The "investment support" component is for managing government subsidies for certain types of investment. The subsidy can be managed as a reduction of acquisition and production costs, or as a value adjustment. The subsidy amount normally has to be identified separately from the actual acquisition and production costs of the asset.

This investment support is treated either as a reduction of the acquisition and production costs of the asset, or as a value adjustment on the liabilities side of the balance sheet.

An investment support measure is identified in the system by an investment support key. You define investment support keys in Customizing for Asset Accounting. You also determine in FI-AA Customizing whether the investment support measure should be handled as a value adjustment on the liabilities side, or as a reduction of acquisition and production costs. You make this determination when entering the depreciation areas in which the support measure should be carried out.

An investment measure is defined by the following entries:

• Period of validity

• Maximum percentage rate (in regard to the acquisition and production costs) and/or a maximum amount

• Required period of retention

• Type of repayment if the asset is retired ahead of time (only applies to support measures handled on the liabilities side)

• Depreciation areas, in which the measure is managed (on the assets side or liabilities side)

Additional Customizing specifications:

• The account assignment for all business transactions relating to the support measure

• Plausibility check for the assignment of a support measure to an asset

You indicate assets are eligible for subsidies by specifying the investment key in the asset master record. Entering this key also creates the required depreciation area for the asset. You can manage an indefinite number of support measures for each asset. However, if you manage more than one support measure for an asset, each one must be managed in a separate depreciation area. This is necessary, for example, for a partial retirement, in order to exactly identify the part of the retirement amount that is derived from the subsidy amount.

Enter the depreciation areas for all investment support measures that are possible in the respective asset class. When you enter the investment key in the asset master record, the system creates the needed depreciation areas for the individual asset.

Entering an investment support key in the asset master record makes it possible to:

• Create an investment support claim list, with optional posting by the system

• Carry out plausibility tests when claiming the investment support

• Identify violations of the required period of retention when the asset is retired or transferred

• Automatically post the necessary transactions for the investment support when the asset is retired

The system generates transaction types for posting investment support when you define the support measure. These transaction types are called (xx = investment support key):

• Ixx for claiming the investment support

• Kxx for post-capitalization of investment support measures (claiming the investment support and entering proportional value adjustments)

You can manually post the implementation of investment support measures for each individual asset. However, you can also use a report available in the Asset Accounting menu (under Periodic processing ) to create:

• A list of assets eligible for investment support (supplement to the application for investment support)

• A batch input session for claiming the investment support

You may have assets that were acquired in previous fiscal years that would have been eligible for investment support. By using an indicator in the investment support key, you can specify that the investment support be "caught up" for those assets. The report for claiming investment support using collective posting will automatically include ("catch up") the investment support from previous years for those assets that have this indicator set in the investment support key.