The Holy Grail of SAP

If there is such a thing as a holy grail in SAP, then I think it would be the the Charts of Account (CoA). This chart of accounts will determine the structure of the financial elements of the SAP implementation and this will chain-react to the other SAP modules.

So, what the heck is CoA? CoA is like a big animal. Simply put, it's a list of accounts to be used in a company. This CoA has a few elements in it to bring meaning to the financial accounts.

An example of the elements of a CoA is:

• GL Account No - Simple number of a General Ledger (GL) account
• Cost/Profit Center - An organizational unit that's a sales dog (profit center) or just a big spender (cost center)
• Yada yada yada (too mouthful to mention)

All these elements will define the CoA. So, any GL entry, should have part or all of these information to make a really good posting. Thus, a good CoA, will make financial analysis a breeze. Things like Profitability Analysis, Cost Analysis will become much much more meaningful.

So, what happens if suddenly some tom,dick or harry decided to change the CoA in a middle of an SAP implementation? All hell break lose!!! I pity those SAP consultant who's in that kind of situation.