Carry out the following steps to collect the costs of an undertaking on a general cost object with cumulative planning and settlement:

1. Create a general cost object.

Create a master record for the general cost object containing all information necessary for managing the undertaking (such as the name of the undertaking, the name of the person responsible, and assignments to organizational units).

2. Calculate the planned costs.

Create a unit cost estimate. In this cost estimate, list all materials and activities required to complete the undertaking. For each costing item, the system calculates a price and totals these values.

To account for costs such as heating or cafeteria expenses, the system calculates which overheads the general cost object must be debited with on the basis of the control parameters in the master record.

3. Perform plan-actual analysis.

Actual costs arise from postings in Financial Accounting, goods movements in Materials Management, internal cost allocations, and overhead calculation in Controlling. Each posting debits the general cost object.

You can compare the planned costs with the actual costs incurred to date and check the internal progress at any time.

4. Settle the actual costs to a profitability segment.