Profit Center - SAP Documentation - OVGU

A profit center is an organizational unit in accounting that reflects a management-oriented structure of the organization for the purpose of internal ... ProfitCenter Definition Aprofitcenterisanorganizationalunitinaccountingthatreflectsamanagement-orientedstructureoftheorganizationforthepurposeofinternalcontrol. Youcananalyzeoperatingresultsforprofitcentersusingeitherthecost-of-salesortheperiodaccountingapproach. Bycalculatingthefixedcapitalaswell,youcanuseyourprofitcentersas investmentcenters. Use ProfitabilityAnalysisforprofitcentersisbasedoncostsandrevenues.Theseareassignedstatisticallybymultipleparallelupdatingtoalllogisticalactivitiesandotherallocationsofrelevanceforaprofitcenter. Theexchangeofgoodsandservicesbetweenprofitcenterscanbevaluatedusingthesamevaluationapproachasinfinancialaccountingoranotherapproach(see MultipleValuationApproaches/TransferPrices ). Structure Themasterdataofaprofitcenterincludesthenameoftheprofitcenter,thecontrollingareaitisassignedto,andtheprofitcenter’speriodofvalidity,aswellasinformationaboutthepersonresponsiblefortheprofitcenter,theprofitcenter’sassignmenttoanodeofthestandardhierarchy,anddatarequiredforcommunication(address,telephonenumberandsoon). Everyprofitcenterisassignedtothe controllingarea organizationalunit.ThisassignmentisnecessarybecauseProfitCenterAccountingdisplaysvaluesinG/Laccounts. ThesystemtransfersallthedatatoProfitCenterAccountingtogetherwiththeG/Laccounttowhichthedatawasoriginallyposted.Youcanonlyaggregatedatathatsharesthefollowing: Samechartofaccounts Samefiscalyearvariant Samecurrency Time-BasedMasterData Likecostcenters,profitcentermasterdataisvalidforaspecifictimeperiod.Thishasthefollowingadvantages: Nocomplicatedactivitiesarenecessarywhenanewfiscalyearbegins. Youcanenterfuturechangestothemasterdatainadvance. Profitcentersaretime-dependentintwoways: First,youcanenteraperiodduringwhichactualorplandatacanbepostedtotheprofitcenter. Second,youcandefinetime-basedfieldswhenyoucustomizeProfitCenterAccounting. Time-basedfieldsletyouchangeinformationintheprofitcentermasterrecord,suchasthepersonresponsiblefortheprofitcenter,ataspecificpointintimewithouthavingtocreateanewprofitcenterandwithoutlosinganyinformationaboutthepreviouspersonresponsible. Integration TheStandardHierarchy ToensurethatyourdatainProfitcenterAccountingisconsistentwiththatinotherareas,youmustassigneachprofitcentertothe StandardHierarchy . Youcanusethestandardhierarchyinreporting,forallocations,andwithvariousplanningfunctions.Youcanalsoassignyourprofitcenterstoalternativehierarchicalstructures,called ProfitCenterGroups . CopyingCostCenters Iftheprofitcentersinyourorganizationarecloselylinkedtoyourcostcenters,youcansimplycopyyourcostcentermasterdatatocreateyourprofitcenters.Formoreinformationonthisfunction,seetheImplementationGuide(IMG)for GeneralLedgerAccounting(New) under  MasterDataProfitCenter.