Question { Accenture, 84404 }

What is field status group, what does it control?

Answer

Hi all

During Transaction posting, the end user would see many
fields on the screen. While some fields mandatorily require
data input, there may be other fields which may or may not
require to be filled up with data ( such fields are called
optional fields). Some fields may also be hidden so that
they do not show up ( such fields are called hidden
fields). Each company code may decide the status of each
field and configure accordingly.

The field status needs to be set up for each line item
occuring in a transaction being posted.

Where do you set the status?

As you can never have a line item in a document with a G L
master Record and a related posting key, you set field
status in the G L Master record ( viz. in the Field Status
Group ) and also in all posting keys. When you enter a line
item using a G L master record during transaction posting,
the field status set in the posting key and the Field
status group compete with one another and based on a rule
called SRO rule the status of thefield is set ( Suppress
has the maximum priority, Required next and Optional has
the least priority).

This setting determines how a field would appear or
otherwise during document posting.

Hope this helps.

Regards

VidhyaDhar

Question { HCL, 82236 }

What is a special GL transaction?

Answer

Let us take up a NORMAL TRANSACTION ( relating to a sale
made to customer ) to understand what a SPECIAL GL
TRANSACTION and how it differs from a normal transaction.

NORMAL TRANSACTION explained in sequential order:

1. SALE TO CUSTOMER for US$100:

Customer Account Debit 100US$
(Individual Customer Account affected in Sub ledger and
Customer Reconciliation Account debited in GL)

Let us also remember that Customer Account is a CURRENT
ASSET in the Balance sheet (viz. money due to us pending
receipt from customer )

Sales Account Credit 100US$ (Sales Account affected in GL)



2. RECEIPT OF PAYMENT FROM CUSTOMER for 100US$

Bank account Debit 100US$ (Bank account affected in GL)

Customer Account Credit 100US$
(Individual Customer Account affected in Sub ledger and
Customer Reconciliation Account credited in GL)

The entire NORMAL transaction stands cleared. Please pay
special attention to the sequential order of events
mentioned above.

Now let us consider the following Scenario:

The customer makes a DOWNPAYMENT even before we make a Sale.

We raise our Sale invoice subsequently.

Here the sequential order of events is the other way around
though the transaction pertains to a customer sale and
collection of payment from him / her.

If downpayment has been received from a customer and we are
yet to raise our Sale invoice, then the downpayment is a
CURRENT LIABILITY to our Customer on our part even though
customers are listed as current assets in the Balance Sheet.

Such Exceptional treatment is handled using an alternative
Reconciliation Account in the GL.

Let us journalize the SPECIAL GL TRANSACTION now:

3. RECEIPT OF DOWNPAYMENT FROM CUSTOMER US$100

BANK Account Debit US$100 (Bank account affected in GL)

Cutomer Account CREDIT US$100
(Individual Customer Account affected in Sub ledger and
a SPECIAL Customer Reconciliation Account debited in GL.
Please note that this reconciliation account would be
Listed as a Liability in the GL).


4. SALE TO CUSTOMER for US$100:

Customer Account Debit 100US$
(Individual Customer Account affected in Sub ledger and
NORMAL Customer Reconciliation Account debited in GL)

Sales Account Credit 100US$ (Sales Account affected in GL)

Please pay special attention to the sequential order of
events mentioned above.

While comparing transactions 3 and 4, we see that there is
an unadjusted debit in a NORMAL reconciliation account and
an anadjusted credit in a SPECIAL Reconciliation Account.
However, the sale as well as collection of payment stand
accounted. The only extra thing that we see is a customer
debit and customer credit remaining unadjusted in two
different reconciliation accounts ( a normal reconciliation
account as a current asset and a special reconciliation
account as a liability- both in the GL). This is reversed
by using the option downpayment clearing.

In general, any transaction which uses a different
sequential order of events is treated as a SPECIAL GL
TRANSACTION by creating ADDITIONAL RECONCILIATION ACCOUNTS
IN THE GL. This principle applies to Vendor related
transactions also.

Of course, there are a few other such transactions ( such
as downpayment requests, guarantee commitments etc. ) which
also happen using additional reconciliation accounts in the
GL but such transactions would not have any accounting
significance (BALANCE SHEET and PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT DO
NOT get updated). They are for information purposes only
usually appearing as notes to balance sheet or serve as
mere reminders.

Please feel free to correct me if my understanding of
Special GL Transaction is ambiguous.

Thanks

VidhyaDhar

Question { HCL, 82236 }

What is a special GL transaction?

Answer

Hi Suresh

Please read special G L transactions as Special
Transactions in the General Ledger. There are are a wide
variety of such special transactions:

a. Down Payments where payment (money flow) precedes
invoicing
b. Requests and reminders relating to Down Payments
c. Bills of Exchange where the actual receivable / payable
is reported as Bills Receivable / Bills Payable
d. Requests and reminders relating to Bills of Exchange
e. Individual value adjustments ( known as Reserve for bad
debts in India)
f. Many other transactions such as Refundable deposits,
gurantees, other notional transactions for tracking
purposes etc.

Some of these transactions do not have an accounting
impact. Some others are listed as notes to financial
statements. Some others ( downpayments) etc are grouped
differently in financial statements for reporting purposes.

Special G L transactions are configured with special
posting keys such as 09, 19 ( for customers) and 29 and 39
( for vendors ) and unique single character special G L
indicators. These transactions post to alternative
reconcilation accounts in the General Ledger which are used
for reporting purposes.

Regards

geeVidhyaDhar

Question { Infosys, 90892 }

What is dunning? What is dunning level..? How many dunning
levels can be configured?

Answer

Customers with whom you transact business have to pay their
dues eventually. Generally the due date on which the
customers have to settle the dues is stipulated in the
terms of payment agreed into with them.

Now one of the three logical events can happen:

1) Customers pay on the due date specified:

They pay the entire value of money for which you have
supplied materials and / rendered services. Not a bad
situation at all..... you can meet your financial
commitments as planned since you have received prompt
payment ....

2) Customers pay ahead of the due date specified:

This is a better situation for you..... Your money comes
ahead of your original plan and you can be safe about
meeting your financial commitments as
planned ......Therefore, You waive off a small part of the
dues owed by your customers since your working capital is
not hampered.

3)What a mess things are in this business world !. You had
promised money to your creditors assuming that your
customers would pay promptly and that is not happening.
This is a Domino effect commencing with your customers
which you are forced to pass on to your vendors..... That
is not one bit good !!!!. You must do something to prevent
recurrence of such an uncomfortable situation !

What are the corrective measures which you intend to take?
SAP calls it as DUNNING.

As a first step, you need to identify which of your
customers have not paid their dues promptly . You need to
remind each one of such customers about the non-payment and
insist that the dues are settled immediately. This is done
through letter correspondences ( indicating break up of
dues owed by the customers). Some deaf customers who do not
heed your letters need to be reminded often ( that is
periodically , each time the letter sounding a little
sterner than the earlier one.

The second optional step would be to levy penal charges for
the defaulted payment in the following manner:

1. Levy of interest for nonpayment / belated payment

2. Levy of incidental charges incurred with regard to
dunning ( the process of dunning is going to cost you by
way of follow up,dunning and printing costs, maintenance of
additonal records,additional labor incurred by way of wages
to dunning clerks etc...)

Customers who are tone deaf even after repeated reminders
would be handled through a legal process.

This is the process of dunning.

Generally, each time you dun a customer you are crossing
one level of dunning. Though you can dun upto a maximum of
nine times , you would normally resort to legal help after
dunning three or four times, at the most. The number of
dunning levels you need can be configured and theoretically
it ranges from 0 to 9 levels ( 0 if your company is run by
an inefficient management which does not bother to collect
money on time and 9 if your management is too liberal with
your customers !).

I trust this gives you a basic understanding of what
dunning is and what the dunning levels are.....

Question { Bangladesh Bank, 47385 }

Depreciation Keys?

Answer

Depreciation is the process of expensing out your asset
(owing to various reasons such as wear and tear, change in
fashion/technology, unforeseen calamities etc.).
Depreciation normally occuring uses some standard and
acceptable methodologies. SAP defines such methodologies
such as depreciation methods ( Base method, declining
balance method, max.value method, period control method and
multilevel method which is a mixed bag of the other methods
described above). A Depreciation key can be considered as a
box which houses all the depreciation methods described
above. A suitable depreciation key and the estimated useful
life of the asset usually work together in finding out how
to expense out the value of asset ( viz. depreciate the
asset). When applied , the asset value keeps decreasing over
its estimated useful life in accordance with the norms
specified in the depreciation key whereby the asset value is
usually reduced to NIL when the useful life of the asset ends.

Question { HCL, 20635 }

waht is the use of validation and substitutions, what is the
difference between validation and substitutions? where did u
use validation and substitutions in real time(any person
tell answer only real time not book thiry)how to configure?

Answer

HI

Validation is a little trick ( rather a technique ) which
acts like a watchdog and ensures that incorrect data does
not get posted while posting a transaction. A validation is
a procedure which is on the look out for incorrect data; if
incorrect data is entered by the end-user during document
posting, the validation spews out an error message and
cautions the end-user. The severity of the message can be
mild which only warns but lets the end-user post the
document. On the other hand, a validation can be configured
to throw a serious error message and prevent incorrect posting.

A Validation is given a name and is assigned to a company
code. A validation may checks data
at document header level only (called as callup point 1) or
at line item level ( called as callup point 2) or
at the full document level ( call up point 3).

A given validation uses one of the above call up points.

A validation , at the minimum, contains three steps:

Step 1: a pre-requisite ( validation will happen if the
pre-requisite is met). If the pre-requisite is not met by
the document under posting, the system ignores the
validation technique and posts the document.

Step 2: If the pre-requisite is met a check is made for
compliance of an extra condition (over and above the
pre-requisite). If the condition is also complied with by
the document, then posting happens.

Step 3: On the other hand, if the check activity is not
complied with, then the system smells a rat and throws an
appropriate error/warning message ( depending on the
severity of error as configured by you ).

Let me give you an example of validation from daily life:

Pre Requisite: If You want to Go outside

Check : It is raining outside and you do not carry an umbrella

Your Mom delivers a Message:"Take an umbrella while going as
it is raining outside"

Let us test this procedure:

1. If you do not want to go outside, then the check as well
as the message are not required. Therefore validation does
not happen

2. If you want to go outside but it is not raining outside,
You do not need a warning message. Validation does not happen

3. If you want to go outside and it is raining outside and
you have an umbrella, then you do not need any warning
message. Therefore validation does not happen

4. If you want to go outside and it is raining outside and
you DO NOT HAVE AN UMBRELLA, then you are warned to take an
umbrella. Your Mom delivers a message "Take an Umbrella
while going outside since it is raining "

This is validation.

Substitution is also similar. There is no message. Instead
of your mom delivering a message, she thrusts an umbrella
into your hand. That is substitution.

This is what happens during document posting:

Your validation contains a pre-requisite, Check and Message.
Your substitution contains a check and substitution.

Got it now?

Question { 8247 }

What is ASCII ?
Can any 1 explain in detail about this.it is a bit urgent.
Interview Question

Answer

It is a code the acronym of which stands for "American
Standard Code for Information Interchange".

All the keys which you see on your keyboard and the other
formatting functions such as bold, italic, tab key, enter
key, tab shift key, print control keys etc are repesented as
a number behind the scenes.

for example: "A" is represented as 65 and "B" as 66.
Separate number definitions are available for A and a (
capital letter or small letter). This method of representing
all keyboard related and other activities for characters
forms a standardized form of communicating across the world.

Have you ever tried opening a word document using a plain
editor from DOS? You would see lot of junk figures. They are
actually not junk characters; only that the DOS program does
not sense them.

ASCII is the standard format for information exchange.