How to Reconcile Fixed Assets to the G/L (Part 4)

I didn’t intend for this to be a 4 part series on this topic but as with most things in SAP, every topic can end up showcasing more details that you initially planned on.  The more you discuss them, the more you have to research alternatives issues, additional solutions, and now to the topic of this blog… how to stop this from happening in the first place.

Blog Series:
How to Reconcile Fixed Assets to the G/L (Part 1)
How to Reconcile Fixed Assets to the G/L (Part 2)
How to Reconcile Fixed Assets to the G/L (Part 3)
How to Reconcile Fixed Assets to the G/L (Part 4)

What can be learned from this?

First, you should be regularly recalculating the values in the subledger.  There is no downside to doing this… unless you’ve got a massive depreciation issue and don’t want it made visible by anyone and posted to the GL… but other than that, it’s always a good idea to regularly run it.

Secondly, you should also be regularly running ABST2 to see if the GL and subledger tie out.  The nature of this problem is that the longer you wait to identify and fix it, the bigger the difference becomes and the harder (politically) it can be to fix.

Don’t ever use OASV.  Honestly, it should be locked.  If you need to load balances to the GL, there are other methods and OASV has a particular difficulty regarding reversals that pushes it to the bottom of my list of options.

Don’t allow access to OAMK.  This can be easily abused.  I find that more customers have had issues between offshore support resources, low-rate contractors, and other people that are pressured to just solve the support ticket without thinking of any other downstream implications.  So, if they have a legacy conversion issue or some report doesn’t tie out, they just un-flag the recon account indicator, make the posting directly to the GL, and then re-flag the GL account.  Problem solved… but new problem created.  Again, this transaction can be easily abused and the folks in compliance need to be aware of this.  

Lastly, you should review your setup for parallel currencies between the GL and FI-AA.  It’s very common for the LC2 and LC3 amounts to not tie to the GL and it’s often rooted, again, in the legacy conversion process.  But, based on changes in the currency configuration, it’s possible for the differences to occur post go-live.  I’d recommend that you reconcile the LC2 and LC3 amounts and as part of that process, review the currency related configuration between the two ledgers.