Using Several Charts of FI G/L Accounts

Generally speaking, you only ever need more than one chart of accounts if you work with several company codes. But several charts of accounts are not absolutely necessary: You can also use one chart of accounts if the company codes do not have different requirements for grouping the chart of accounts.

The chart of accounts is shared by financial accounting as well as cost/revenue accounting. The items in a chart of accounts can be both expense or revenue accounts in financial accounting and cost or revenue elements in cost/revenue accounting.

You must set up the accounting system for two company codes which use the same account grouping. In this case, you will create only one chart of accounts and use this chart of accounts in both company codes.

You require several charts of accounts if you work with several company codes that require a different grouping structure of the chart of accounts. This is the case if you work with domestic and foreign company codes, if your company codes belong to different business sectors, or if you structure your charts of accounts differently for other reasons.

You must set up the accounting system for two companies: for a wholesaler and for an industrial enterprise. In Germany, you would use two charts of accounts to do this, since different grouping principles are generally used for these different industries.

The usage of different charts of accounts has no effect on the balance sheet and profit and loss statement. When creating the balance sheet or the profit and loss statement, you can choose whether to balance the company codes which use different charts of accounts together or separately. For more information, refer to FI Closing Operations and Reporting.