In the standard system, summary data has a predefined structure for each G/L, customer, and vendor account. The structure is the same for all account types and is made up of client, account number, and company code.

The following totals are saved under this structure:

• The opening balance for balance sheet accounts (balance carried forward from the previous year) and subledger accounts (customer and vendor accounts)
• The sum of all transactions for each posting period, divided into debits and credits (transaction figures)

The following totals are then derived from this data for the account balance display:

• The balance per posting period
• The accumulated account balance

For each customer and vendor account, you can also display gross sales per period. The balances from special G/L transactions are also included, such as bills of exchange and down payments.

G/L account summary data is managed in the document currencies and, if necessary, in up to three local currencies for each company code. For foreign currency balance sheet accounts, the summary data is also kept in the foreign currency.

When creating G/L accounts, you can determine whether postings to a G/L account are to be updated only in the local currency (or currencies) or in the different document currencies. For further information, see Data in the Company Code in the FI General Ledger Accounting documentation.

If you post to an account separately by business areas, you can either display the balances by business area or as a sum of all business areas. The business area then forms part of the structure that affects how summary data is generated.

Summary data from G/L accounts is managed in ledgers which determine how the amounts are to be summarized for reports. Each ledger contains summary data with the same structure. In the standard system, a ledger (the general ledger) is already defined with the structure: Client, G/L account number, company code, and business area. If you post to a G/L account, the corresponding summary record is updated in the general ledger. The system ensures that amounts from all the relevant business transactions in Financial Accounting are updated correctly in this ledger. The programs delivered analyze this ledger.

You can use ledgers other than the general ledger to manage summary data for reporting. You can define the structure of these ledgers yourself. For example, you may want to define additional ledgers if you need to fulfill the following requirements:

• You want to manage summary data under an additional, more detailed structure for the combination of G/L account and cost center or G/L account and plant, for example.
• You want to manage summary data not only for the 16 posting periods permitted in the general ledger, but in smaller time units, such as once a week.
• You want to update additional ledgers in certain circumstances only, such as when you post to profit and loss accounts or when you assign a line item to a project.
• You want to manage the amounts in up to three parallel local currencies, such as the group currency, in addition to the possible currencies of the general ledger.

If you want to manage other ledgers in your company, in addition to the general ledger, you define them using the Special Purpose Ledger component. For further information on defining and analyzing additional ledgers, see the Special Purpose Ledger (FI-SL) documentation. This is located in the R/3 Library under Financial Accounting.

You can define as many plan variants as you require for each ledger. This also applies to the general ledger already defined in the standard system.