SAP FICO Interview Questions and Answers

Financial Accounting (FI)

General

75. Explain ‘Financial Accounting (FI)’ in SAP.

The ‘FI (Financial Accounting)’ module of SAP is the back-bone, which records, collects, and

processes financial transactions or information on a real-time basis to provide the necessary

inputs for external (statutory) reporting. The module is integrated with other modules (such as

Material Management (MM), Sales & Distribution (SD), Human Resources (HR), Production

Planning (PP), Controlling (CO), etc.). The module FI has several submodules that are tightly

integrated.

76. What are the ‘Submodules’ within FI?

􀂃 FI-AA Asset Accounting

Integrated with FI-GL, FI-AR, FI-AP, CO, MM, PP and PM, this module manages the

financial side (depreciation, insurance, etc.) of the assets throughout their entire lifecycle

starting with procurement of assets and ending with scrapping or sales.

􀂃 FI-AP Accounts Payable

Integrated with FI-GL, FI-AA, FI-TR and MM, this submodule manages vendor transactions

by linking with material management, asset accounting, travel management, etc. Notable is

the ‘payment program’ for making payments to vendors.

􀂃 FI-AR Accounts Receivable

Integrated with FI-GL, FI-AA, FI-TR, MM and SD, this submodule manages customers and

receivables, and integrates with SD. It is well-known for credit management functionalities

and the ‘dunning’ program.

􀂃 FI-BL Bank Accounting

􀂃 FI-FM Funds Management

􀂃 FI-GL General Ledger Accounting

This submodule is integrated with all other submodules within FI and outside FI.

􀂃 FI-SL Special Purpose Ledger

This submodule is used to provide the summary information from multiple applications at a

level of detail that the user defines.

􀂃 FI-LC Legal Consolidations

This submodule helps in the central task of combining the financial operating results of the

companies within a group to provide overall results for the group.

􀂃 FI-TM Travel Management

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77. Name the Submodules Within FI, from Which FI-GL Gets

Simultaneous Postings.

􀂃 Accounts Receivable (FI-AR)

􀂃 Accounts Payable (FI-AP)

􀂃 Asset Accounting (FI-AA)

78. Name Three Distinct Characteristics of FI-GL.

􀂃 Multi-currency capability

􀂃 Flexible real-time reporting

􀂃 Real-time transaction entries

Global and Enterprise Settings

Before getting into the questions, please look into the FI organization structure depicted below.

When moving through the questions, at any point in time if you need clarification on the

arrangement of the various organizational elements, do visit this page again. To be successful as

an FI/CO consultant you need to have a thorough grasp of this basic fundamental block in SAP

FI/CO.

Figure 14: FI Organization Structure

79. What do You mean by ‘Organizational Units’ in SAP?

The ‘Organizational Units’ in SAP are the elements or structures representing business

functions, and are used in reporting. For example, Client (across the various modules) Company

Code (FI), Controlling Area (CO), Plant (logistics), Sales Organization (SD), Purchasing

Organization (MM), Employee Group (HR), etc.

80. What are the Important ‘Organizational Units’ in FI?

1. Company

2. Company Code

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3. Business area

81. What is a ‘Company’?

A ‘Company’ in SAP is represented by a 5-character alphanumeric code and usually represents

the enterprise or the group company. A Company can include one or more Company Codes. The

creation of a Company, in SAP, is optional.

Figure 15: Company and Company Code

Figure 16: Define a Company

82. What is a ‘Company Code,’ and how is this different from a

‘Company’?

A ‘Company Code’ in SAP is the smallest organizational unit for which you can draw individual

Financial Statements (Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss Account) for your external statutory

reporting. It is denoted by a 4-character alphanumeric code. The creation of a Company Code is

mandatory; you need to have at least one Company Code defined in the system, for

implementing FI.

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Figure 17: Define a Company Code

You may define a Company Code by copying from an existing one (Copy, Delete, Check

Company Code Option).

You may also define the Company Code anew (the second option in the following figure), from

scratch.

Figure 18: Options to define a Company Code

83. What are the Important ‘Global Settings’ for a Company Code?

General data:

􀂃 Company Code

􀂃 Company Name

􀂃 City

􀂃 Address

􀂃 Currency

􀂃 Country

􀂃 Language

Global data:

􀂃 Chart of Accounts

􀂃 Credit Control Area

􀂃 Fiscal Year Variant

􀂃 Field Status Variant

􀂃 Posting Period Variant

84. Can You Assign more than One ‘Company Code’ to a

‘Company’?

All the Company Codes within a Company should use the same Chart of Accounts and the same

Financial Year, though they all can have different Local Currencies.

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85. What is a ‘Business Area’?

‘Business Areas’ correspond to specific business segments of a company, and may cut across

different Company Codes (for example, product lines). They can also represent different

responsibility areas (for example, branch units). The Business Areas are optional in SAP.

Figure 19: Business Area

The financial statements drawn per business area are for internal reporting purposes. You need

to put a check in the check box in the configuration for the company for which you want to enable

business area financial statements.

Figure 20: Enable Business Area Financial Statements

When transactions are posted in FI, you have the option of assigning the same to a Business

Area so that the values are properly captured for internal financial statements.

86. Can You Attach a ‘Business Area’ to a Transaction?

Yes. The Business Area can also be derived from other account assignments; for example, cost

center. But to do this, you need to define the Business Area in the master record of that particular

cost center.

87. How do You Post Cross-company Code Business Area

postings?

By using a cross-Company Code transaction, you should be able to post to different ‘Business

Areas’ and cut across various Company Codes. Any number of ‘Business Area-Company Code’

combinations is possible.

88. What is the ‘Credit Control Area’ in SAP?

The ‘Credit Control Area’ in SAP helps administer credit management functions relating to

customers. This organizational unit is used both in SD and FI-AR modules. By definition, you can

have more than one credit control area in a Client, but each Company Code is assigned to one

credit control area. However, it is true that you can attach many Company Codes to the same

credit control area.

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Figure 21: Credit Control Area

89. What is a ‘Chart of Accounts’?

A ‘Chart of Accounts’ is the list of GL accounts used in one or more Company Codes. All the GL

accounts in a chart of accounts will have an account number, account name, and some control

information. The control information decides how the GL account can be created.

90. What are all the Major Components of a ‘Chart of Accounts’?

A ‘Chart of Accounts’ includes the following components:

􀂃 Chart of account key

􀂃 Name

􀂃 Maintenance language

􀂃 The GL Account Number

􀂃 Controlling integration

􀂃 Group chart of accounts (consolidation)

􀂃 Block indicator

91. What is an ‘Operating Chart of Accounts’?

This chart is used for day-to-day postings and is also known as an ‘Operative’ or ‘Standard’

chart of accounts. Both FI and CO use a chart of accounts. It is mandatory that the chart of

accounts be assigned to a Company Code.

92. How does ‘Group Chart of Accounts’ Differ from ‘Operating

Chart of Accounts’?

The ‘Group Chart of Accounts,’ also known as the Corporate Chart of Accounts, is used for

consolidating all Company Codes (with a dissimilar Operative Chart of Accounts) falling under a

Company. This is the ‘universe’ of all-inclusive GL accounts from where the Operative Chart of

Accounts is derived. A Company Code is not mandatory.

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93. What is a ‘Country Chart of Accounts’? Why do You need This?

This chart of accounts, also known as an Alternate Chart of Accounts, contains the GL

accounts necessary to meet the specific statutory/legal requirements of a company from which a

Company Code operates. The assignment of this chart of accounts to a Company Code is also

optional. It is possible that both the operative and the country chart of accounts are one and the

same. In this case, you will not need two different charts of accounts.

In cases where the operative and country chart of accounts are different, a link needs to be

established by entering the GL account number from the ‘Country Chart of Accounts’ in the GL

master record (under the Company Code section) of the ‘Operative Chart of Accounts’ in the field

‘Alternate Account Number.’

94. Can one ‘Chart of Accounts’ be Assigned to Several Company

Codes?

Yes. One chart of accounts can be assigned to several Company Codes. However, the reverse is

not possible; i.e., you will not be able assign more than one chart of accounts to a single

Company Code.

95. What is a ‘Fiscal Year’ and ‘Fiscal Year Variant’?

A ‘fiscal year’ is the accounting period, which normally spreads over 12 months. Financial

statements are drawn for a fiscal year. The fiscal year, in SAP, is defined as a ‘Fiscal Year

Variant.’ All Calendar Year Fiscal Year Variants, in standard SAP, are denoted usually as K1,

K2, etc.

Figure 22: Fiscal Year Variant

The fiscal year may or may not correspond to the calendar year. In the standard SAP system, the

Non-Calendar Fiscal Year Variants are denoted V1, V2, etc.

Figure 23: Fiscal Year Variant (non-calendar year)

It is also possible that the fiscal year may be shorter than 12 months, and this is called a

‘Shortened Fiscal Year’ (R1, in Figure-1).

96. How do You Assign a ‘Fiscal Year Variant’ to a Company Code?

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One ‘Fiscal Year Variant’ can be assigned to one or more Company Codes.

Figure 24: Assign Fiscal Year Variant to a Company Code

97. What is a ‘Posting Period’?

A fiscal year, in SAP, is divided into various ‘Posting Periods,’ with a start and end date defined

for each of these periods. Any document posting is possible only when the ‘posting periods’ are in

place in the system. Normally there will be 12 posting periods. A posting period consists of a

month and year.

98. How does the System Identify a ‘Posting Period’?

Based on the posting date entered into the system while posting a document, the system

automatically determines the period by looking at the document date and the year. However, for

this to occur you should have properly defined the fiscal year variant.

99. What Happens when You Post to Year 2006 when You are in

2007?

First of all, to post a document relating to a previous year, say 2006 when you are in 2007, the

relevant posting period should be ‘open’ in the system. When such a posting is done, the system

makes some adjustments in the background:

One: the carry-forward balances of the current year, already done, are updated in case the

posting affects balance sheet items.

Two: if the posting is going to affect the Profit & Loss accounts, then the system adjusts the

carried forward profit or loss balances to the Retained Earnings account(s).

100. What do You Mean by ‘Opening/Closing’ Posting Periods?

Postings in SAP are controlled by the ‘opening’ or ‘closing’ of posting periods. Normally, the

current posting period is open for document posting and all other periods are closed. At the end

of the period (month), this posting period is closed and the new one is opened for postings. This

way it provides better control.

It is, however, possible to keep all the periods or select periods open.