The main task of G/L accounting is the overall presentation of Financial Accounting. The general ledger is the complete record of all business transactions, and thus represents the main and current element in the rendering of accounts.

This scenario describes the process by which you define the G/L accounts and plan your general ledger. It also describes the postings you make in the general ledger.

• To be able to plan the general ledger, you must ensure that planning periods are open for each fiscal year.
• You must open posting periods in order to post to the G/L accounts. The posting keys and document types required are provided in the standard system, but you can configure them to meet your own requirements.

You can maintain the G/L accounts in different ways:

• You can create or change the G/L account first in the chart of accounts, and then in the company code
• You can create or change the G/L account in one step in both the chart of accounts and in the company code

When defining the accounts, you must always specify whether the account is a balance sheet or profit and loss account.

In the General Ledger (FI-GL) application component, you plan by company code. Within a company code, you can plan by accounts, or by a combination of account and business area. You enter the planned values using a financial statement version and the plan version number. You can plan at both financial statement item and account level.

You can use the SAP System to make the following posting transactions in the General Ledger:

• Standard G/L account postings
• Transfer postings with clearing (offsetting)
• Document parking
• Manual foreign currency valuations
• Recurring entries

You can use this function manually or via the clearing program to clear debit and credit amounts that balance to zero (such as invoices and payments that you have already entered).

You can calculate interest either on the account balance or on the arrears when calculating interest for a vendor account.

G/L account analysis includes:

• Line item analysis
• Balance analysis
• Evaluations

The SAP System supports the following closing operations for creating financial statements:

• Foreign currency valuation, balances
• Foreign currency valuation, open items
• Flat-rate value adjustment for payment default or credit risk
• Accrual/deferral postings
• Regrouping of receivables/payables
• GR/IR clearing account maintenance
• P&L adjustment
• Balance carried forward
• Periodic reports
• Creating financial statements