Identifying the Chart of Accounts Types

In Financial Accounting, the different Chart of Accounts Types are essential for organizing and managing financial data. Each type of chart of accounts serves a specific purpose and controls different aspects of financial reporting and compliance. For example, the Group Chart of Accounts consolidates multiple cash accounts into one for group reporting, and allows for the assignment of various attributes such as item type, breakdown category, elimination attribute, currency translation attribute, and role attribute.

In many cases, corporate groups are required to issue consolidated financial statements, including all companies of the group. Some of the company codes of the group may have to use special charts of accounts to meet legal requirements. This is especially true for multinational corporations.

In addition to the group chart of accounts, SAP S/4HANA offers the possibility of assigning a country chart of accounts. With a local chart of accounts you can, for example, assign the same operating chart of accounts to all company codes without the need for a separate group chart of accounts.

Company codes that require a special chart of accounts for external reporting have the following settings:

• A country chart of accounts is assigned.

• The account number of the country chart of accounts (an alternative account number) is entered in every operational G/L account company code segment. This account number can only be assigned once.

In S/4HANA the alternative account number is entered in the ACDOCA table during posting. Therefore, it is important to enter the right content before posting.

A disadvantage of using the local chart of accounts as the operational chart of accounts, is that accounting clerks familiar with the country charts of accounts will have to get used to the operational chart of accounts.

For the international groups shown in the figure, Charts of Accounts for a Group, cross-company code cost accounting is possible for European company codes. This is possible because company codes in Spain, Germany, and the UK use the same operational chart of accounts. The European company codes use chart of accounts YCOA as their operational chart of accounts.

Company codes in the US and Canada use chart of accounts CAUS as their operational chart of accounts. Cross-company code controlling is therefore also possible in North America.

To create reports using the country chart of accounts, the board of the international group has decided to define country-specific charts of accounts for the company codes.

The board has also decided that the group does not need controlling for Europe and North America combined, but that they would like consolidation to take place. Therefore, a group chart of accounts (CONS) has been set up for the operating charts of accounts YCOA and CAUS.