Analytical reporting on fiscal year using a single balance sheet G/L account in S/4HANA Public Cloud

[mariana_prusorova]

Dear experts,

Customer wants to replace multiple historical balance sheet accounts (investments, provisions, retained earnings, etc.) with one G/L account per category, but each type requires different analytical views (e.g., retained earnings by fiscal year, provisions by business partner, investments by customer).
What is the best practice in SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud ?

Thanks, 

Mariana

[Chris1973 · Accepted solution]

Hello @mariana_prusorova 

Thank you for your question.

Yes, one G/L account per category plus rich dimensions is the best practice in public cloud; as long as you model your required analytics as characteristics. Let me explain:

Based on your description, the best practice is to minimise the number of balance sheet G/L accounts and use either the standard or custom universal journal dimension to get the analytical views you need. Instead of keeping many historic accounts for investments, provisions or retained earnings, you should keep one account per category and analyse by fiscal year, business partner or customer using the universal journal and additional characteristics. This Blog provides some insight details: Why YCOA? The value of the standard Chart of Accounts in S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition.

Should you have missing characteristics, create custom fields on the journal entry for example ProvisionCategory or InvestmentCategory in the Custom Fields app. Make sure you enable them for posting and reporting. Use Manage Substitution app to fill them. These fields become part of ACDOCA and you can use them in Custom Analytical Queries to produce views such as retained earning by year, provisions by business partner and investments by customer without multiplying your G/L accounts.

Here are some helpful references:

Chart of Accounts: Different Types (Two-System Landscape)

Custom Fields for Journal Entries Used in G/L Accounting

How to Upload Extension Fields?

Let me know if you have further questions.

Best regards

Chris