Document Splitting Configuration steps with example

Document Splitting

You can use the document splitting procedure to split up line items for selected dimensions (such as receivable lines by profit center) or to effect a zero balance setting in the document for selected dimensions (such as segment). This generates additional clearing lines in the document. Using the document splitting procedure is the prerequisite for as well as an essential tool for drawing up complete financial statements for the selected dimensions at any time.

You can choose between displaying the document with the generated clearing lines either in its original form in the entry view or from the perspective of a ledger in the general ledger view.

For document splitting to be possible, the individual document items and the documents must be classified. Each classification corresponds to a rule in which it is specified how document splitting is to occur and for which line items.
SAP delivers a set of standard rules that should usually prove sufficient. If not, you can define your own set of rules and adapt these according to your needs.

Example

Example 1: Invoice

Suppose a vendor invoice containing the following items is entered:

Posting Key	Account	Segment	Amount
31	Payables	000	-100
40	Expense	0001	40
40	Expense	0002	60

Document splitting then creates the following document in the General Ledger view:

Posting Key	Account	Segment	Amount
31	Payables	0001	-40
31	Payables	0002	-60
40	Expense	0001	40
40	Expense	0002	60

Example 2: Payment

The payment for the above vendor invoice then contains the following items when entered:

Posting Key	Account	Segment	Amount
50	Bank		-95
25	Payables		100
50	Cash Discount Received		-5

Document splitting then creates the following document in the General Ledger view:

Posting Key	Account	Segment	Amount
50	Bank	0001	-38
50	Bank	0002	-57
25	Payables	0001	40
25	Payables	0002	60
50	Cash Discount Received	0001	-2
50	Cash Discount Received	0002	-3

Classify G/L Accounts for Document Splitting

Each business transaction that is entered is analyzed during the document splitting procedure. In this analysis, the system determines for each line item whether it is an item that remains unchanged or an item that should be split.

In order that document splitting recognizes how the individual document items are to be handled, you need to classify them. You do this by assigning them to an item category. The item category is determined by the account number. In this IMG activity, you need to assign the following accounts in the system:

Revenue account

Expense account

Bank account/cash account

Balance sheet account

The classification of all other accounts is known to the system, so you do not have to enter them here. You can enter an account interval since the system recognizes SAP-specific classifications and does not allow SAP settings to be overwritten by your own settings.

Example

The following item categories are included in the system:

Customer

Vendor

Cash discount offsetting

Asset

Material

Expense

Revenue

Standard settings

Item categories are included in the standard SAP System. You can not define any additional item categories. If the item categories included in the system do not meet your needs, contact SAP.

Activities

Enter your accounts or account intervals and assign them to an item category.

Classify Document Types for Document Splitting

Every business transaction that is entered is analyzed during the document splitting process. In this process, the system determines which splitting rule is applied to the document. In order that the system can determine the splitting rule, you must assign a business transaction variant to each document type.

To ensure that a splitting rule is used appropriately, the relevant documents must meet certain requirements. These requirements relate in particular to certain item categories that either must or must not be available. This information is specified for each business transaction variant and is checked against the current document during posting. If the document does not meet these requirements, the system rejects the posting.

Example

The accounting transaction 0200 (customer invoice), variant 0001 (standard), is delivered. In this accounting transaction, the following item categories are allowed: customer, value added tax, withholding tax, expense, revenue, exchange rate differences, and company code clearing.

Standard settings

With the document types delivered in the standard system, SAP delivers a classification for document splitting. This classification is a proposal that you need to check against how your document types are organized. You need to check whether the classification or assignment to a business transaction variant produces the desired result in document splitting.

SAP includes business transactions in the standard system. The item categories that are allowed for each accounting transaction are also defined. Accounting transaction variants are also included. These are additional limitations of the accounting transaction.

You cannot define additional business transactions. However, you can define your own business transaction variants to the the standard business transactions.

Activities

Assign your document types to an accounting transaction and a business transaction variant.

Further notes

Document splitting is essentially controlled by the document type. You should therefore ensure that the documents used for business transactions are assigned uniquely in document splitting to a business transaction variant and in this way to a splitting rule.

You may therefore be required to introduce more document types.

Example:

The document type SA is assigned to business transaction 0000 Unspecified Posting with variant 0001.

In the methods delivered, no splitting rules are defined for the business transaction variant Unspecified Posting (with the exception of company code clearing). If an account assignment is expected in these documents, it has to be specified for all lines. This means that the system does not project any account assignments to non-assigned lines due to the absence of a splitting rule.

However, this document type is generally used for a large variety of business transactions that would also have to be treated differently in document splitting. In such cases, it is necessary to define additional document types and to assign them to the specific fiscal year variants.

Define Zero-Balance Clearing Account

For account assignment objects for which you want to have a zero balance setting, the system checks whether the balance of account assignment object is zero after document splitting.

If this is not the case, the system generates additional clearing items. In this activity, you have to create a clearing account for these additional clearing items.

Activities

Create a clearing account for your chart of accounts.

Define Document Splitting Characteristics for General Ledger

Use

In this IMG activity, you specify for which characteristics you want to perform document splitting in General Ledger Accounting. You can define the following:

Whether you want to apply a zero balance setting for the characteristic

Whether you want to use a partner field to document a sender/receiver relationship in the clearing lines generated additionally in the document

Whether you want the characteristic to be a required entry field (whereby the system only accepts postings when this field can be filled with a value from the document splitting)

Requirements

The characteristics that you specify should be maintained in at least one of your ledgers.

Standard settings

If you have not yet entered any characteristics, the system proposes appropriate fields that are updated in your ledgers.

Activities

Check the settings and then save.

Define Document Splitting Characteristics for Controlling

Use

In this IMG activity, you specify on which additional characteristics you intend to apply document splitting. The additional characteristics are not relevant for General Ledger Accounting. Instead, they are relevant for other application components (such as subcomponents in Controlling) that use documents transferred from General Ledger Accounting.

For this, the system can divide up the line items during the following General Ledger Accounting processes:

Clearing of Vendor/Customer Items

Cash Discount Paid

Cash Discount Received

Lost Cash Discount

Clearing of Open Items

Realized Exchange Rate Differences

Foreign Currency Valuation for Open Items

Expenses / profit from foreign currency valuation

Flat-Rate Individual Value Adjustment for Vendor/Customer Items

Expenses / profit from individual value adjustment

Note

The selected characteristics are only transferred to the specified line items when the account to which the postings are to be made can also take the characteristics. This means in particular that CO account assignments are only transferred when the account has also been set up as a cost element.

The field status definition of the account, however, is explicitly excluded from this check. This means that characteristics are also transferred when they are hidden by the field status definition of the G/L account (for manual entry).

Activities

Select the desired characteristics and save your settings.

Define Post-Capitalization of Cash Discount to Assets

Use

In this IMG activity, you define whether the cash discount that is applied in the payment of a asset-relevant invoice should be capitalized to the asset. When you select this setting, the cash discount amount is not posted to the cash discount account in the payment document, but instead directly to the asset.

Requirements

Document splitting is activated.

Activities

Choose the Asset field if you want to have cash discounts capitalized to assets.

Example

Invoice

Suppose a vendor invoice contains the following items:

Posting Key	Account	Amount
31	Payable	-100
70	Asset 20012	90
40	Expense	10

Payment

The payment for the above vendor invoice then contains the following items:

Posting Key	Account	Amount
50	Bank	-95
25	Payable	100
75	Asset 20012	-4.50
50	Cash Discount Received	-0.50

Edit Constants for Nonassigned Processes

Use

In this IMG activity, you define default account assignments (for example, a default segment) for specific line items in processes for which it is not possible to derive the correct account assignments at the time when the document is posted. This is the case if the required information is not yet available when the posting occurs.

Example

The segment can be used as an example of an account assignment: For a cash receipt from a customer that is posted to a house bank account, it is not immediately known which invoices are to be paid by this cash receipt.

Step 1:
To make the information concerning available financial means available to the system within the shortest possible delay, a posting from checking account against cash receipt is made. Since no additional information is available for this, the account assignment must be made to a default segment.

Account	Segment	Amount
Checking Account	Default	1000
Cash Receipt	Default	-1000

Step 2
The cash receipt account is then posted against the customer (with clearing of the customer). In this way, the correct segment(s) can be determined from the cleared invoice.

Account	Segment	Amount
Cash Receipt	0001	1000
Customer	0001	-1000

Step 3
Finally, both items on the cash receipt account are cleared against each other. Since both positions are assigned to different segments, corresponding clearing items must be generated on the cash receipt account.

If a zero balance is required for a segment, additional line items that set the document balance per segment to zero are generated on a clearing account defined in Customizing. These clearing items reflect the correction of the segment information on the checking account. However, it is no longer possible to determine the correct checking account. This could be ambiguous in more complex cases than this example. It is therefore useful to assign the clearing account in the balance sheet to the checking accounts.

Account	Segment	Amount
Cash Receipt	Default	1000
Cash Receipt	0001	-1000
Clearing	0001	1000
Clearing	Default	-1000

Activate Document Splitting

Use

In this IMG activity, you active document splitting. The splitting method used is that delivered by SAP as standard, which contains the splitting rules for the different business transactions. If this splitting method does not meet your requirements, you can first define and then select your own method in Customizing for document splitting. You do this under Extended Document Splitting -> Assign Splitting Method.

The activation then applies for the entire client. You can explicitly exclude individual company codes from document splitting. This means, however, that you are then no longer able to create any cross-company-code transactions containing company codes that have divergent settings for document splitting.