1. Chapter 4 Company Code Global Parameters
The Company Code is the organizational unit within a Client that represents an independent legal entity for external reporting purposes.
Chapter Objectives
Define fields involved in establishing global parameters for a Company Code.
Create a Company Code.
Explain the relationship between Fiscal Year Variants and Posting Periods.
Define a Field Status Variant.
Define the various Account Types used in the FI module.

2. Company Code USXX Create Company Code Copy Company Code
Delete Company Code
A Company Code can be created either by copying an existing Company Code or by creating a new one independently in the Enterprise Structure section of the IMG.
To create a Company Code that resembles an existing Company code, it is recommended to use the Organization Copy Function that copies:
The definition (name, city, country, currency, language, address) and global parameters
Customizing tables
General ledger accounts (if desired)
SAP performs a “deletability” check before processing the activity “Delete Company Code.” If the Company Code meets the delete conditions, the process may proceed. If not, the user will be informed that there is dependent data in the system that must be deleted before the Company Code can be deleted.

3. Company Code Definition
General Data
Company Code: USXX Company Name: Price Waterhouse
City: Philadelphia Country Key: US
Currency: USD Language: E
Global Data
Accounting Organization
Chart of Accounts CAXX
Credit Control Area CCXX
Fiscal Year Variant K4
Processing Parameters
Field Status Variant
Posting Period Variant XXXX
The definition of a Company Code provides the basic financial framework of an organization including:
Operating Chart of Accounts
Accounting period structure
Currency definition
Language definition
Screen display for document entry
Credit management structure (optional)
Note:
The parameters listed above do NOT represent a complete picture of the company code definition.

4. Accounting Organization Data Fiscal Year Variant
Fiscal Year Variant Description
K2 Calendar year, 2 special periods K4 Calendar year, 4 special periods V3 Fiscal year, 4 special periods
Properties of Fiscal Year Variant “K4”
The Fiscal Year Variant contains the definition of Posting Periods and Special Periods. It also determines whether the fiscal year is based on a calendar year (i.e., January through December)
Note: A Variant is used in SAP to store information about a particular component. In the example above, the Fiscal Year Variant is used to identify how many periods are contained in a year and whether the fiscal year is based on a standard calendar year. As you progress through the class, you will encounter other variants such as Screen Variants and Report Variants, which determine the appearance of and information contained in screens and reports respectively. The advantage of using variants is that you can save them and re-use them so data entry and errors are greatly reduced.
Standard Fiscal Year Variants are already defined in the system and can be used as templates.

5. Fiscal Year Variants Year-Independent VS Year-Dependent
Fiscal Year Variant Fiscal Year Variant
If each fiscal year of a Fiscal Year Variant 1) uses the same number of periods, and 2) the posting periods always start and end on the same day of the year then the variant is called year-independent. A year independent Fiscal Year Variant can be defined as a:
Calendar Year
Non-Calendar Year
If the fiscal year is defined as the calendar year, the postings periods are equal to the months of the year. Therefore a calendar year variant must have 12 posting periods. For example, January is Posting Period “01”, February is Posting Period “02” and so on.
If the fiscal year is defined as a non-calendar year, the posting periods need to be defined by assigning end dates to each period. A non-calendar year can have 1 to 16 posting periods.
Fiscal years are normally year-independent.
A Fiscal Year Variant has to be defined as year-dependent if:
the start and end date of the posting periods of some fiscal years will be different from the dates of other fiscal years, and/or if
some fiscal years shall use a different number of posting periods

6. Posting Period Variant
Var A From Acct. To Acct. From Per. 1 Year To Per. Year
ALL Cus Ven AAAAAAAAAA ZZZZZZZZZZ
Account Type (A)
+ = Valid for all Account Types (masking)
A = Assets
D = Customers (A/R)
K = Vendors (A/P)
M = Materials
S = General Ledger Accounts
Posting Periods are used to control whether a document can be posted in the system. The system derives the Posting Period from the Posting Date. If a Posting Period is closed then the system will not allow the document to be posted. When the Posting Date falls in the 12th period, the transaction may be posted into one of the Special Periods. The Special Periods are used to facilitate the year-end closing process.
The sum of normal Posting Periods and Special Periods cannot exceed 16 in FI-GL. If more than 16 periods are required, the Special Purpose Ledger, with 366 Posting Periods available, must be used. For example, banks, which close daily, or retail operations, which close weekly, may be inclined to use the Special Purpose Ledger. Several Company Codes can use the same Posting Period Variant. The closing and opening of periods is then done at the same time for all assigned Company Codes, thus making maintenance easier.
The Posting Period table is used to control the financial closing process by facilitating the opening and closing of posting periods based on Posting Period Variants and Account Type. Entries in the Posting Period table indicate open periods. It is possible for more than one Posting Period to be open at a time.
A Posting Period Variant makes it possible to maintain the status of Posting Periods independent of the Company Code, which means multiple Company Codes may be assigned to a Posting Period Variant.
Account Type is used to differentiate the status of the posting periods for various accounts (e.g., G/L Accounts, Customer Accounts, Vendor Accounts). “+” indicates that a particular entry in the Posting Period table is valid for all accounts. If one or more additional Account Types are specified, the Posting Period for that specific Account Type takes precedence. Besides the main Account Types mentioned above it is possible to maintain posting period variants for Special Purpose Ledger, CO-PA and Contract Accounts.

7. Field Status Variant
A Field Status Variant is a collection of Field Status Groups. A Field Status Group contains groups (categories) of individual fields. The individual fields are then categorized as one of the following:
Suppressed: The field does not appear during document creation, maintenance or display.
Required: Entry of a value in the field must be made during document creation.
Optional: Entry of a value in the field is optional during document creation.
When creating G/L Account master records, only the Field Status Groups in the Field Status Variant assigned to the Company Code are available.
The implications of the Field Status Variant will be discussed in greater detail in Chapter 10 (Document Configuration).

8. Company Code Global Parameters Chapter Summary
Key Terms
Company Code
Field Status Group
Field Status Variant
Fiscal Year Variant
Posting Period Variant
Posting Period
Account Type
Company Code - an organizational unit within a Client that is used to represent an independent legal entity. It is the level at which balanced financial statements are produced.
Field Status Group - a group that controls data entry and screen appearance during document entry. Each General Ledger Account has a Field Status Group specified in its master record.
Field Status Variant - a collection of Field Status Groups.
Fiscal Year Variant - determines the number of periods in a year and whether the fiscal year is based on a calendar year.
Posting Period Variant - links company codes to the posting period table thereby controlling which periods for a company code(s)
Posting Periods - accounting periods to which Accounting Documents are posted.
Account Type - the key that specifies the accounting area to which an account belongs and is required in addition to the account number in order to identify an account.