Booking Group Journal Entries

After you complete the reported data validation, you can then make adjusting entries to comply with the corporate accounting standards. For example, a local subsidiary may report inventory as finished goods but from a corporation perspective it's a work in progress.

One-time accounting adjustments can be performed manually with group journals or automatically with the reclassification task. These adjusting entries reside only in group reporting because they’re independent from the SAP General Ledger. Adjusting entries can be audited by using the posting level and document type dimensions.

Let's do a quick review of posting levels and document types.

Posting levels are used to track the origin of data by key process step. For example, reported data uses posting level 00, standardized data uses 10, eliminated data uses 20, and consolidated data uses 30. Posting levels can be used to visualize where data is coming from when running reports and therefore provide a high-level audit trail.

Document types provide a more detailed audit trail. For example, data release uses document type 0F, file uploads use 00, and SAP Group Reporting data collection uses 0C. Each document type uses only one posting level but one posting level can use multiple document types.

There are several apps available to process group reporting journals:

1. You can launch the Post Group Journal Entries app from the monitors.
2. You can also access the Post Group Journal Entries app directly.
3. Use the Display Group Journal Entries app to lookup posted documents.
4. Use the Display Group Journal Entries with Reporting Logic app to look-up posted documents with elimination entities.
5. Use the Mass Reversal app to reverse multiple documents at one time.
6. Use the Import Group Journal app to do mass uploads.

The following apps are used to display group journals:

• The Display Group Journal Entries app is used to display line items of posting documents without any reporting logic. Consolidation unit, profit center and segment hierarchies aren't required and are not included in the output.
• The Display Group Journal Entries with Reporting Logic app is used to display line items of posting documents with reporting logic. The reporting logic is used to dynamically display elimination entity values by applying the first-common-parent rule to hierarchies selected at run-time. Consolidation unit, profit center and segment hierarchies are required and are included in the output.

In the Post Group Journal Entries app, you can:

1. List existing journals
2. Copy an existing journal to a new journal
3. Reverse a journal
4. Create a new journal
5. Delete drafts

You can reverse individual journal entries by selecting the journal to be reversed and choosing Reverse. The system reverses the journal entry and updates the records in the database.

You can also reverse multiple journal entries (also called documents) in the Mass Reversal app. While doing so, you select and reverse manually posted documents by various criteria, for example, by organizational unit, version, time, task, or subassignment.

When posting a new Group Journal, follow these steps for the General Data fields:

1. Select the Document Type.
2. Enter the Posting Period.
3. Enter the Fiscal Year.
4. Enter the reason for the adjusting entry.
5. Enter the Consolidation Unit.

In the Line Items:

1. Enter the FS Item and amounts (validation & substitution rules are checked at this point).
2. Balance: change the debit line item to the same value as the credit line item.
3. Settings: change the display columns.
4. Access the line item detail.
5. Fix errors: Add profit center (in this example).

In the preceding example, there’s a debit to 131500 finished goods and a credit to 585000 other expense. As you enter the FS items, the subitem values are derived from the breakdown category assigned to each FS item.

After you specify line item details and choose the Create button, automatic lines are generated to make sure the balance sheet and income statement are balanced.

In situations where the same group-dependent manual journal should be posted to multiple consolidation groups, you can increase the efficiency by creating a manual group journal entry for multiple consolidation groups.

When you create a manual group journal entry for multiple consolidation groups, the documents are bundled for the selected consolidation groups. You can manage bundled journals together in subsequent activities, such as copies or reversals.

In the Post Journal Entry app, you can post on your primary group (the first consolidation group that is selected), as well as on additional groups.

In the line items, you post to a consolidation units that belong to the consolidation groups in the header.

For every selected consolidation group, separate documents are posted. To track these documents, the system assigns a document bundle number to every group journal entry, which posts to multiple consolidation groups. You can use the document bundle number for the reversal process, and you can also filter the document bundle number in the Post Group Journal Entries app and in the Display Group Journal Entries app. This allows you to search for the corresponding bundle based on the bundle document number.

Get more information on group journal entries posting to multiple consolidation groups.

In restatement scenarios, you may need to post to multiple versions at one time.

Scenario: To post to multiple versions, follow these steps:

1. Select the document type.
2. Select the extension version(s). (In this example, V02 is for an alternative group currency).
3. Enter the line items with an amount for each version.

In this video, you'll see how to post a group journal entry with an extension version in a restatement scenario.

• Selected items are default FS items used to keep the income statement and balance sheet in balance.
• Selected items automatically generate balancing line items when triggered.
• The trigger can either be manual or automatically generated line items that affect the income statement and balance sheet at the same time.

If you post to a profit & loss and a balance sheet item, the system uses selected items for balancing:

1. Enter the two new lines items. In this example 131500 BS and 585000 PL.
2. The system auto-generates line items 3 and 4 based on the selected item table in configuration.

Now that you understand how you can create group journal entries, let's get into the workflow feature.

Workflow Scenario:

At ABC Corporation, your colleagues can create journal entries in group reporting if the value is less than 10,000. When the journal entry amount is above 500, your team leader must approve the journal. When they approve the journal entry, it is posted automatically.

Let's take a look at the system options when you use workflow.

When you create a new journal entry, there is an option on the upper right to create a workflow item. If the amount is above the tolerance of 500, you cannot create the journal, you can only create a workflow.

When you create a workflow item, the approver is notified.

• When you choose Approve, the workflow item is approved and the original document draft is written to the database.
• When you choose Rework, the document draft is unlocked for changes. The initiator can edit the draft version and enhance it with the requested changes. The approver can also provide a note with a short description.
• When you choose Reject, the workflow item is rejected and the document draft is deleted.

If you open the workflow item in your To Do screen, your inbox screen opens. From your inbox, you can access the Workflow Log which displays the actions taken.

To learn more about the workflow feature, choose:

Manage Workflows for Group Journal

Watch this video to see an example of how to create a group journal entry using workflow.