Every asset transaction in the R/3 Asset Accounting (FI-AA) component immediately causes a change of the forecasted depreciation. However, it does not immediately cause an update of the depreciation and value adjustment accounts for the balance sheet and profit and loss statements. The planned depreciation is posted to the general ledger when you run the periodic depreciation posting run. This posting run posts the planned depreciation for each posting level for each individual asset as a lump sum amount.

The calculation and scheduling of depreciation, interest and revaluation are automatically controlled by keys in the system, or you can control them manually using a special posting transaction. In both cases, planned depreciation from Asset Accounting has to be periodically posted to the corresponding asset and expense accounts of the general ledger. In addition to the various depreciation types, interest and revaluation, this posting run also posts the allocation and write-off of special reserves.

When the system posts depreciation, it creates collective documents. It does not create separate documents for each asset.

You call up the report for posting depreciation by choosing Periodic Processing ® Depreciation Run ® Execute. The report should be run according to periods (annually, semi-annually, quarterly or monthly). This report posts depreciation amounts directly to Financial Accounting. You can only start an update run of this report in the form of background processing. You can also schedule the report using the Schedule Manager (for example, as part of periodic closing operations). Regardless of whether or not you use the Schedule Manager to schedule the depreciation posting run, the Schedule Manager is used to store the error log, the output lists and the job log, and you can use the monitor to access these later.

See the objects below for more information on

In the initial screen of the report, specify the specific activity you want to perform in the posting run:

• Repeat posting run: You can request a repeat posting run for the last period posted. A repeat run might be necessary, for example, if the depreciation terms were changed for individual assets in connection with the year-end closing. During a repeat posting run, the system only posts the differences that resulted between the first posting run and the repeat posting run (no double posting). You can limit the run to particular assets.

• Catch-up method

• Smoothing

• Restart: If the posting run terminates for technical reasons or because errors were found, you have to start the report over again in restart mode. Using the restart mode ensures that all system activities are repeated that were not completed in the run containing the errors. In a restart run, only those assets are processed and displayed in the log that were not processed successfully in the prior run.

• Unplanned posting run: If you want to skip over one or more posting periods, specify an unplanned posting run. The system then posts for all periods that were skipped, as well as for the period entered. The posting period that you specify, however, has to fit into the posting cycle. If you specify period 7, for example, for a quarterly posting cycle, no posting will occur.

Here you can:

• Specify if you want the report to list all assets separately, or if you want them to be shown in summarized form. Keep in mind that the output list can become very large if you have a high number of assets. It is also possible to create a list by individual asset later using the log report.
• Specify if you want entries to be shown only for assets for which there are values to be posted in the current period. If you select Display all values, then the report generates entries for assets even if they only have planned or posted values in the current year.
• Specify that you want a separate list showing manual depreciation.
• Enter an ALV layout that specifies how you want the output list to be formatted. You can create this kind of layout interactively in the output list itself, and save it for later use.
• Run the depreciation posting run in parallel on different servers by entering a server group. This distributes the calculation burden to several application servers. SAP recommends this procedure when you have large datasets and long runtimes. For more information, see the online help documentation for the Server Group field.

You can start the posting run first as a test run. SAP recommends this, particularly if you are starting the posting run for the first time, or if significant changes have been made to your data or to your system configuration. The functions of the test run are explained below:

• During a test run, the system performs all of the same checks as for an update run. The system check in particular the validity of all existing account assignments (for example, to cost centers or internal orders).

• The system simulates all accounting documents that would be created. You can go to the simulated document by double clicking on the document number. If the test run is started in the background, a spool list is created for each simulated document.
• You can limit the report to specific assets in a test run.
• You can execute a test run at any time, even after a terminated posting run. This is especially useful for analyzing errors that occurred in an update run.