The systems FI-LC and EC-CS essentially use the terms listed below for consolidating and reporting. These terms are derived from those of the other operative systems that disclose data:

The FI system has three types of chart of accounts:

• Operational chart of accounts:
  The operational chart of accounts is used for posting and must be uniform for all companies within a controlling area. Therefore, aspects of the Controlling concept must also be taken into consideration when designing the FI concept. (Mandatory)

• Local chart of accounts:
  Local accounts have a 1:N relationship with operational accounts. They are needed to accommodate countries that, by law, dictate fixed account numbers for local reporting requirements. Operational account numbers are substituted by local account numbers when printing a local, individual balance sheet. (Optional)

• Corporate chart of accounts:
  Multiple operational charts of accounts can be combined — also across controlling areas — to one uniform corporate chart of accounts. The relationship is N:1, meaning that multiple operational accounts belong to one corporate account. (Optional)

The outline of the assignments between accounts and consolidation items depends on the data transfer procedure used. It is always necessary to distribute (or replicate) the FS chart of accounts from the central Consolidation system onto all remote systems that disclose financial data. This can be done for R/3 systems using the ‘Customized Transport Procedure.’ At present, no corresponding extract function is available for R/2 systems in the standard delivery system (although a function is available if, conversely, the Consolidation system RF-KONS in R/2 is being used).

The FS chart of accounts is transferred via a download for remote PC data entry.

The account assignments (listed according to data transfer procedures) are as follows:

• Periodic extract from R/3 to R/3:
  A financial statement version corresponding to the FS chart of accounts in Consolidation must be set up in FI. Individual (operational) accounts are assigned to the corresponding FS item on the lowest level of this version.

• Periodic extract from R/2 to R/3:
  The assignments of accounts to FS items in the R/2 system table 861 are either maintained manually or automatically built using the program RFCEXT20.

• Periodic rollup from R/3 to R/3:
  Assignments are made using the ‘corporate account number’ which is entered in the general ledger (G/L) account master record. This number must be identical to the corresponding FS item number. The corporate chart of accounts must correspond to the FS chart of accounts in consolidation, and is assigned to the local chart of accounts.

• Updates in R/3:
  Assignment are made as in the rollup procedure.

A particular problem can occur when certain balance sheet accounts or account groups must be assigned to either an asset or a liability item, depending on the account balance (such as ‘Receivables or Payables to/from Financial Institutions’). Here you must consider existing net balance prohibitions. The procedures ‘realtime update’ and ‘rollup transfer’ cannot immediately accommodate item substitutions that are balance dependent; only ‘periodic extracts’ do. Therefore, you should ensure that the Consolidation program that follows substitutes the item after the data transfer by defining items appropriately, for example one per financial institution.

The operational organizational units

• company code,

• business area, and

• profit center

not only play the role of the ‘assigning’ company, but also that of the group-internal ‘trading partner’. Therefore, a key structure must exist that is valid for the entire corporate group, and not only for the local system. On the other hand, in order to allow independent key assignments for ‘local’ organizational units (company codes, in particular) in any local system, the following assignment relationships are available:

Assignment to a consolidation unit depends on ledger usage:

These assignments make it easier to later add a new company that already uses R/3 to the group, without having to laboriously convert the organizational unit characteristics.