Introduction to Realignments
Since the introduction of Simple Finance (now S/4HANA Finance) Account Based CO-PA is the preferred Profitability Analysis method. Costing Based Profitability Analysis is still available and both types can be used in parallel. However all new features will be introduced in Account Based Profitability Analysis and this is the only type which provides complete integration with the General Ledger. So to make use of all the benefits of S/4HANA and the Universal Journal (ACDOCA), Account Based Profitability Analysis is the way to go.
With Costing Based Profitability Analysis, we can cancel and reposting CO-PA documents independent from the General Ledger posting. There will be alignment with Financial Accounting or the General Ledger and it gives you a lot of flexibility to add or change characteristics, even to historical data.
Account Based CO-PA (Realignments)
Account Based Profitability Analysis in S/4HANA gives us the advantage of full integration with the General Ledger. However there was no possibility to change or add characteristics after a posting was completed. The Profitability Characteristics were tightly integrated in the General Ledger posting in the Universal Journal (ACDOCA).
As of S/4HANA 1610, the Realignment functionality comes to Account Based CO-PA. Some of you will already be familiar with Realignment in CO-PA (KEND), since this is an already existing functionality in SAP. With Account Based CO-PA, Realignment is your only option to make changes to Characteristics.
Why is the availability of this functionality that important and what are the business requirements? The most important are the following:
- Reflect organizational changes in your product, sales or customer structure in already posted documents.
- Make corrections to inconsistencies or incorrectly assigned characteristics at the time of the original postings.
- Enrich profitability data by information not yet available at the time of posting.
General Facts and limitations
Since there is no separation of Financial Accounting and Management Accounting data anymore in the Universal Journal there are some limitations in changing document.
- Changes to journal entries have to always follow the guidelines of standard accounting principles
- Realignment of Universal Journal can only be processed for non-GL relevantinformation
- Changeable CO-PA Characteristics are pre-defined by SAP and selection cannot be changed by users
Available Characteristics for realignment
As mentioned, the list of Characteristics is pre-defined by SAP. Some characteristics can be changed only when they are initial at the time of realignment. The complete list of Characteristics is provided below.
| Type | Characteristics | Rule |
| By SAP defined and by customer activated CO-PA characteristics | MaterialVol. Rebate Grp
Industry Sales District Sales Office Sales Group Country Customer Group Material Group ABC Indicator Form of manufacturer ‘* other Customer defined characteristics’ |
Characteristics are always changeable without restrictions. |
| Fixed Characteristics that are not GL Relevant | Billing TypeSales Org.
Distribution Channel Division Plant Customer |
Characteristics are only changeable if field is initial at time of realignment. |
| Fixed Characteristics that are not GL Relevant | Sales OrderSales Order Item
WBS Element Cost Object Internal Order Cost Center |
Can only be changed if not true account assignment and initial |
Characteristics that cannot be changed
The table below contains all Characteristics of the Operating Concern that cannot be changed:
| Characteristics |
| Company CodeControlling Area
Functional Area Business Area Profit Center Partner Profit Center Segment |
Executing the Realignment
As mentioned, the realignment functionality is not new, it was already available before. The transaction code is not changed and is still KEND. If Costing Based CO-PA is activated, Realignment is processed for both Profitability Analysis methods (Account and Costing Based). This is in order to keep the information in sync.
The realignment characteristics are updated in the Universal Journal (ACDOCA) and in case of Costing Based also in the Segment Tables (CE4xxxx). So there are no new line items generated through the realignment run.
The original information (as posted view) from the Universal Journal is stored in a dedicated table.
You can execute transaction KEND in SAP GUI or can be done in Fiori.
If you would like to change the material group of a specific material. So in the Selection Condition of the run you have to select the material number:
The Material Group in one material in the selected billing document has changed. If you just want to update the Material Group. So this will be selection in the Conversion Rules:
This indicator can be set if you want to re-derive Attributed Profitability Segments:
The old Material Group was 01 in the initial document. This can be checked in ACDOCA:
Material Group in material changed to 02:
Execute the Realignment run:
The Realignment run is finished successfully:
In ACDOCA you can see that the Material Group in the original Journal entry is changed:
Original “As Posted” values
As you have noticed, after Realignment the Characteristics in the original Journal posting are changed. However the initial Characteristics values are still available for the “as posted view’’ of the document. In case of Account Based CO-PA these values are stored in the dedicated table ACDOCA_KENC. For Costing Based CO-PA these values are stored in table CE4****_KENC.
The original “as posted” values are taken from ACDOCA_KENC:
When a Realignment Run is restored the values in ACDOCA_KENC for that Realignment run are deleted. So there are no additional line items created for the Restore of the Realignment.
Restoring the original values
Since the original values are kept in a dedicated table. It is always possible to restore the Realignment.
After executing the Restore you will see that the status of the Realignment run is changed:
The posting in the Universal Journal (ACDOCA) will be restored to the default Material Group 01:
Availability for S/4HANA Finance
The Realignment functionality for Account Based CO-PA is available in 1610. However you can also activate the functionality if you are on S/4HANA Finance 1605 (SAP_FIN 730). The functionality comes with support package 05 (SAP_FIN 730: SP 0005) or you can enable it by implementing a bunch of OSS notes. The main OSS notes are the following, and these will guide you to all the other relevant notes:
- 2350123 – S/4 HANA Finance: Realignment for account-based profitability data I
- 2344759 – S/4 HANA Finance: Realignment for account-based profitability data II
