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Parallel ledger management
in SAP Fixed Assets module.

Table of contents

1 Background
2

Parallel ledger configuration project in fixed assets.

Changes
in G/L account determination for
3
US-GAAP ledger (2L).

4New transaction ASKB.

Table of contents

1 Background
2

Parallel ledger configuration project in fixed assets.

Changes
in G/L account determination for
3
US-GAAP ledger (2L).

4New transaction ASKB.

Background
To give an answer to the different accounting criteria and valuations (Corporate, IAS,
USGAAP, etc) that may be required in Abengoa companies for presenting financial
statements, in SAP we use function Management of parallel account books.

According to this solution, within Abengoa model, all companies must have at least
four ledgers activated: the so-called main book (0L) and three more, with the
following definition:

0L

Main ledger

1L

IAS ledger

2L

US-GAAP ledger

3L

Abengoa (PIC)

Local entities

Local ledger

All companies must register the different transactions as per Abengoas accounting
regulations and, depending on the country where the company is established, they
must keep at least one local ledger (generally, ledger 3L and 2L in companies from
the United States).

Thus, the reference local ledger will contain all individual ledger transactions
registered and also a number of adjustments, either manual or automatic, necessary
for getting some financial statements consistent with the local regulations of each

Background

Daily postings will always be carried out in the main ledger according to corporate
accounting technique and valuation criteria. The system always treats additional
ledgers as complete ones, i.e., all daily postings with no differences planned in the
system are also posted in the main ledger and in the rest of ledgers of the company
(e.g. purchase invoices, sale invoices, payments, collections, etc).

Valuation adjustments specific to each regulation will be posted only in the specific
ledger corresponding to that regulation. These adjustments will generally be done
automatically in the case of the valuation of assets (depreciations), the valuation in
foreign currencies, etc. The rest of adjustments can be made manually.

Background

Manual vs. automatic adjustments.Valuation adjustments specific to each regulation

will be posted only in the specific ledger of that regulation to meet specific valuation
requirements. These adjustments done to a specific ledger are basically of two different
types:

Manual (e.g., provision and accrual adjustments, etc). They will be generally
registered through transactions FB50L or FB01L and you must specify a ledger
group:

Automatic. These adjustments must be set in the system. They will generally
be mass processes where the system makes automatic postings and includes a
valuation adjustment in the corresponding ledger.

Background
Examples of ledger specific automatic adjustments:

Valuation executions of ledger specific foreign currency items.

Financial product settlements with valuation differences by ledger.

Fixed asset module transactions. For example, accounting differences in

handling some types of assets, different depreciation patterns, differences that
can appear during FA retirement transactions, etc.

In this document, we focus on this last case (ledger dependent fixed asset
transactions).

Table of contents

1 Background
2

Parallel ledger configuration project in fixed assets.

Changes
in G/L account determination for
3
US-GAAP ledger (2L).

4New transaction ASKB.

Parallel ledger configuration Project in fixed assets.

At the moment, there is one project under execution which consists in
preparing and configuring SAP Asset Management module so that possible
criteria differences regarding affected ledgers in Abengoa companies can be
automatically maintained.
The main aim is to have in SAP the correct original information so that, on a
short term, you do not have to make manual adjustments to the corporate
accounting report tool (PIC).
This will entail some changes on the user operations, mainly in determination
of asset G/L accounts only for 2L ledger (US-GAAP) in USA companies.
Besides that, you will find a new technical transaction (ASKB Fixed assets
periodic postings) that will automatically post some additional adjustments in
2L ledger and also detect possible errors in account determination.
This new transaction will have to be run in month-end closing proccess (just
after depreciation run) and anyway will be mandatory in the year-end close in
order to begin asset management operations in the new year.

Table of contents

1 Background
2

Parallel ledger configuration project in fixed assets.

Changes
in G/L account determination for
3
US-GAAP ledger (2L).

4New transaction ASKB.

10

Changes in G/L account determination for US-GAAP ledger (2L).

Until now, all valuation areas in SAP Asset Management had the same GL
account determination. This means all the accounts were the same for all ledgers
in all operations (capitalizations, depreciation posts, retirements, etc.) because
all areas were configured the same way.

Now, we will have independent G/L account determination for each ledger. This
will help to cover some PIC requirements in SAP . For example, some kind of
tangible assets for US-GAAP has to be intangible for Abengoas PIC. This is the
case of concessions in some Solar companies.
In SAP Asset Management we maintain different valuation areas, mainly used for
identify this valuation differences. For example, 01 area covers PIC accounting
principles and is triggered to 0L ledger, while 03 area covers US-GAAP (ledger
2L).
So, in order to cover some special accounting requirements, we have to make
both 01 and 03 valuation areas independent in asset management. This implies
that also the account determination has to be independent.

Changes in G/L account determination for US-GAAP ledger (2L).

Besides that G/L account differences treatment per ledger, we could even manage different
useful lives in 01 and 03 areas -0L and 2L ledgers-):

This two different facts (alternative accounts determination and the possibility of having
different useful lives in ledger 0L and 2L) affects the way SAP makes all the postings for the
asset operations.

Changes in G/L account determination for US-GAAP ledger (2L).

The most evident change in account determination is in the case of a capitalization of an

asset. With the new account determination the system is going to automatically post two
documents; first, a ledger-independent one:

And other for 2L ledger.

Please note that the system is adjusting
the capitalization account in 2L with a L
account and then debiting again the same
account. This 0 effect from accounting
point of view is because this asset class
is managed the same way in 0L and 2L
ledgers.

Changes in G/L account determination for US-GAAP ledger (2L).

Please note that the system uses an auxiliary account (always ending in L) to make an
adjustment in 2L ledger. In the previous example the account is basically the same (because
the asset acts the same way in both ledgers) but in the case of some kind of concessions
the account could be a different one (usually an intangible one for 0L and tangible for 2L).
Following we show two examples.

Case 1: intangible asset (Software). Same account for PIC and US-GAAP:
Ledger
Group =
blanks

Ledger
Group =
2L

Changes in G/L account determination for US-GAAP ledger (2L).

Case 2: intangible asset (Concession). Different account for PIC and US-GAAP:
Ledger
Group =
blanks

Ledger
Group =
2L
In this case the system is going to post (automatically) the same adjustment buy using a
proper account for US-GAAP (in this example a tangible account). This way, from US-GAAP
accounting point of view, the capitalization is made by mean of a tangible account.
For this kind of assets we are going to create new asset classes.

Changes in G/L account determination for US-GAAP ledger (2L).

This new account determination for 2L ledger implies that we now have to include L
accounts in any balance report in order to analyze financial statements for assets. For
example if we want to show line items for industrial buildings capitalizations in US-GAAP
ledger, we need to include all 211* accounts:

FAGLL03 transaction

Changes in G/L account determination for US-GAAP ledger (2L).

The same for account balances (FS10N transaction):

Table of contents

1 Background
2

Parallel ledger configuration project in fixed assets.

Changes
in G/L account determination for
3
US-GAAP ledger (2L).

4New transaction ASKB.

18

New transaction ASKB.

ASKB transaction mainly detects errors in account determination for 2L operations in
asset management. This technical transaction have to be run just after depreciation
run (AFAB) and will be included in all closing cockpits.
Selection screen:

New transaction ASKB.

Transaction ASKB can be run in test mode or real mode. If you run it in test mode, you
can select an asset or asset group individually to check the results. If you run it in real
mode, you must process all existing assets.

Rest of selection fields:

Company Code
Flag Make list of fixed assets: if you select this parameter, the system will make a list of all the
assets to be posted with their corresponding posted depreciation. You must leave it selected.
Flag Make a list of direct items if you select this flag, the system will show, apart from the
items to be posted through this program, those items that have been posted automatically by the
system. You can leave this field unselected.
Layout: if the user has created a layout for the output report, you must include the name in this
field.

New transaction ASKB.

Run in real mode. To run in real mode, the same as with transaction AFAB, background
processing is necessary. To do so, press on menu Program Run with background
processing:

New transaction ASKB.

Log report. In this example we dont have any errors for this execution.

In case of errors is necessary to open a SOS in order to fix the problem.

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