Introduction

SAP offers a robust, end-to-end solution for large organizations, when it comes to handling their financials. Reporting functions in SAP financials provide an up-to-the-minute snapshot at how well a business is performing.

General Ledger

The general Ledger and SAP FI submodules

FI, Financial Accounting. The Goal of financial Accounting is to record all the financial transactions at a business with a General Ledger, or G/L.

• The G/L provides a complete record of financial transactions at a company.

• Transactions are recorded in financial submodules that can be reconciled with the General Ledger in real time.

• All transactions in the system will result in a journal entry.
  A journal entry is simply the recording of a transaction that shows a company’s debit and credit balances. Customer invoices, material’s movements, or vendor payments are a few examples of these transactions.

• Critical business functions involved in the General Ledger process include month and year-end closing activities, posting different types of journal entries and real-time reporting and analysis of the financial situation at an organization.

Let’s take a look at the major features of the SAP General Ledger. The G/L enables automated posting of sub-ledger items from other modules like sales and distribution or purchasing to their reconciliation accounts. As an example, a goods receipt in the Materials Management Module automatically updates in Accounts Payable. This automation increases efficiency reports generated provide an up to the minute snapshot of the financial situation. Finally, because of these automations, the profitability of different business activities, are updated at the same time as the G/L. This means management can see how well a single part of the business is performing at any moment.

Next, we’ll look at primary submodules of the SAP FI module along with the General Ledger. Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Asset Accounting and Bank Accounting are submodules that are implemented and used in nearly every orgniazations ultilizing SAP FI. And finally, we have that Special Purpose Ledger. Like its name implies, it is a user-defined ledger that is made specifically for unique reporting purposes. It is important to know that using Special Purpose Ledger does not affect the functions of other SAP applications.

. A major strength of the SAP system is how all modules are integrated. Data is entered in one part of the system, and through integration, it flows to another part, ensuring accuracy and saving time and effort. There are many integrations of the SAP FI Module. Let’s look at three of the most common.

• SAP Finance integrates with the Sales and Distribution, or SD module.
  For example, a sale is made and the data and the sale information
  comes directly to Finance.
• Similarly, SAP Finance integrates with Materials Management, or the MM Module. When a purchase is made from a supplier, all the data from the purchase order, all the data from the purchase order, including supplier information and purchase price transfer directly into Finance. transfer directly into Finance.
• Finally, SAP Finance integrates Finally, SAP Finance integrates with the controlling, or CO Module. Where Finance houses information for external accounting.