Outlining the Business Scenario and Implementation Steps

Objectives
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

  • Explain the business scenario and objectives for this course
  • Outline the key steps to implement SAP S/4HANA Cloud for Group Reporting

Business Scenario and Objectives

Prerequisites

Welcome to the Configuration of SAP S/4HANA Cloud for group reporting course! Here you'll learn how to configure SAP S/4HANA Cloud for group reporting. The following learning journeys are the recommended prerequisites for this course:

  • Overview of SAP S/4HANA Cloud for Group Reporting
  • Basic Concepts of SAP S/4HANA Cloud for Group Reporting
  • Corporate Close with SAP S/4HANA Cloud for Group Reporting
Note
SAP offers a cloud product SAP S/4HANA Cloud for group reporting and an on-premise solution. SAP S/4HANA Finance for group reporting. This course covers both and you can assume all functionality described is equivalent for both.

Persona

  • You’re an intermediate consolidation consultant.
  • You have the assignment to implement group reporting based on instructions from a lead consultant at ABC Corporation (this persona pertains to internal as well as external consultants).
  • You’re already familiar with SAP S/4HANA Finance and the corporate close process.
  • You already understand group reporting concepts and how to perform group reporting tasks.

Tasks to be Accomplished:

  • Along with an experienced project lead, you’ll configure group reporting and maintain master data in order to perform the corporate close activities.
  • The corporate close activities include: update master data, data release, flexible import, data validation, currency translation, adjusting entries, reclassification, intercompany matching, intercompany elimination, reporting rules, restatements, and balance carryforward.

Business Requirements:

ABC Corporation is implementing group reporting to consolidate actual data. ABC Corporation is a multinational company with quite a few intercompany transactions. Some of their companies reside in SAP S/4HANA and some are in legacy systems.

The detailed requirements include the following:

  • Report on consolidated data in the ACDOCA table when postings occur in finance.

  • Split SAP S/4HANA companies into multiple consolidation units (by segment).

  • Perform restatements of historical data as accounting standards change.

  • Report in a second group currency.

  • Use special versions to share configuration and master data objects to lower the cost of maintenance.
  • Create new consolidation groups and units.

  • Assign consolidation units to consolidation groups to reflect the corporate investment structure.

  • Create custom fields in accounting and group reporting to meet special reporting needs.

  • Add custom attributes to the FS item master.

  • Create new FS items, G/L account mappings, and hierarchies are required.

  • Create a custom task group for the data and consolidation monitors.

  • Validate profit centers when group reporting journals are posted.

  • Derive segments if they're left blank.

  • Simulate ownership changes.

  • Translate local currency into group currency for consolidation units not in SAP S/4HANA.

  • Retain group currency from accounting for the consolidation units in SAP S/4HANA.

  • Provide complex reports for cash flow and statement of changes in equity.

  • Map versions and subitem to restate opening balances during the balance carryforward configuration and prior-year restated versions must be mapped to standard versions in the new year.

Learning Objectives

After this course, you can:

  • Explain the underlying architecture.
  • Maintain master data.
  • Configure group reporting to perform the monthly close activities for actual data.

Steps to Implement SAP S/4HANA Cloud for Group Reporting

The following video outlines the key implementation steps for group reporting.

Accounting Prerequisites

When using the preparation ledger, there are several factors in accounting to keep in mind:

  • Check the assignment of company codes to companies and assign fiscal year variants to company codes.
  • Check the assignment of company codes to ledgers and the currency settings for each company code.
  • Adjust the accounting trial balance to include group reporting fields.

When implementing group reporting, there are several areas in accounting to consider:

  • Trading partner: This will be released to Partner Unit in group reporting. For intercompany transactions, you should check if trading partner is blank in any transactions.
  • Functional area: functional areas in accounting must exist in group reporting (as a subitem).
  • Chart of accounts: Since G/L accounts are mapped to FS items, the accounting COA(s) with the relevant G/L accounts must be identified.
  • Group currency: group currency values in accounting may be used to populate group currency in ACDOCU. Before releasing data, the group currency values in accounting should be validated. Keep in mind that group currency values in accounting are based on exchange rates on the day of the posting (the data is historical).
  • Transaction type: This will be released to Subitem in group reporting.

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