of view of the receiving cost center. The
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activity inputs may be planned either as the activity-dependent costs (variable) or as activity-
independent costs (fixed).
The ‘activity-dependent primary cost planning’ is used only when you need the services such as
repair hours on a specified activity type. On the other hand, you will use ‘activity-independent
primary cost planning’ when you need services such as maintenance hours, which are not
restricted to a particular activity.
The system uses the ‘planned calculated activity price’ for posting the secondary cost. It is
possible to carry out ‘manual secondary cost planning’ for activity types categorized as Category-
1 (manual entry/manual allocation). Note that it is important that you perform reconciliation of
planned consumption of an activity at the receiver cost center to the volume planned at the
sender’s level; otherwise, you will get a warning message when the system calculates the activity
price.
333. Explain ‘Assessment’ in Secondary Cost Planning.
‘Assessment’ is one of the methods used in ‘automatic planning of secondary costs’ in cost
center accounting. You will typically use this method when you need to allocate costs from one
cost center to other cost centers. The original costs, even if they are primary, from the cost center
are grouped and reclassified as secondary while allocating the same to other cost centers
(imagine that you are collecting primary costs such as postage, telephone, courier expenses, fax
charges, etc., into a cost center called 1000, now group these costs for assessment using a
secondary cost element to receiver cost centers: 2000 and 3000).
You need to define anassessment rule (either ‘percentage’ or ‘SKFs’ or ‘fixed amounts’) for
affecting assessment. You would have now noticed that this is similar to the distribution used in
‘primary cost planning.’
So, why do you need an assessment? Assessment is required when you need to allocate
secondary costs, and when you do not need the details you would otherwise get from distribution.
334. What is an ‘Allocation Structure’?
You need to define or use a secondary cost element, called the ‘assessment cost element,’ while
you carry out the ‘assessment’ in ‘automatic secondary cost planning.’ Instead of defining
individual assessment elements (for a group of primary cost elements) in individual segments,
every now and then, you may define various assessment elements in an‘Allocation Structure,’
and use them repeatedly.
Figure 84:Assessment (Automatic Secondary Cost Planning)
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335. Explain ‘Segments’ and ‘Cycles.’
A‘Segment’ is one processing unit required to complete an automated allocation of distribution
or assessment or reposting of planned/actual costs in controlling in SAP. A segment is made up
of(a) allocation characteristics—to identify the sender/receiver,(b) values of the sender—
plan/actual, type of costs to be allocated, and(c) values of the receiver—the basis for allocation,
for example, thetracing factor such as SKF, percentages, etc.
When you combine multiple segments into a single process, then you call that the‘Cycle.’ A
Cycle helps you to process various segments in a chain-like fashion one after another. A Cycle
consists of header data (valid for all Segments in a Cycle) and one or more Segments, with
summarized rules and settings enabling allocation. The Segments within a ‘cycle’ can be
processed iteratively (one segment waits for the results of another) or non-iteratively (all the
segments are processed independently) or cumulatively (to take care of variations in receiver
Tracing Factors or sender amounts).
Typically, when you start the cycles you will start them in a ‘test’ mode to see the allocations
before actual postings. Technically, you can run the cycles in ‘production’ mode at any point of
time, but the system will carry out the allocation postings only on the first day of a period. The
utility of the cycle lies in the fact that you can run these period after period.
336. What is ‘Iterative Processing’ of Cycles?
‘Iterative Processing’ is nothing but the repetitive processing of sender/receiver relationships
until the sender’s entire cost is transferred to the receiver(s). During iterative processing, you will
not be able to use ‘fixed amounts’ as the ‘sender rules’; you will also not be able to define a
percentage to remain on the sender. You will be able to use both plan and actual data while using
the iteration.
337. What is ‘Splitting’? Explain the ‘Splitting Structure.’
‘Splitting’ is a process used to assign ‘activity-independent’ plans/actual costs, both primary and
secondary, of a cost center to the individual activity types within that cost center. But the
important requirement is that you will use this when there is no account assignment to the activity
types.
You may either use theSplitting rules or theEquivalence number to achieve this. When you
split the costs from a cost center, the cost center temporarily becomes more than one cost center
for the purpose of allocation but again becomes a single cost center when posting happens in the
subsequent period.
If you need to assign different cost elements or cost element groups to activities in more than one
way, then you need to define a‘Splitting Structure’ containing ‘splitting rules’ to determine the
criteria of splitting ‘activity-independent’ costs to an activity type. If you have created the splitting
structure in customizing and assigned the same to a cost center, then the system uses the
splitting structure for cost apportioning; otherwise, it will use the equivalence number.
The‘splitting rules’ determine the amount or the proportion of costs to be allocated to various
activity types of a cost center and is based on the consumption of these activity types. The costs
thus allocated may be a fixed sum, or a percentage, or it can even be based on the tracing
factors or SKFs.
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The ‘equivalence number’ is a basic method for splitting the costs when you manually plan for
each of the activity types. By this, you will plan all activity-independent costs according to the
equivalence numbers (the default is 1).
338. What is an ‘Activity Price Calculation’?
You will be completing the planning process only when you perform the‘ActivityPrice
Calculation,’ which is based on planned activities and costs. By doing this you are valuating the
planned secondary costs at receiving cost centers. If you do not want to use activity price thus
calculated, you are free to use thepolitical price for the activity type.
As you are aware, the activity price is used for planned/actual allocation and is determined by
using either the political price or the system-calculated activity price.
339. How does the System Calculate the ‘Activity Price’?
The system calculates the‘Activity Price,’ for each activity type and cost center, by following the
underlying rule:
Note that the system will continue to calculate the activity price even if you have set the price
indicator of an activity type to the‘political price.’
340. What is known as the ‘Political Price’ for an Activity Type?
The‘Political Price’ is the price determined outside the SAP system, which is used in manual
input using the required planning layout in planning.
341. What is ‘Allocation Price Variance?
‘Allocation Price Variance’ is the difference between the ‘political price’ of an activity type and
the ‘system calculated activity price’ of the same activity type.
342. What is ‘Budgeting’?
‘Budgeting’ is used to augment the planning process at the cost-center level. While planning is
considered the‘bottom-up’ approach, budgeting is regarded as the‘top-down’ method to
control costs.
Budgeting usually comes ‘down’ from the ‘top (management)’ and is used to guide the planning
process at the cost-center level. Note that budgeting isnot integrated with postings; you will get
an error when the system comes across a posting that will result in the actual values exceeding
the budget for that cost center.
343. What are the ‘Direct Allocation’ Methods of Posting in CO?
The‘Direct Allocation’ of posting in CO may be an actual cost entry or a transaction-based
posting.
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Theactual cost entry is the transfer of primary costs from FI to CO, on a real-time basis, through
the primary cost elements. You may also transfer transaction data by making the cost accounting
assignment to cost objects from other modules such as FI-AA, SD, and MM:
(cid:131) FI-AA: Assign assets to a cost center (to post depreciation, etc.)
(cid:131) MM: Assign GR to a cost center/internal order
(cid:131) SD: Assign or settle a sales order to a cost center or internal order
Note that during actual cost entry, the system creates two documents. When you post the primary
costs from FI to CO, the system will create a document in FI and a parallel document in CO,
which is summarized from the point of the cost object/element.
Transaction-based postings are executed within the CO, again on a real-time basis, enabling
you to have updated cost information on the cost centers at any point in time. You will be able to
carry out the following transaction-based postings in CO:
(cid:131) Reposting
o Line items
o Transactions
(cid:131) Manual cost allocation
(cid:131) Direct activity allocation
(cid:131) Posting of Statistical Key Figures
(cid:131) Posting of sender activities
344. What is the ‘Indirect Allocation’ Method of Postings in CO?
The‘Indirect Allocation’ of postings in CO may be used at the end of a period as a periodic
allocation. This is done after you have completed all the primary postings. You may post the
following periodic allocations using indirect allocation:
(cid:131) Periodic Reposting
(cid:131) Distribution
(cid:131) Assessment
(cid:131) Accrual Cost Calculation (Inputted Cost Calculation)
(cid:131) Indirect Activity Allocation
345. Explain ‘CO Automatic Account Assignment.’
For transferring primary costs to CO, on a real-time basis, you need to have‘Automatic Account
Assignments’ defined in the system. By doing this, you will always be able to post a particular
cost to a specified cost center. You can also use this assignment for automatically posting the
exchange rate differences (gain or loss), discount, etc., to CO.
You may also have additional account assignment at different levels such as:
(cid:131) Controlling area/account/Company Code in the customizing
(cid:131) Controlling area/account/cost element in the master record
(cid:131) Controlling area/account/Company Code/business area/valuation area in customizing
The system always goes through the route of customizing first, then to the cost element master
record while accessing the account assignment rules.
346. How does ‘Validation’ differ from ‘Substitution’?
SAP uses validations and substitutions to check the integrity of data entered before posting a
document. When you have both substitutions and validations defined, the system first completes
the substitution then goes on to validate the entries. Note that only one validation and one
substitution can be activated at a time for a controlling area per‘call-up point.’
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A‘Validation’ uses Boolean logic forchecking any type of combination of specified criteria (such
as account type/cost center combination) for ensuring the validity before allowing you to post a
document.
Example:
(cid:131) Validation Rule: If the cost element is ‘120000,’ then the cost center is ‘1200.’
(cid:131) Document: You try posting a document containing the cost element as ‘120000’ and the
cost center is ‘1400.’
(cid:131) System Response: The system will throw an ‘error message’ after checking that the cost
center value does not match the cost center value of the criteria for that given cost element
value.
In contrast to validation which just checks for validity,substitution ensures that the system
replaces a value assigned to one or more fields based on predetermined criteria, using, again,
‘Boolean logic.’
Example:
(cid:131) Substitution Rule: If the cost element is ‘120000,’ then the cost center is ‘1200.’
(cid:131) Document: You try posting a document containing the cost element as ‘120000’ and the
cost center as ‘1400.’
(cid:131) System Response: The system will replace the entered cost center value of ‘1400’ with
that of the correct value ‘1200.’
347. What is a ‘Call-up Point’?
A‘Call-up Point’ is a particular point in transaction processing that triggers an action such as
substitution or validation.
348. What is ‘Boolean Logic’?
‘Boolean Logic’ is based on simple logic to determine if a given statement is true or false. The
logic works on the basic principle that a statement can either be true or false. In a complex
statement (created using operators ‘and’/‘or’/‘nor,’ etc.) with many parts, the logic goes by
assigning true or false from part to part, and then determines at the end whether the combination
is true or false.
349. Explain ‘Reposting’ in Cost Center Accounting.
‘Reposting’ is one of the ‘transaction-based postings’ in Cost Center Accounting used to
reallocate costs that were incorrectly posted to another cost center earlier. Also calledinternal
reposting, there are two types:
(cid:131) Line Item Reposting
(cid:131) Transaction Reposting
UseLine Item Reposting only when a certain line item, from the original posting, needs to be
reposted. Under this reposting, at the end of the transaction, the system creates a new CO
document, but keeps the original FI document unchanged. In the new CO document created, the
original FI number is referenced.
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You will resort to the entireTransaction Reposting when the original posting was incorrect. Here,
the original FI documents are not referenced to in the new CO document created, though the
original FI document remains unchanged.
350. Is ‘Periodic Reposting’ Different from ‘Reposting’?
‘Periodic Reposting,’ a method under ‘indirect allocation,’ is used to correct multiple postings
made to cost centers during a particular period. As such, this is similar tomultiple reposting
under ‘transaction-based postings.’
Periodic reposting is also similar todistribution, when you use this, at the period end, to transfer
all costs from a ‘pooled cost center’ to other receivers. (Note that the ‘distribution’ is meant
primarily for cost allocation, but periodic reposting is meant for correcting the posting errors.)
351. Explain ‘Manual Cost Allocation.’
‘Manual Cost Allocation’—one of the ‘transaction-based postings’—is used to post both primary
and secondary actual costs (not the planned costs), and also to transfer external data. You may
also use this to correct secondary costs that were incorrectly posted earlier. In the process of
manual cost allocation, remember that you can use any type of cost element except 43, as this is
meant exclusively for activity allocation.
You may use this among cost centers, internal orders, networks, network activities, sales orders,
sales order items, WBS elements, etc., identifying these cost objects as senders/receivers.
352. What is ‘Direct Activity Allocation’?
‘Direct Activity Allocation’—one of the ‘transaction-based postings’—is used to record activities
performed by a cost center and to allocate simultaneously to ‘receiving cost centers.’ You will use
this ‘direct activity allocation’ only when you know the activity volumes of both the sender and the
receiver. If not known, then use theindirect activity allocation at the period end.
You need to input the activity quantity, sender/receiver cost center and date to enable the system
to allocate the costs; the system will automatically determine theallocation cost element and
theactivity price (either the planned price or the actual price). The system multiplies the activity
consumed with that of the activity price to arrive at the allocated cost.
353. How do You Calculate ‘Accrued Costs’?
SAP provides two methods for calculating theInputtedorAccrued Costsin CO:
(cid:131) Target=Actual method
(cid:131) Cost Element Percent method
354. Describe the ‘Reconciliation Ledger.’
The‘Reconciliation Ledger’ is used to keep track of all cross-Company Code transactions
between FI and CO, as there is every chance that there may be some imbalance between the CO
totals and FI totals when more than one Company Code is attached to a controlling area. This is
because you may try to allocate costs from one cost center to another assigned to a different
Company Code.
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The reconciliation ledger records the Company Code, business area, functional area, amount,
cost objects, cost element, currency (Company Code and controlling area), etc. You can make
reconciliation postings at the end of a period to synchronize FI and CO with the configuration
settings to automatically post the differences to FI.
While configuring the reconciliation ledger, you may useextended accountassignments
besides the normal account assignment for automatic transfer of reconciled postings. The
extended account assignment helps make more comprehensive assignments to the relevant
reconciliation accounts, with the option and flexibility of specifying any field in the reconciliation
ledger (Company Code, cost element, functional area, etc.) for checking the ‘substitution rules.’
To aid in determining possible reconciliation postings, you can opt for selecting individual cost
flows from all the relevant cost flows. This is accomplished by running the relevant report and
looking for the relevant ‘data block’ (such as total cost flows, basic overview list, and detailed list).
355. What is ‘Variance Analysis’ in CO-OM-CCA?
‘Variance Analysis’ is the determination and interpretation of the difference(s) between the
actual and planned (target) costs (within a cost center/cost center group) in cost center
accounting. The analysis is intended to provide important clues to top management to plan better
later.
356. What are the ‘Categories of Variances’ in CO-OM-CCA?
SAP helps to classify all variances into two categories:
(cid:131) Input Variance
(cid:131) Output Variance
357. Explain the ‘Input Variance.’
The‘Input Variance’ is the result of the mismatch of amounts/quantities of inputs planned and
actually used. You will be able to identify the followinginput sidevariances in the system:
(cid:131) Quantity variance—when there is a difference between planned and actual quantity of
activity consumption. The inference is that there is some production inefficiency leading to
more consumption or there is some loss/shrinkage in the quantities.
(cid:131) Price variance—when there is a difference between the planned and actual price of an
activity. The inference will be that you may need to change the suppliers looking for lower
prices or it is just a market condition.
(cid:131) Resource (use) variance—when there is use of an unplanned cost element or there has
not been a posting of a planned cost element. The inference is that there are some
unidentified costs that may be planned in the next planning cycle, or just plain errors in
postings.
(cid:131) Remaining (input) variance—these are all miscellaneous variances where the system is
not able to categorize a variance.
358. What is an ‘Output Variance’?
An‘Output Variance’ is the result when the actual costs allocated from a cost center differ from
the planned (or target) cost allocation from the cost center. The variances on the ‘output side’
may be any one of the following:
(cid:131) Volume variance—this variance occurs with actual and planned activities (in terms of
activity quantity and/or the activity itself). It can arise in either or both situations described
below:
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o Volume variance=Plan Activity Cost—(Actual Activity Quantity*Planned Activity
Price)
o Volume variance=Plan Activity Price*(Planned Activity Quantity— Actual Activity
Quantity)
(cid:131) Output price variance—this variance occurs when the activity price used in the actual
allocation is a political activity price (manually entered or plan price) differing from the system
calculated activity price (target price).
(cid:131) Output quantity variance—this kind of variance occurs only on the actual side, when
there is a difference between the actual activity quantity (manually) entered in the sender
cost center, and the actual activity quantity allocated from that sender cost center.
(cid:131) Remaining variance—this reflects the miscellaneous variance, at the cost center level,
identified by the system on the output side but remains not categorized into any of the above
three types. The possible reason can be that you have deactivated the output variances in
thevariance variant configuration or the output variance is less than the ‘minor difference’
you have defined in the ‘variance variant.’
359. How do You Deal with ‘Variances’?
Though the system identifies and calculates variances, they are not automatically dealt with by
the system. Hence, these variances will remain at the cost center as aperiod-end balance and
you need to act on that in one of the following ways:
(cid:131) You may do actual activity price calculation to revalue all internal allocations with a newly
calculated price (as against the initial planned activity price), and post the difference to all the
cost centers which initially received the allocations. This will help you in clearing all or a
portion of output price variances.
(cid:131) You may ‘transfer’ the variance balance to other modules (such as CO-PA) for further
analysis.
(cid:131) You may make additional automated allocations within CO-OM-CCA to one or more cost
center.
360. What are All the ‘Standard Reports’ in CO?
SAP comes delivered with a number of‘Standard Reports’ in the CO module. The reports are
grouped under:
(cid:131) Planning reports
(cid:131) Comparison reports
(cid:131) Line item reports
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Figure 85:Report Tree in CO
(cid:131) Report for activity prices
(cid:131) Reports for variance analysis
(cid:131) Master data reports
(cid:131) Document display
All the reports are arranged in a‘report tree’ with a hierarchical arrangement of reports under
various nodes. Note that you will not be able to change the standard report tree supplied by SAP;
if you need to you can copy it, define your own reports, and then attach these newly defined ones
to the new report tree you just defined.
361. What is ‘Summarization’ in CO?
‘Summarization’ helps to condense and store the transaction data at the ‘cost center group’ level.
You may do the summarization for the highest node of the standard hierarchy or any of the
‘alternate hierarchies.’ Once summarized, you will be able to create a vast number of reports with
report run-time vastly reduced as all the data of the nodes are readily available from the
summarized table.
Internal Orders
362. What is an ‘Internal Order’?
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An‘Internal Order’ is a cost object used mainly for recording costs associated with certain
events taking place within the company. The events are unique such as marketing campaigns,
repairs, trade exhibitions etc. Unlike the cost centers where you typically post only the costs, you
will be able to post both cost and revenue information to internal orders. You can plan, monitor,
collect, and settle costs/revenue on internal orders.
The internal orders can be classified as aSingle order/Individual orderor aStanding order.
The orders can also be aReal internal orderor aStatisticalinternal order.
363. How does an ‘Individual Order’ differ from a ‘Standing Order’?
An‘Individual (Internal) Order’ is meant for collecting and settling costs of a one-time and
unique business activity such as a new product launch. You will be settling the order in full at the
end of the activity. Typically, this type of order is used for advertising campaigns, R & D costs,
assets produced in-house, etc.
A‘Standing (Internal) Order’ on the other hand, is used in the case of repetitive operations, the
costs of which are generally smaller compared to one-time orders. You will settle the costs and
form these orders on a ‘periodic basis’ (say, at the end of every month) and will keep the order
open to receive future costs. You will use this type of order for tracking costs on routine
maintenance, telephone use charges, etc. These orders do away with the need to create a new
order every time you need such a tracking; they are similar to standing instructions.
364. What are the ‘Groups’ of Internal Orders?
Internal Orders can be grouped into the following categories/groups:
(cid:131) Overhead orders
Associated with monitoring of overhead costs incurred for a specific purpose such as
tracking repair work, painting the factory, conducting an exhibition, etc. Overhead cost orders
are used only in the CO area.
(cid:131) Investment orders
Tracking the costs incurred on fixed assets (assets under construction) such as construction
of a warehouse, etc. These are also calledcapital investmentorders.
(cid:131) Accrual orders
You will use accrual orders when you need to make an offsetting posting of accrued costs to
a cost center in CO.
(cid:131) Orders with revenue
These orders help you carry out cost accounting functionality of SAP SD (customer orders)
when you have not implemented the SD module. By doing this, you will be able to track costs
and revenues.
365. How do ‘Statistical Internal Orders’ Differ from ‘Real Orders’?
A‘Statistical Internal Order’ is used to collect costs for the purpose of information and reporting,
as the costs ‘collected’ on this order are never settled to a cost object. When you want to create
such an order, you will be required to specify that the order is ‘statistical’ in its master record.
However, to make a posting to this kind of order, you need to have a ‘real’ or ‘true’ cost object
specified during the transaction.
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A‘Real Internal Order’ is always used to settle costs to other cost objects. So, even if you
specify a real cost object while making a posting to a real order, the system will consider that cost
object a statistical one as the internal order itself is a real cost object.
Logistics
Sales & Distribution (SD)
Depicted below is the broad organizational structure of logistics, which will help you understand
how the various units of SD as well as MM modules are linked to FI:
Figure 86:Logistics organizational structure in SAP
366. What are the Components of the SAP SD Module?
The importantComponents in SAP Sales & Distribution module include:
(cid:131) Master data
(cid:131) Basic functions
(cid:131) Sales (including foreign sales and sales support)
(cid:131) Shipping and transportation
(cid:131) Billing
(cid:131) Sales support
(cid:131) Information systems
367. What are the Important Organizational Elements of SAP SD?
The importantOrganizational Elements in SAP Sales & Distribution include:
(cid:131) Sales organization
(cid:131) Distribution channel
(cid:131) Division
(cid:131) Sales area
(cid:131) Sales group
(cid:131) Sales person
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| Logistics |
|---|
| Sales & Distribution (SD) |
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Figure 87:SD Organizational Structure
368. Explain the ‘Sales Organization.’ How it is Assigned to a
‘Plant’?
The ‘Sales Organization’ is the top-most organizational element in SD. It represents and takes
care of all the transactions relating to the selling and distribution of products or services. A
distribution channel is assigned to one or more sales organization. The customer master can
be maintained with different sales organization views.
The sales organization, identified by a 4-character code, is assigned to one or more plants. These
plants are, in turn, assigned to a Company Code. So, it follows that any number ofsales areas
can be brought under a single Company Code.
Even though it is possible that you may have any number of sales organizations, it is
recommended that you have a minimum number of these units in your setup. Ideal
recommendation is for a single sales organization per Company Code. If you are selling the same
product or service from more than one sales organization, then there is a clear indication that you
have more sales organizations defined than what would ideally be required.
369. What is a ‘Distribution Channel’?
A ‘Distribution Channel’ depicts the channel through which the products or services reach the
customers after they are sold (for example, wholesale, retail, direct sales, etc.). Represented by a
2-digit identifier, the distribution channel is assigned to one or moresales areas. As a result, one
customer may be serviced through more than one distribution channel. Such as in asales
organization, the customer master data may have different distribution channel views.
370. What is a ‘Distribution Chain’?
A ‘Distribution Chain’ represents the possible combinations ofsalesorganization(s) and
distribution channel(s). In Figure 89, Detroit 1110-Resale 15 forms a distribution channel and is
normally denoted ‘1110–15.’
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