Example of SAP FI Interview Questions and Answer


General SAP FI (Financial Accounting)

Today, I'll post some of the basic knowledge that is important to understanding about SAP Finance (FI). There are some Question and Answer in this articles

1. Explain ‘Financial Accounting (FI)’ in SAP. 

The ‘FI (Financial Accounting)’ module of SAP is the back-bone, which records, collects, and processes financial transactions or information on a real-time basis to provide the necessary inputs for external (statutory) reporting. The module is integrated with other modules (such as Material Management (MM), Sales & Distribution (SD), Human Resources (HR), Production Planning (PP), Controlling (CO), etc.). The module FI has several submodules that are tightly integrated 

2. What are the ‘Submodules’ within FI?
FI-AA Asset Accounting Integrated with FI-GL, FI-AR, FI-AP, CO, MM, PP and PM, this module manages the financial side (depreciation, insurance, etc.) of the assets throughout their entire lifecycle starting with procurement of assets and ending with scrapping or sales.
FI-AP Accounts Payable Integrated with FI-GL, FI-AA, FI-TR and MM, this submodule manages vendor transactions by linking with material management, asset accounting, travel management, etc. Notable is the ‘payment program’ for making payments to vendors.
FI-AR Accounts Receivable Integrated with FI-GL, FI-AA, FI-TR, MM and SD, this submodule manages customers and receivables, and integrates with SD. It is well-known for credit management functionalities and the ‘dunning’ program.
FI-BL Bank Accounting
FI-FM Funds Management
FI-GL General Ledger Accounting This submodule is integrated with all other submodules within FI and outside FI.
FI-SL Special Purpose Ledger This submodule is used to provide the summary information from multiple applications at a level of detail that the user defines.
FI-LC Legal Consolidations This submodule helps in the central task of combining the financial operating results of the companies within a group to provide overall results for the group.
FI-TM Travel Management


3. Name the Submodules Within FI, from Which FI-GL Gets Simultaneous Postings. 

▪ Accounts Receivable (FI-AR)
▪ Accounts Payable (FI-AP)
▪ Asset Accounting (FI-AA)
4. Name Three Distinct Characteristics of FI-GL. 

▪ Multi-currency capability
▪ Flexible real-time reporting
▪ Real-time transaction entries 

Global and Enterprise Settings
Before getting into the questions, please look into the FI organization structure depicted below. When moving through the questions, at any point in time if you need clarification on the arrangement of the various organizational elements, do visit this page again. To be successful as an FI/CO consultant you need to have a thorough grasp of this basic fundamental block in SAP FI/CO.
5. What do You mean by ‘Organizational Units’ in SAP?
The ‘Organizational Units’ in SAP are the elements or structures representing business functions, and are used in reporting. For example, Client (across the various modules) Company Code (FI), Controlling Area (CO), Plant (logistics), Sales Organization (SD), Purchasing Organization (MM), Employee Group (HR), etc.
6. What are the Important ‘Organizational Units’ in FI? 

1. Company 
2. Company Code
3. Business area 


7. What is a ‘Company’?
A ‘Company’ in SAP is represented by a 5-character alphanumeric code and usually represents the enterprise or the group company. A Company can include one or more Company Codes. The creation of a Company, in SAP, is optional.
8. What is a ‘Company Code,’ and how is this different from a ‘Company’?
A ‘Company Code’ in SAP is the smallest organizational unit for which you can draw individual Financial Statements (Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss Account) for your external statutory reporting. It is denoted by a 4-character alphanumeric code. The creation of a Company Code is mandatory; you need to have at least one Company Code defined in the system, for implementing FI.

 Figure 17: Define a Company Code

You may define a Company Code by copying from an existing one (Copy, Delete, Check Company Code Option).
You may also define the Company Code anew (the second option in the following figure), from scratch.

Figure 18: Options to define a Company Code
9. What are the Important ‘Global Settings’ for a Company Code?

General data:

▪ Company Code
▪ Company Name
▪ City
▪ Address
▪ Currency
▪ Country
▪ Language

Global data:

▪ Chart of Accounts
▪ Credit Control Area
▪ Fiscal Year Variant
▪ Field Status Variant
▪ Posting Period Variant
10. Can You Assign more than One ‘Company Code’ to a ‘Company’?
All the Company Codes within a Company should use the same Chart of Accounts and the same Financial Year, though they all can have different Local Currencies.
11. What is a ‘Business Area’?
‘Business Areas’ correspond to specific business segments of a company, and may cut across different Company Codes (for example, product lines). They can also represent different responsibility areas (for example, branch units). The Business Areas are optional in SAP.

Figure 19: Business Area
The financial statements drawn per business area are for internal reporting purposes. You need to put a check in the check box in the configuration for the company for which you want to enable business area financial statements.

Figure 20: Enable Business Area Financial Statements

When transactions are posted in FI, you have the option of assigning the same to a Business Area so that the values are properly captured for internal financial statements.
12. Can You Attach a ‘Business Area’ to a Transaction?
Yes. The Business Area can also be derived from other account assignments; for example, cost center. But to do this, you need to define the Business Area in the master record of that particular cost center.
13. How do You Post Cross-company Code Business Area postings?
By using a cross-Company Code transaction, you should be able to post to different ‘Business Areas’ and cut across various Company Codes. Any number of ‘Business Area-Company Code’ combinations is possible.
14. What is the ‘Credit Control Area’ in SAP?
The ‘Credit Control Area’ in SAP helps administer credit management functions relating to customers. This organizational unit is used both in SD and FI-AR modules. By definition, you can have more than one credit control area in a Client, but each Company Code is assigned to one credit control area. However, it is true that you can attach many Company Codes to the same credit control area.

Figure 21: Credit Control Area

15. What is a ‘Chart of Accounts’?

A ‘Chart of Accounts’ is the list of GL accounts used in one or more Company Codes. All the GL accounts in a chart of accounts will have an account number, account name, and some control information. The control information decides how the GL account can be created.
16. What are all the Major Components of a ‘Chart of Accounts’?

A ‘Chart of Accounts’ includes the following components:

▪ Chart of account key
▪ Name
▪ Maintenance language
▪ The GL Account Number
▪ Controlling integration
▪ Group chart of accounts (consolidation)

▪ Block indicator
17. What is an ‘Operating Chart of Accounts’?

This chart is used for day-to-day postings and is also known as an ‘Operative’ or ‘Standard’ chart of accounts. Both FI and CO use a chart of accounts. It is mandatory that the chart of accounts be assigned to a Company Code. 
18. How does ‘Group Chart of Accounts’ Differ from ‘Operating Chart of Accounts’?
The ‘Group Chart of Accounts,’ also known as the Corporate Chart of Accounts, is used for consolidating all Company Codes (with a dissimilar Operative Chart of Accounts) falling under a Company. This is the ‘universe’ of all-inclusive GL accounts from where the Operative Chart of Accounts is derived. A Company Code is not mandatory.
19. What is a ‘Country Chart of Accounts’? Why do You need This?
This chart of accounts, also known as an Alternate Chart of Accounts, contains the GL accounts necessary to meet the specific statutory/legal requirements of a company from which a Company Code operates. The assignment of this chart of accounts to a Company Code is also optional. It is possible that both the operative and the country chart of accounts are one and the same. In this case, you will not need two different charts of accounts.
In cases where the operative and country chart of accounts are different, a link needs to be established by entering the GL account number from the ‘Country Chart of Accounts’ in the GL master record (under the Company Code section) of the ‘Operative Chart of Accounts’ in the field ‘Alternate Account Number.’
20. Can one ‘Chart of Accounts’ be Assigned to Several Company Codes?
Yes. One chart of accounts can be assigned to several Company Codes. However, the reverse is not possible; i.e., you will not be able assign more than one chart of accounts to a single Company Code.
21. What is a ‘Fiscal Year’ and ‘Fiscal Year Variant’?
A ‘fiscal year’ is the accounting period, which normally spreads over 12 months. Financial statements are drawn for a fiscal year. The fiscal year, in SAP, is defined as a ‘Fiscal Year Variant.’ All Calendar Year Fiscal Year Variants, in standard SAP, are denoted usually as K1, K2, etc.

Figure 22: Fiscal Year Variant
The fiscal year may or may not correspond to the calendar year. In the standard SAP system, the Non-Calendar Fiscal Year Variants are denoted V1, V2, etc.

Figure 23: Fiscal Year Variant (non-calendar year)
It is also possible that the fiscal year may be shorter than 12 months, and this is called a ‘Shortened Fiscal Year’ (R1, in Figure-1).
22. How do You Assign a ‘Fiscal Year Variant’ to a Company Code?
One ‘Fiscal Year Variant’ can be assigned to one or more Company Codes.
23. What is a ‘Posting Period’?
A fiscal year, in SAP, is divided into various ‘Posting Periods,’ with a start and end date defined for each of these periods. Any document posting is possible only when the ‘posting periods’ are in place in the system. Normally there will be 12 posting periods. A posting period consists of a month and year.
24. How does the System Identify a ‘Posting Period’?
Based on the posting date entered into the system while posting a document, the system automatically determines the period by looking at the document date and the year. However, for this to occur you should have properly defined the fiscal year variant.
25. What Happens when You Post to Year 2006 when You are in 2007?
First of all, to post a document relating to a previous year, say 2006 when you are in 2007, the relevant posting period should be ‘open’ in the system. When such a posting is done, the system makes some adjustments in the background:
One: the carry-forward balances of the current year, already done, are updated in case the posting affects balance sheet items.
Two: if the posting is going to affect the Profit & Loss accounts, then the system adjusts the carried forward profit or loss balances to the Retained Earnings account(s).
26. What do You Mean by ‘Opening/Closing’ Posting Periods?
Postings in SAP are controlled by the ‘opening’ or ‘closing’ of posting periods. Normally, the current posting period is open for document posting and all other periods are closed. At the end of the period (month), this posting period is closed and the new one is opened for postings. This way it provides better control.
It is, however, possible to keep all the periods or select periods open.
27. What is a ‘Posting Period Variant’?
A ‘Posting Period Variant’ is useful in ‘opening/closing’ posting periods across many Company Codes at one time. You define a posting period variant and assign it to various Company Codes. Since the posting period variant is cross-Company Code, the opening and closing of the posting period is made simple. Instead of opening and closing individually for different Company Codes, you just need to open or close the posting period variant.
28. Can You Selectively ‘Open’ and ‘Close’ accounts?
Yes. It is possible to selectively control the ‘opening’ and ‘closing’ for various types of accounts. Usually, a ‘+’ is mentioned in the top-most entry indicating that all the account types are allowed for posting. Now, for the GL(S) accounts, you will need to specify the period which needs to be opened. This ensures that all the account types are open for the current period, indicated by ‘+,’ and only the GL accounts are open for the previous period.
Select account types can also be opened or closed for a specific period; select accounts within an account type can also be opened or closed.
29. Why is it not Possible to Post to a Customer A/C in a Previously Closed ‘Period’?
When you want to selectively ‘close’ or ‘open’ the posting period of some accounts (account range), there will be no problem with that if you are doing it for GL accounts. But, if it is a subledger account (such as the customer), it has to be achieved via opening or closing the account interval of the ‘reconciliation account’ of that account type.
30. Can You Open a ‘Posting Period’ only for a Particular User?
Yes. SAP allows you to open or close the posting period only for specific users. This can be achieved by maintaining an authorization group at the document header level.
31. What is a ‘Special Period’? When do You Use it?
Besides the normal posting periods, SAP allows for defining a maximum four more posting periods, which are known as ‘Special Periods’ as these are used for year-end closing activities. This is achieved by dividing the last posting period into more than one (maximum four) period. However, all the postings in these special periods should fall within the last posting period.
The special periods cannot be determined automatically by the system based on the posting date of the document. The special period needs to be manually entered into the ‘posting period’ field in the document header.
32. What is the Maximum Number of ‘Posting Periods’ in SAP?
Under GL accounting, you can have a maximum of 16 posting periods (12 regular plus 4 Special Periods). However, you can have up to a maximum of 366 posting periods as is the case in ‘special purpose ledgers.’ 

33. What is a ‘Special Purpose Ledger’?
‘Special Purpose Ledgers’ (FI-SL) are used in reporting. These are basically user-defined ledgers, which can be maintained either as GL or subsidiary ones with various account assignment objects (with SAP-dimensions such as cost center, business area, profit center, etc., or customer-defined dimensions such as region, area, etc.).
Once defined, this functionality helps you to report at various levels. Ideally you collect the information, combine it, and create the totals. This is something such as an additional reporting feature, and use of this feature will have no effect on the regular functionalities of SAP. 
34. What Variations are Possible when Defining a ‘Fiscal Year’?
The Fiscal Year is the same as a Calendar Year
The fiscal year starts on January 1 and there are 12 posting periods; the posting periods correspond to the calendar months; there is no need to define each of the posting periods.
Open table as spreadsheet Posting Period Start Date End Date
1 1–Jan 31–Jan
2 1–Feb 28/29 Feb
3 1–Mar 31–Mar
4 1–Apr 30–Apr
5 1–May 31–May
6 1–Jun 30–Jun
7 1–Jul 31–Jul
8 1–Aug 31–Aug
9 1–Sep 30–Sep
10 1–Oct 31–Oct
11 1–Nov 30–Nov
12 1–Dec 31–Dec
The Fiscal Year is NOT the same as a Calendar Year
In this case, you need to specify how many posting periods you want and how the system should derive the posting period. Since the posting period does not correspond to the calendar month, the start and end date of each of the posting periods need to be maintained.

Regards,
Muhammad Hasan Mufid

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Using T-Code GGB1 (Substitution Maintenance) to create FI Substitutions

SAP PSM-FM (Fund Management - BCS) Master Data and Derivation Tool

SAP PSM-FM (Fund Management-BCS) Integration with other SAP Module