The Operating Unit is an important part of the subledger implementations

and drives the ability to separate data at this level for most subledgers.
Data entry is managed by being part of an Operating Unit and cannot cross
between two Operating Units for transactional functions.
Prior to R12, the Operating Units were managed as part of a silo and could
not be accessed without changing to a different role (responsibility). This
was, in many cases, a restriction that was a problem for many businesses.
Multiple Organization Access Control (MOAC) was introduced in
E-Business Suite R12. With MOAC you can access multiple Operating Units
(if configured with the appropriate security profiles) when you are logged in
with a specific role/responsibility.