Manish Patel: SAP Account Determination

Business transactions in different SAP components create automatically postings to accounting. The accounts are chosen without manual intervention. This means, that the configurations of automatic account determination are crucial for the quality of accounting data. You could say, that they form the backbone of the whole SAP-implementation. Once wired, they will not be easily changed.

Manel Patel's book brings light into this area. All the central integration touch-points to SAP G/L and the account determinations related are now gathered in one book. He has not settled for a cook book but provides a structured framework and methodology. He conceptualizes the SAP account determination, which at the first acquaintance looks like a jungle of controversial settings without any apparent logic, into three techniques (transaction key techniques, symbolic account techniques and condition techniques). Each chapter begins with a presentation of the concept. Very useful are also the transactions and tables at the end of each chapter.

Although I do understand, that every chapter, especially the inventory accounting, would demand their own book, I wished for more substance. Now the content fades away and is more or less the same that you can find in SAP documentation and online helps. I also missed the controlling aspects. The CO account assignments are briefly mentioned but not really explained. In an integrated environment controlling and accounting also go hand in hand. Not only accounts but also revenue and cost elements must be taken into account. For example what does it mean in practice, if you define an account to a cost element and where do the cost assignments to automatic transactions come from.

Every implementation team should have this book in their toolbox and use it to check, that all the integration points are taken care of. Also the project managers should at least glance through the book in order to get a picture of how complicated issue they are dealing with. They should not believe, that this book "provides turnkey guidance, which will help them to complete projects quickly and without wasting time on trial and error". They should hire a skilled consultant and give him/her the book.

Definitely for the consultants. This makes a good handbook covering all the relevant issues and also showing where to look for them. It is a great reference frame. The book also makes a good tool in error analysis and helps to track postings gone wrong.

I wish, that Manish Patel continues his writing career and makes a series of books covering the account determination of different SAP modules. Hopefully he manages to put his theory in practice. I am waiting for practical examples, tips and hints to clarify the concepts.

I almost missed the conclusion, as I skipped the payroll part. There should have been a separate summary tying together the theory and concepts.

SAP Press, ISBN 978-1-59229-110-6