Fi Asap Q&a

Finance/Controlling Questionnaire
Instructions
This questionnaire is a tool you can use to collect information about your business that will be useful for
tailoring the R/3 System to your business needs. You will need Microsoft Word for Windows to work with this
document. Enter your answers in the fields after the questions, using the TAB key to move from field to field.
You may save and later change your answers in this questionnaire just as you would with any other Word
document.
1 Organization Structure
1.1 Company Codes
A company code is an independent accounting unit for which a balanced set of books is produced. It is
a legal entity. Balance sheets and Profit and Loss statements are required at the company code level.
What are the legal entities that constitute 
your business?
Do you produce a Profit and Loss Statement Yes No

and a complete Balance Sheet with retained
earnings for each legal entity? (If a complete
balance sheet including equity section is not
produced, then it is not a company.)
Does each legal entity have a separate Yes No
Federal tax ID Number?
Which of these entities are true operating 
companies that transact business at arm’s
length with vendors and customers?
Which of these entities are holding 

companies?
What is your percentage of ownership for 
each legal entity?
Does one entity supply customers with 

products valued as inventory under another
entity so revenue is reported in the selling
entity though the cost (inventory) resides in
elsewhere?
In which currency does each legal entity 

operate?
© SAP Technology Inc. 1

In which currency does each legal entity 

report?
When does each legal entity’s fiscal year 
begin?
For each legal entity, list the number of 
periods (both accounting and special periods)
used. Include the beginning and ending dates
for each period.
1.2 Business Areas

A business area is a special economic unit within a company code for which internal balance sheet and
profit and loss statements can be created.
Are you subject to segment reporting in 

accordance with FAS14?
If your answer is yes, identify your industry 

segments.
If not, do you generate a Profit and Loss 

Statement including Earnings before Taxes,
and a complete balance sheet (exclusive of
Retained Earnings) for any component of
your company (for example, division)?.
1.3 Chart of Accounts

Does each company code have its own 
operating chart of accounts with a unique
numbering convention, or do all companies
use a common chart of accounts with a
consistent numbering scheme?
If each company has its own operating chart 

of accounts, are you interested in
standardizing the charts into a common
numbering scheme?
If each company has its own operating chart 

of accounts, are they mapped to a
consolidation/corporate chart of accounts for
reporting?
Are any of the companies required to report 

in a statutory chart of accounts? (For
example, France, Germany, etc.)
Do these companies use the statutory chart of 
accounts as their primary operating chart of
accounts (i.e., all posting and account

analysis is made using the statutory account

code), or do they use the statutory chart for
reporting only?
Identify the different levels of Consolidation 

(e.g., by Country, by Region, etc.):
Please list the external financial views of 

your organization by which you would
expect to produce complete Profit and Loss
Statements and Balance Sheets. (Legal entity,
country, regions, continents, etc.)
How many general ledger accounts do you 
currently have?
Describe your current general ledger account 
number (for example, division, cost center,
natural account, expense code).
In R/3, the FI general ledger account number consists only of the natural account. Other information
resides in different modules. For example, cost centers are defined in CO and are not part of the FI
account number.
For each company, how detailed is its 

operating chart of accounts? Is it optimized
so that detail data (for example, sub-ledger
reconciliation account data) is captured via
control accounts?
If not, please explain why detail information 
is being captured with the chart of accounts
instead of the operational sub modules.
(Assumption is that there may be no
integration between modules.)
1.4 Consolidation
Identify the current system used to generate 
consolidated financial statements (e.g., Excel,
Hyperion).
If you plan to replace the current system with

SAP, please complete questions below.
Which of your legal entities represent a 

minority interest?
How many monthly elimination entries do 

you have?
Identify any situations where inventory is 
transferred between companies, such that

profit/loss in inventory that has to be

eliminated on the consolidated books.
2 Financial Application
2.1 Master Records - GL Accounts
Do your general ledger accounts fall into 
discrete number ranges (for example, cash
accounts are 1000 - 1999)?
Can you define groups of general ledger 
accounts that require similar information on
the master record?
How do you wish to control general ledger 
account creation and maintenance? Will it be
done at the company level or the corporate
level?
Do you currently use templates or prototypes 
to create general ledger accounts?
How many retained earnings accounts do you 

maintain per company code?
How many reconciliation (control) accounts 
do you need for each sub-ledger?
Example: Accounts Payable must have at
least one reconciliation account in
general ledger, but some companies
might choose to have more
(domestic payables, foreign
payables).
Do you wish to retain line item detail (open 
item managed) for every general ledger
account? If not, what are the exceptions?
Please examine the attached Frame Chart of 

Accounts. Can this frame be used as a
starting point to build your chart of accounts?
(The advantage in using the Frame Chart of
Accounts is that you will need to make only
minor changes to the Automatic Account
Determination.)

2.2 General Ledger Transaction Processing

What types of general ledger transactions do General Journals Incoming payments
you process?
Recurring Journals Outgoing payments
Accruals/Deferrals Down Payments
Inter-company Bills of exchange
transactions
Others 
:
What is the current structure of your general 

ledger transaction number?
How is the number assigned by your current Internally Externally

system?
Are your transaction numbers specific to 
fiscal year, or do they flow from year to year?
Do you have a need for repetitive or model 
journal entries?
What types of reversing journal entries do 

you have?
Do you calculate interest on any general 

ledger accounts?
Do journal entries require any type of 

approval before they are posted to the general
ledger?
Describe your current process for reconciling 

sub-ledgers (accounts receivable, accounts
payable, fixed assets) with your general
ledger.
Describe any special requirements to posting 
to particular general ledger accounts (for
example, expense accounts require an
associated cost center).
Is there information that you wish to require 

for certain types of journal entries or general
ledger accounts?
Is there certain information that you wish to 

be able to display when you view journal
entries online?

Describe your period-end closing process. 
What types of daily, weekly, periodic, and ad 

hoc transaction reports do you need for
general ledger?
2.2.1 Closing Operations

How do you carry out reconciliation in Manually Weekly
accounting?
Automatically Monthly
Daily
When do you close current posting period? Always on same date Date for AR accounting
When required Date for AP accounting
On certain day of next
month
Date for GL accounting
Which evaluations belong to month-end Balance audit trail Balance Sheet

closing?
Open item list Profit and Loss
statement
Balance List
Advance return for tax
on sales and
purchases
When do you close current fiscal year? Always on same date Date for AR accounting
When required Date for AP accounting
On certain month
Date for GL accounting

Which evaluations belong to year-end Balance audit trail Balance Sheet

closing?
Open item list Profit and Loss
statement
Balance List
Advance return for tax
on sales and
purchases
2.3 Master Records - Customers (AR)

How many customer master records do you 
currently have?
What is the current structure of your 
customer number?
Is the number internally assigned by your 
current system or externally assigned by a
user?
Do you intend to keep your existing number 
structure?
Are there classifications or groupings 
currently assigned to your customers (for
example, grouping by local customers,
foreign customers, government customers)?
If there are currently no classifications or 

groupings for your customers, could you
create them? If so, what would they be?
What types of customer master records are Domestic Goods & Agents / Sales Reps
there? Invoice recipients
Commission Recipients
Abroad Goods &
One-Time Customers
Invoice recipients
Employees
Branches / Head
Offices
Is there any information that you wish to 
require for certain customers?
Do you have any customers who are also 

vendors?

Do you have one-time customers (customers 

with whom you expect to do business only
once)?
List the payment terms that you offer your 

customers (for example, 2% discount if paid
within 10 days, net amount due in 30 days).
Do you have holdback/retainage agreements 

with your customers?
Do you have agreements with customers 

which call for installment payments?
Have you defined acceptable ranges 
(tolerances) within which your customer
payments can deviate from the amount billed
to them?
Does your company perform credit 

management on customers? If so, please
describe the credit management process in
detail.
Do you wish to perform dunning (reminder 
letters for overdue amounts) for your
customers? If so, please list your dunning
requirements.
Are any security access authorizations Company Related Field Related

needed?
Department Related Field-Group Related
Personnel Related
Master Record Related
What criteria are there for deleting a No open items No transactions for 3
customer master? years
No transactions for
more than 1 year Balance is less than:
No transactions for 2 
years Other:

2.4 Customer Transaction Processing

What types of customer transactions do you 
process (for example, customer invoices,
credit memos, customer payments)?
What is the current structure of your Manually Assigned Automatically Generated

transaction numbering?

Are your transaction numbers specific to 

fiscal year, or do they flow from year to year?
Are there foreign currency transactions? 
Do you receive down payments (advance 

payments) from your customers?
Do you charge customers interest on overdue 

amounts?
If yes, is interest calculated on balances or 
days overdue?
Do customer invoices require any type of 
ledger?
Describe any taxes which must be calculated 
on customer transactions.
Describe your cash receipts process (for 
example, manual, lock box).
Do you receive a single payment for multiple 

invoices from your customers?
How are payments matched to customer 

invoices?
What types of adjustments do you perform 
on customer invoices (for example,
adjustments for defective material, shipping
damage)?

be able to display when you view customer
entries online?

accounts receivable?
2.4.1 Outgoing Invoices

How do you compare documents with Sales Number of documents Other: 
& Distribution?
Total amounts

What information do you include in outgoing Foreign Currency PO number

invoices?
Payment Terms Project
Tax on sales and Personnel number
purchases
Asset number
Texts
Tax ID number
Invoice Number
Dunning indicator
Cost Center
Other: 
How do you make account assignments when Account assignment Local Account
manually entering invoices or credit memos? stamp assignment
Central Account in accounting
assignment
in sales
2.4.2 Incoming Payments

How do you process incoming payments? Manually Both
Automatically
What types of payment do you process? Cash payments Bills of exchange
Bank Transfers Other:

How do you process payment differences? Difference is charged up to specific amount

Residual amount is carried forward
Grace period for cash discount deduction in days
2.4.3 Dunning
What types of dunning notices do you use? Notices as payment reminders
notices with dunning levels
account statements
What is dunning frequency? Weekly Other

Bi-weekly
Do you dun various customer groups at Yes No

different intervals?
When do you dun an account? By due date for net payment

when grace period is exceeded
How many dunning levels do you have? 
Do you calculate dunning charges or interest? Dunning fees at dunning level

Interest at dunning level
Do you vary the text on dunning notices? by dunning level

by customer groups
Both
2.5 Master Records - Vendors (AP)

How many vendor master records do you 
currently have?
What is the current structure of your vendor 

number? Is it internally assigned by your
current system or externally assigned by a
user?
Do you intend to keep your existing 
numbering structure?
Are there classifications or groupings 
currently assigned to your vendors (for
example, grouping by local vendors, foreign
vendors, 1099 vendors)?
If there are no classifications or groupings for 

your vendors, could you define some? If so,
what would they be?
Is there any information that you wish to 
require for certain vendors?
Do you have any vendors who are also 

customers?
Do you have one-time vendors (vendors with 
whom you expect to do business only once)?
List the payment terms that you offer your 
vendors (for example, 2% discount if paid
within 10 days, net amount due in 30 days).
Do you have holdback/retainage agreements 

with your vendors?
Do you have agreements with vendors that 

call for installment payments?
Have you defined acceptable ranges 

(tolerances) within which your vendor
payments can deviate from the amount billed
to you?
Do you always want to take any discounts 
offered by your vendors?
2.6 Vendor Transaction Processing

What types of vendor transactions are 
currently being processed (for example,
vendor invoices, credit memos, vendor
payments).
What is the current structure of the 

transaction number?
Is the number internally assigned by your 

current system, or externally assigned by the
user?
Are your current transaction numbers 

specific to fiscal year, or do they flow from
year to year?
Are there foreign currency vendor 

transactions?
Do you make down payments (advance 
payments) to your vendors?
Do vendor invoices require any type of 

ledger?
Do your vendors charge interest on overdue 

payments?
If yes, is interest calculated on balances or 

days overdue?
Describe any taxes that must be calculated on 
vendor transactions.
Do you issue a single payment for multiple 

invoices from your vendors?
How are payments matched to vendor 

invoices?

be able to display when you view vendor
entries online?
accounts payable?
2.6.1 Outgoing Payments

How do you pay vendors? Manually
Automatically
Both
Please describe the process: 
How do you post outgoing payments? To an outgoing payments clearing account

per payment method
per bank
per payment method & bank
What types of automatic payment do you Checks Checks/bills of

process? Exchange
Bank Transfers
Bank Transfers
Postal Transfers
Abroad
Bills of Exchange
Other: 
Elimination w/
affiliated
companies
How often do you make payments? Daily Three Times a week

Once a week Other: 
Twice a week
How is the payment method determined for Indicator in Vendor Master

automatic payments?
Indicator in Open Item document
Depending on Payment Amt.
Depending on number of items to be paid
How do you process cash discounts received? Manual Posting

Automatic Posting
Additional account assignment to Cost Center of
Products
How do you post exchange rate differences in Manual Posting

foreign currency payments?
Automatic Posting
Additional account assignment to cost center or
products
When payment is made
In bank debit entry of payment
How do you plan funds? In each payment run

by a single bank
by several banks
Do you optimize payment methods? Optimization in bank transfers

Optimization in checks
No Optimization
How do you process vendor credit memos? Are Due immediately

The value date is set as the due date
Can be invoice-related
How are payment media created? 
Are down payments paid automatically? Yes No
Are receivables from a vendor who is also a Manual Check No Clearing

customer considered during payment?
Automatic Clearing
Which evaluations do you have for accounts Vendor List Due Date List
payable accounting?
List of Account Line Item List
Balances
Account Statement
Open Item List

2.7 Master Records - Banks

Please list the banks with which your 
company has bank accounts (checking
accounts, payroll accounts, lockbox).
Please list the bank accounts within each of 
the above banks.
Are any of these accounts held in a foreign 
currency?
Do you perform electronic funds transfers 

with your customers or vendors such that you
need to maintain their bank information?
2.8 Taxes
Do you currently have an interface to any 
third-party tax packages (for example, Vertex
or Taxware)?
Do you charge sales tax on your sales? 
If yes, on what types of sales? 
Please list the States, Counties, Cities and/or 

Jurisdictions to which you remit sales tax:
Do you have any international tax issues on 

your sales?
Are you charged taxes on: Inventory Items Services
Assets Any others? Please
specify:
Expense items

Do you pay use tax? 
If yes, please list the states to which you 

remit use taxes:
Do you withhold taxes from your vendor 

payments?
Do you receive Exemption Certificates from 
your vendors for Withholding Taxes?
Do you have 1099 or 1042 Reporting 
requirements for vendor Withholding Taxes?

2.9 Currencies
List the local currency (operating currency) 
for each of your company codes:
Do you report in currencies other than the 

operating currencies of your companies?
Do you perform consolidated reporting 

(grouping more than one company’s results)
in a different currency?
How do you currently maintain your 

exchange rates? For example, are they
manually entered into a table or downloaded
from a service such as Dow Jones?
What types of exchange rates do you 
maintain (for example, average rate, bank
buying rate, bank selling rate)?
Do you enter customer or vendor invoices in 

foreign currency?
If yes, how is the foreign currency rate 
determined?
Do you perform foreign currency 
re-valuations on either account balances (for
example, a bank account held in a foreign
currency) or open items (unpaid items for
customers or vendors)?
Describe your foreign currency revaluation 
process and which valuation methods you
use:
2.10 Planning/Budgeting
What type of financial planning/budgeting is 
currently performed (for example, by
company, by cost center, by product line)?
Please describe your planning process: 
Do you plan on a monthly, quarterly, 

half-yearly, or annual basis?
How do you distribute planned amounts to 
individual planning periods (for example,
equal distribution among periods, seasonal
distribution)?

Does your planning take into consideration 

non-financial (statistical) data?
2.11 Reporting
List the management reports that are 
currently used:
By which organizational units are 

management reporting functions structured
(for example, company, division, product
line)?
Do you require internal balance sheet or 
profit & loss reporting (Business Area by
regions or branches)?
Do you want to report daily or weekly 
balances? If yes, then you need Special
Ledger.
2.12 Consolidation
Do you require group consolidation across Yes No
companies?
Is consolidation performed in steps? Please 
describe the consolidation process.
Do you require consolidation by Business Yes No

Area?
2.13 Correspondence
Please list the types of correspondence that 
are currently produced for Accounts
Receivable and Accounts Payable (for
example, dunning letters, account balance
statements, checks, payment advice).
Will you need additional types of 

correspondence to meet your future needs?
3 Frame Chart of Accounts

Assets
1000 Petty cash
1050 Cash in Bank
1100 Deposits
1200 Accounts receivable
1201 Accounts receivable clearing

1220 Allowance doubtful accounts

1300 Raw material inventory
1301 Clearing account stock take results
1305 Trading goods inventory
1310 Packaging material inventory
1315 Semi finished goods inventory
1320 Finished goods inventory
1325 Spare parts inventory
1390 Reserve for obsolete inventory
1700 Assets
1710 Machinery & equipment
1720 Furniture & Fixtures
1800 Accumulated depreciation Assets
1810 Accumulated depreciation machinery & equipment
1820 Accumulated depreciation Furniture & fixtures
Liability
2000 Accounts payable
2001 AP clearing
2010 Clearing supplier discounts (Net method)
2050 Goods received invoice received clearing
2100 Sales tax accrued
2110 Use tax accrued
2200 Employee tax withheld FICA
2210 Employee tax withheld federal
2300 Accrued salary payroll
2310 Accrued hourly payroll
2400 Accrued sales rebate
2500 Freight clearing
2510 Freight provisions
2520 Customs duty clearing
2530 Freight other
Capital/Equity
3000 Capital stock
3010 Paid in capital
3990 Retained earnings
Revenues
4000 Sales revenues domestic
4100 Sales revenues export
4200 Freight revenues
4500 Discounts
4510 Price discounts
4520 Volume rebate
Cost of Sales
5000 Cost of goods sold finished goods
5010 Cost of sales other Materials

5100 Consumption raw material

5110 Consumption spare parts
5120 Consumption packaging material
5200 Inventory change finished goods
5210 Inventory change other
5300 Scrap
5310 Sample
5400 Gain/Loss inventory transfer
5410 Freight inventory transfer
5500 Gain/Loss inventory revaluation
5550 Gain/Loss inventory other
5600 Freight in
5700 Purchase discount
5710 Purchase price variance
5720 Small price difference variance
5999 Cost of goods sold miscellaneous
Admin Expenses
6000 Salaries and wages
6010 Direct labor
6020 Indirect labor
6030 Maintenance Labor
6040 Purchased labor
6050 Outside consultants
6100 Freight out
7000 Air transportation
7010 Rental car (travel)
7020 Training seminars
7030 Office supplies
7040 Telephone
7050 Insurance vehicle and equipment
7060 Depreciation
7070 Miscellaneous expense
8499 Miscellaneous expense
Other Income and Expenses

9000 Interest Income
4 Cost Center Accounting (CO)

4.1 Organization Structures
List the legally independent organizational 
units that are to be illustrated in cost
accounting.
Are allocations within cost accounting Yes No
required between these units?

Is an overall view of all units desired in cost Yes No

accounting?
Will access to cost center reports be regulated Yes No
through security authorizations?
If yes, describe 
4.2 Master Data in Cost Accounting

How are the cost accounting objects by Cost Centers by Projects
organized?
by Orders If other, please describe:

Estimate the number of objects that exist 

for each object type. Indicate whether a
manual data transfer is possible or practical.
When should the transfer of cost accounting At the change of the fiscal year
data take place?
During the fiscal year
How many cost elements from financial 
accounting are processed further in cost
accounting.
Which costing-based elements do you have? depreciation Please list all others:
interest 
employee benefit cost
4.3 Actual Postings to Cost Accounting
4.3.1 Billings, Cash Receipts, Posting Documents

How will on-periodically occurring costs be direct transfer from imputed costs in cost
treated? financial accounting accounting
imputed costs in
financial accounting
How does reconciliation of imputed costs Manually Via a standard order
between financial accounting and cost
Via an allocation cost
accounting take place?
center
At which intervals? 
4.3.2 Actual Activity Allocation

Do you execute direct actual activity Yes No
allocations between cost centers? This means
activity allocations made on the basis of

hours or other activity units.
4.3.3 Personnel Costs

How do you treat employee benefit costs? direct transfer from imputed costs in cost
financial accounting accounting
imputed costs in
How does reconciliation of imputed costs Manually Via a standard order

between financial accounting and cost
Via an allocation cost
accounting take place?
center
At which intervals? 
4.3.4 Capital Costs

Is cost accounting depreciation divided into Yes No
proportional and fixed elements?
Is interest calculated on fixed assets? Yes No

How do you treat non-periodically occurring direct transfer from imputed costs in cost
costs for Capital Costs? financial accounting accounting
imputed costs in
4.3.5 Periodic Tasks in Actual

What assessments or distributions do you 
carry out in actual? Prepare a list of
assessments you carry out in cost accounting.
Describe the basis for the assessment of the 
individual costs (such as number of
employees, water usage, etc.).
Do these assessments occur as conceived in 
planning?
4.4 Planning in Cost Accounting
4.4.1 Cost Element Planning

In what level of detail does your cost element 
planning take place?
In which periods does your cost element 

planning occur?

How are revenues planned? 
Are the cost elements divided into 

proportional and fixed elements?
4.4.2 Periodic Allocations in Plan

Prepare a list of the individual assessments 
you carry out in cost accounting. Describe
the basis for the assessments of the individual
costs.
Do you execute direct plan activity Yes No

allocations between cost centers? This
means activity allocations made on the basis
of hours or other activity units.
Do you carry out plan imputed cost in cost Yes No
accounting?
Costs falling outside periods are often 
rounded off in cost accounting (such as
vacation bonus, contributions, etc.). List
the cost elements you treat in this manner and
whether they occur as conceived in planning.
4.5 Reporting
What management reports do you require? 
Do you have Balance Sheet and Profit Loss Yes No

reporting on cost centers
How do you report on current actual costs? by Cost Centers by Product

by Business Areas Others - please describe:
by Cost elements 
Do you perform a comparison of the above Yes No

actual costs to planned costs?
Which types of profit do you display in cost Cost Center Profit Operating Profit
accounting?
Profit Center Profit Other: 
Cost Object Profit

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Finance/Controlling Questionnaire

Do you produce a Profit and Loss Statement Yes No

Which of these entities are holding 

Does one entity supply customers with 

In which currency does each legal entity 

© SAP Technology Inc. 1

In which currency does each legal entity 

1.2 Business Areas

Are you subject to segment reporting in 

If your answer is yes, identify your industry 

If not, do you generate a Profit and Loss 

1.3 Chart of Accounts

If each company has its own operating chart 

If each company has its own operating chart 

Are any of the companies required to report 

© SAP Technology Inc. 2

analysis is made using the statutory account

Identify the different levels of Consolidation 

Please list the external financial views of 

For each company, how detailed is its 

If you plan to replace the current system with

Which of your legal entities represent a 

How many monthly elimination entries do 

© SAP Technology Inc. 3

profit/loss in inventory that has to be

How many retained earnings accounts do you 

Please examine the attached Frame Chart of 

© SAP Technology Inc. 4

2.2 General Ledger Transaction Processing

What is the current structure of your general 

How is the number assigned by your current Internally Externally

What types of reversing journal entries do 

Do you calculate interest on any general 

Do journal entries require any type of 

Describe your current process for reconciling 

Is there information that you wish to require 

Is there certain information that you wish to 

© SAP Technology Inc. 5

Describe your period-end closing process. 

What types of daily, weekly, periodic, and ad 

2.2.1 Closing Operations

Which evaluations belong to month-end Balance audit trail Balance Sheet

© SAP Technology Inc. 6

Which evaluations belong to year-end Balance audit trail Balance Sheet

2.3 Master Records - Customers (AR)

If there are currently no classifications or 

Do you have any customers who are also 

© SAP Technology Inc. 7

Do you have one-time customers (customers 

List the payment terms that you offer your 

Do you have holdback/retainage agreements 

Do you have agreements with customers 

Does your company perform credit 

Are any security access authorizations Company Related Field Related

2.4 Customer Transaction Processing

What is the current structure of your Manually Assigned Automatically Generated

© SAP Technology Inc. 8

Are your transaction numbers specific to 

Do you receive down payments (advance 

Do you charge customers interest on overdue 

Do you receive a single payment for multiple 

How are payments matched to customer 

Is there certain information that you wish to 