Account Assignment and Revenue Recognition

After a billing document is saved, it is released to accounting, where it updates the various general ledger accounts. In this
chapter, we will study how to configure SAP to determine the accounts and post the billing document automatically. Further,
based on the requirements of the finance team, various pricing elements such as discounts, taxes, and price can be posted to
different accounts. In this chapter, we will cover how to control the determination of various accounts.

Some organizations require that billing the customers and updating the revenue books should happen at different points in time.
The revenue recognition functionality separates billing from revenue and lets you control when to recognize revenue using a
separate transaction. In this chapter, we will explain the fundamental scenarios for revenue recognition.

Account Assignment
Account determination is the procedure used to establish the correct G/L accounts for posting a billing document to accounting.
Using this procedure, SAP carries out account determination for billing documents such as invoices, credit notes, debit notes,
and so on. Revenue account determination provides the G/L account for revenue, discounts, surcharges, and taxes.

Account assignment uses the condition technique to determine general ledger accounts. The account determination procedure is
a schema that consists of elements called condition types. An access sequence is assigned to each condition type. Following the
sequence, the system searches for G/L accounts maintained in condition tables in a specific order. The condition record is the
account number set up for a combination of determination criteria. The following sections describe the major steps you will use
to configure account assignment.

Set Up Account Assignment

We will show the step-by-step procedure you can use to build an account determination procedure and assign the G/L accounts.
Before we show you how to build the procedure, we’ll discuss some master data elements that influence account determination.

Material Account Assignment Group The material account assignment group is used to distinguish accounts based on different
materials. For example, the requirement may be to separate the revenue from the sale of finished goods from the revenue of
services. You can create account groups and assign them in each material master record. You can then use this field as a key to
point to different accounts.

To maintain the values in this field, follow the path IMG ➢ Sales And Distribution ➢ Basic Functions ➢ Account
Assignment/Costing ➢ Revenue Account Determination ➢ Check Master Data Relevant For Account Assignment ➢ Materials:
Account Assignment Group. you can check the list of predefined account assignment groups or define a new entry by specifying
a two-character alphanumeric identifier and description. In the material master, this field appears on the Sales Org 2 tab.

Material account assignment group

Customer Account Assignment Group

Use the customer account assignment group to distinguish accounts based on groups of customers. For example, one of the
common requirements is to segregate revenues of domestic customers from those of foreign customers. You can create account
groups and assign them in the customer master record. You can then use this field as a key to point to different accounts.

To maintain the values in this field, follow the path IMG ➢ Sales And Distribution ➢ Basic Functions ➢ Account
Assignment/Costing ➢ Revenue Account Determination ➢ Check Master Data Relevant For Account Assignment ➢ Customers:
Account Assignment Group (OVK8).As before, you can check the list of predefined account assignment groups or define a new
entry. In the customer master, this field appears on the Sales Data tab.Now let’s set up the account determination proc edure
following the condition technique. The following sections explain the step-by-step procedure.
Customer account assignment group

Step 1: Create Condition Tables

Condition tables specify the key combinations required for account determination. Before setting up new condition tables, check
the standard tables provided by SAP. If you have to set up a custom table, refer to the field catalog, and search for the fields
you require to be part of your condition table.

The menu path is IMG ➢ Sales And Distribution ➢ Basic Functions ➢ Account Assignment/Costing ➢ Revenue Account
Determination ➢ Define Dependencies Of Revenue Account Determination ➢ Field Catalog: Allowed Fields For The Tables. You
can check the fields available in the standard field catalog. If this list does not meet your requirements, you can use function
key F4 to access the full list of fields in the catalog. Note that, unlike with pricing, there is a very limited set of fields to choose
from. Once you have checked the availability of required fields, pick up these fields, and create a condition table. For this step,
follow the path IMG ➢ Sales And Distribution ➢ Basic Functions ➢ Account Assignment/Costing ➢ Revenue Account
Determination ➢ Define Dependencies Of Revenue Account Determination ➢ Account Determination: Create Tables (transaction
code V/12).

table 001 has a key consisting of the sales organization, customer and material account assignment groups, and account key.
We covered the steps to create a condition table in Chapter, “Partner, Text, and Output Determination,” when we discussed
output determination. Please refer to that discussion for the exact steps.
Field catalog for account assignment

Defining a condition table

Step 2: Define an Access Sequence

To define an access sequence for the pricing determination, the path is as follows: IMG ➢ Sales And Distribution ➢ Basic
Functions ➢ Account Assignment/ Costing ➢ Revenue Account Determination ➢ Define Access Sequence And Account
Determination Types ➢ Maintain Access Sequence For Account Determination.

On the Change View: Access Sequences: Overview screen, create a new access sequence using the New Entries button. We
covered the steps to create an access sequence in Chapter 4 when we covered output determination. Please refer to that
discussion for the exact steps. the access sequence KOFI has five accesses arranged in a specific sequence. The condition tables
defined (or identified) in the previous step are used in the access sequence. There is a provision to attach a requirement routine
to steps in the access sequence. In the case of KOFI, requirement routine 3 checks that the CO account assignment is not
active. If this condition is fulfilled, it carries out the access; otherwise, it skips the step. This initial check helps improve the
performance of the access sequence and prevents unnecessary steps.

Defining an access sequence

Step 3: Maintain Account Determination Types and Assign the Access Sequence

Account determination types are the condition types that you will use in the account determination procedure.To set up
condition types, follow the path IMG ➢ Sales And Distribution ➢ Basic Functions ➢ Account Assignment/Costing ➢ Revenue
Account Determination ➢ Define Access Sequence And Account Determination Types ➢ Define Account Determination Types.

In this transaction, you can define a condition type. There are no other controlling parameters to be maintained here (unlike
pricing condition types that required configuration using V/06, which we discussed in Chapter, “Pricing and Tax Determination”).
You can assign the access sequence to the condition types here. Standard SAP offers two account determination types: KOFI
(standard account determination) and KOFK (account determination with costing). The access sequence KOFI (covered in step
2) is assigned to both conditions. account determination types and assigning the access sequence

Step 4: Set Up the Account Determination Procedure

SCREEN SHOT

The account determination procedure contains the list of condition types defined in the previous step.To set up an account
determination procedure, follow the path IMG ➢ Sales And Distribution ➢ Basic Functions ➢ Account Assignment/Costing ➢ Revenue
Account Determination ➢ Define And Assign Account Determination Procedure ➢ Define Account Determination Procedure.The Account
Determination procedure has condition types linked together in a schema. Standard SAP offers the procedure KOFI00, which
consists of two condition types, KOFI and KOFK.

Account determination procedure KOFI00

Step 5: Assign the Account Determination Procedure

In this step, you assign the account determination procedure to a billing document. To assign the account determination
procedure, follow the path IMG ➢ Sales And Distribution ➢ Basic Functions ➢ Account Assignment/Costing ➢ Revenue Account
Determination ➢ Define And Assign Account Determination Procedure ➢ Assign Account Determination Procedure.

Select the billing document. Attach the appropriate account determination procedure to it. This setting ensures that when billing
document F2 is created, the account determination will be done following the procedure KOFI00. Similarly, assign a procedure to
all other billing documents (such as credit and debit memos) that you use. The CaAc column here enables you to specify a cash
allocation key. With this, the system posts to a general ledger account for cash rather than to a receivables account.

Assigning an account determination procedure to the billing document

Step 6: Define and Assign an Account Key

Account keys are used to group together similar accounts in financial accounting. You can also use an account key to point to a
specific account number in account determination. For example, the account key ERL is used to point to a revenue account. In
the pricing procedure, you will assign this key to the pricing conditions related to the product price.

The path in SAP to define and assign account keys is as follows: IMG ➢ Sales And Distribution ➢ Basic Functions ➢ Account
Assignment /Costing ➢ Revenue Account Determination ➢ Define And Assign Account Keys ➢ Define Account Keys. where you
will see the standard account keys offered by SAP, such as ERL (Revenue), ERF (Freight), and ERS (Discounts). You can add a
new account key by specifying a three-character identifier.

Defining an account assignment key

The next task is to assign the account key. Follow the menu path IMG ➢ Sales And Distribution ➢ Basic Functions ➢ Account
Assignment/Costing ➢ Revenue Account Determination ➢ Define And Assign Account Keys ➢ Assign Account Keys. Refer to the pricing procedure
that you are using. The table lists all the pricing condition types used in the procedure. You can specify an account key for each
condition type.

Assigning the account assignment key

Another way to assign an account key is when you define a pricing procedure (using transaction V/08). where the account key is
specified in the AccK column.

Step 7: Assign G/L Accounts

In the final step, specify the actual account numbers for each combination key. Follow the path IMG ➢ Sales And Distribution ➢
Basic Functions ➢ Account Assignment/Costing ➢ Revenue Account Determination ➢ Assign G/L Accounts. You now should see
a screen like that shown in Figure 10.11. That displays all the condition tables with key combinations.

Assign G/L Accounts overview screen, with tables to choose from

Select the table for which you want to maintain the account numbers and set up condition records. For example, select table 1
(customer group, material group, and account key), and go to the details screen where you can set up condition records,
specifying a G/L account for the key combination.

Assign G/L Accounts details screen to set up condition records

In Chapter, “Billing,” during the discussion of the rebates and payment card interface, we used account assignment and
specified G/L accounts but deferred the discussion of detailed configuration to this chapter. Note that you can also follow the
previous steps 1–7 in rebates and in payment card setup to control the determination of accounts.

CASE STUDY—Galaxy Mus ical Instrum ents: Acc ount Determination Setup

Galaxy Musical Instruments has set up pricing procedure ZGALAX. Now, Galaxy is designing an account determination procedure
that goes hand in hand with this pricing procedure. The requirement is that when a billing document is posted to accounting, the
different pricing elements in the pricing procedure— such as discounts and freight—must be posted to separate G/L accounts.
The standard account determination procedure offered by SAP (KOFI00) meets Galaxy’s requirement. It consists of two
conditions, KOFI and KOFK. Galaxy will use KOFI for account determination. The access sequence attached to it is also named
KOFI. It consists of five condition tables, from specific to generic. The account assignment keys were previously assigned in the
pricing procedure ZGALAX. The customer and material account assignment keys are also maintained in the respective master
data records.
 To specify account assignment for Galaxy Musical Instruments, take the example of table 1. it has a key composed of the
following fields:

 Application (V for sales and distribution)

 Condition Type (KOFI)
 Chart of Accounts (INT is used by Galaxy Musical Instruments)
 Sales Organization (9090 is used by Galaxy Musical Instruments US)
 Customer Account Assignment Group
 Material Account Assignment Group
 Account Key

Galaxy Musical has specified G/L accounts for each combination of customer account assignment group, material account
assignment group, and account key, such as ERL, ERF, and so on. Thus, the amounts in all the revenue conditions (such as
condition PR00, with account key ERL) will be posted to G/L account 800010. Discount conditions that use account key ERS (like
ZGM1 and HI01) would be directed to 221000, and so on. Whenever a billing document is saved, you can use account
determination analysis to understand which G/L accounts have been picked up and which key was used to fetch the records. To
access the analysis, use the transaction VF02 or VF03, specify the billing document number and follow the menu path
Environment ➢ Account Determination Analysis ➢ Revenue Accounts. an example from a typical billing document (Z2) for
Galaxy Musical Instruments. The analysis confirms that the PR00 amount has been posted to account 800010. If there is an
error in account determination, the analysis report is very helpful in finding which records are missing or could not be
determined.