Post Accruals/Deferrals in a Smart Way

[Update on Nov 25th 2021: the earliest op version which could use solution 2 is SAP S/4HANA 2020]

Why we need post accruals/deferrals?

Ideally speaking, company could receive payment at the time when they deliver goods or service, or on the contrary, pay for expenses when incurred. However there is usually a delay in a modern company. In order to reflect the ‘real’ revenue and expense for a company, accountants will then post Accruals and Deferrals.

We could understand the concept in a simple way.

· Accruals: payment after revenue or expense incurred

· Deferrals: payment before revenue or expense incurred

This is actually the main difference between the cash-based accounting and accrual-based accounting.

How to post in a smart way?

Traditionally in SAP GUI you should manually post via transaction FSB1 and F.81. While entering the new world of S4HANA Cloud, there are more intelligent solutions unfold. Based on your requirement, you could choose using one or both.

Solution 1: Accruals management – Purchase order Accruals/Deferrals

This is an end-to-end automated solution to recognize any accruals/deferrals for purchase orders.

The basic data is taken from the Materials Management component, transferred to the Accrual Engine, and automatically converted to accruals/deferrals items. The system calculates the amounts to be accrued.

Recommend Resources

• Scope item 2VB.
• Help Portal – Purchase Order Deferrals (New since CE2108)
  • 15 min introduction video on Automatic Invoice Deferrals based on Purchase Order Reference Information
• Help Portal – Purchase Order Accruals
• [S/4HANA Accruals Management] [Cloud version] Purchase Order Accruals one-stop-shop
• [S/4HANA Accruals Management] [Cloud version] Q1- What kind of Purchase Order Item is Accruals relevant?
• [S/4HANA Accruals Management] [Cloud version] Q2 – How is the Purchase Order Item converted into S/4HANA Accrual Engine?
• [S/4HANA Accruals Management] [Cloud version] Q3 – How can I influence the way Purchase Order Item converted into S/4HANA Accrual Engine? (SSCUI + Cloud BAdI)

Solution 2: Post general journal entries with Auto-Reverse 

This is an express solution to recognize any accruals/deferrals.

• Applicable for the SAP S/4HANA Cloud version since CE2002
• Applicable for SAP S/4HANA 2020 on-premise version and versions after. [Auto Reversal of General Journal Entries in SAP S/4HANA 2020] 

SAP delivered STANDARD_5 as default template for posting journal entries with auto reverse.

For more details, kindly visit help portal documents or scope item J58.

Demo for Post general journal entries with auto reverse

In this blog, I am going to explain how this could be achieve with step by step screenshot (Captured in CE2002, main process is still valid in CE2111)

Step1: (optional) Create a template for posting journal entries

SAP delivered STANDARD_5 as default template for posting journal entries with auto reverse. In addition, you could define your own template via Manage Journal Entry Templates’ app. [Search for the app or add it from the ‘App finder’]

Create template with apply template in ‘Post General Journal Entries’

You could set the default ‘Reversal reason‘ and ’Reverse posting date‘ so that later you could save time.

You could also add more line items with default value, to save time in future.

Save your template for posting auto reverse journal entries later.

Step2: Post a journal entry with auto reverse.

You could navigate from ‘Manage Journal Entry Templates’ with selected template.

Or in the Post General Journal Entries app, choose Select Templates.

Then input amount and other value, then click post.

In this case, the document 100000392 (2020,1010) was posted, with ‘reversal reason 05 – auto reverse’ and ‘reversal date 01.04.2020’.

Note

On the Auto-Reverse tab page, you must enter the reversal reason and the reversal date when you plan to reverse the journal entry.

Step3: (Optional) Upload journal entries for auto reverse.

In the template spreadsheet, you add two fields that are specific for auto reverse:

• STGRD: Reversal Reason
• STODT: Reversal Date’
• 

Step4: Schedule and run a job for auto reverse.

c. Schedule General Ledger Jobs

Step5: Check auto reverse status

The document 100000393(2020,1010) is the reversal journal entry for previous 100000392.

Hope this blog could help you and make your daily/implementation life easier.