Can I implement ICMR witohut Group reporting?

Intercompany Matching and Elimination (ICMR) with or without group reporting

ICMR helps supercharge your intercompany reconciliation process from local close (Company code level) to corporate close (Group level). You don’t need to use any ETL (Extract transform load) process and do a near Realtime matching and reconciliation. Allows users to achieve a high level of automation and a continuous accounting process. With its built-in communication features like workflows, notes, email notifications and reminders, it reduces delays faced in a conventional reconciliation process while bringing in visibility transparency and accountability in the process.

Background

SAP has been very successful in demonstrating the advantages and cool features that ICMR offers. Any SAP customer who has seen ICMR in action (thanks to the video demos by SAP) would not want to pass on the opportunity of implementing ICMR. It’s so well designed and even better demonstrated that it creates a kind of excitement to use the functionality for clients and consultants alike.

However, the big question that SAP customers keep asking us again and again is, Should I implement group reporting to make use of ICMR. The documentation is not super clear on this unless we dive deeper into the functionality or do a test implementation.

TLDR

The short answer to this question is ‘Yes’, we can implement ICMR without group reporting.ICMR (Scope item 40Y) was built with consolidation and elimination in mind. However, ICMR can be used either with or without Group reporting activated (Scope item 1SG). This allows users to use ICMR as a matching and reconciliation tool without consolidation. However, you need to understand a few aspects before jumping in.

In this blog post, we are going to discuss the features and functionalities of ICMR without implementing group reporting. Plus a deeper dive into the data sources which feed the matching engine.

Below are the functionalities of ICMR with or without group reporting.

Without Consolidation (Group reporting)

1. Matching of either intercompany or non-intercompany transactions at a ledger level
2. Automatic matching of items based on matching logic
3. Manual matching with the ability to override auto-match results
4. Classify matching results with reason codes
5. Customize reason codes to allow for a predetermined list of follow-up actions like mandatory commenting, trigger workflow, or write off variance, move the item to the next period etc.
6. Post adjustment of variances with or without workflow and approvals
7. Communication features like adding notes, triggering emails at an item level to help coordinate between teams for discrepancies.
8. Reconcile the balances at a line-item level or at an aggregated level
9. Manage reconciliation close with the ability to use workflow for approvals

With Consolidation (Group reporting)

1. Matching of either intercompany or non-intercompany transactions at a ledger level
2. Matching of either intercompany or non-intercompany transactions at a consolidation unit level
3. Matching of either intercompany or non-intercompany transactions at a consolidation group level
4. Automatic matching of items based on matching logic
5. Manual matching with the ability to override auto-match results
6. Classify matching results with reason codes
7. Customize reason codes to allow for a predetermined list of follow-up actions like mandatory commenting, trigger workflow, or write-off variance etc.
8. Post adjustment of variances with or without workflow and approvals
9. Communication features like adding notes, triggering emails at an item level to help coordinate between teams for discrepancies.
10. Elimination of matched and reconciled items in consolidation monitor.
11. Customize the posting rules so as to post the elimination entry at an aggregate or a category level (Exchange difference, variance, translation difference etc.)
12. Reconcile the balances at a line-item level or at an aggregated level
13. Manage reconciliation close with the ability to use workflow for approvals

The table below summarizes the feature set

The difference that you see with both implementation approaches is choosing the right data source. The data source determines if you are reading the data from ACDOCA or ACDOCU

A Deep dive into the Data sources for ICMR

Data source helps define the source data that is used by ICMR. The Data source definition helps the matching engine read the various elements that can be used for matching and reconciliation. The most significant components are the leading unit and a partner unit.

Each data source has a CDS view in the backend. For example, the SF_JOURNAL_ENTRIES_01 (ACDOCA) has the CDS view ICA_GENJOURNALENTRIES.

ICMR allows for the use of various data sources as listed below.

Use the transaction code ICAIMG to access all the nodes for the configuration of all ICMR processes

IMG Path: Intercompany matching and reconciliation —> Maintain data sources

Tcode: ICADS

The standard data sources should be sufficient for a conventional reconciliation process. However, if you need additional fields (Custom or standard) to form part of the matching you can copy the standard data source and create a customized data set.

Field Schematics: Has the list of fields that that data source can retrieve and read.

Update from the original document check box enables the data to be read from the source. For example, Clearing entries. This ensures the value is updated when the original clearing status changes.

Field schematics

You can change the field labels from the standard naming to a more customer-friendly name.

Mandatory filter fields: Only a subset of fields is available as MFF fields: Fiscal Year Variant, Fiscal Year/Period, Consolidation Ledger, Consolidation Version, Consolidation COA. These filter fields will be available for user input when launching a matching run or viewing a reconciliation report.

Mandatory Filter fields

Navigation settings and Navigation URL parameters: This allows you to define your drill down characteristics

Navigation Parameters

Conclusion/Key Takeaways

To summarize ICMR can be used with all its functionality without group reporting. The only missing aspect would be to use eliminations and posting of elimination in consolidation. This blog post will help you answer the question with specific details on what functionality is in ICMR (Standalone) vs ICMR plus group reporting.

Do let me know your feedback or questions in the comment section below. Ensure you tag me in your questions for a quick response.

Related Materials

• Usage of reason codes for ICMR: https://blogs.sap.com/2022/03/28/a-deep-dive-into-matching-methods-and-reason-codes-in-icmr/
• The main documentation:
  • SAP S/4HANA Cloud: https://help.sap.com/s4_ce_icmr
  • SAP S/4HANA: https://help.sap.com/s4_op_icmr
• Introduction Video: Youtube.
• FAQ: SAP Note for Cloud(2815332) and OP(2815304).
• Configuration Guide: https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2916087