SAP FICO- Financial Accounting (FI) and Controlling(CO). SAP FICO is the central module of ERP solutions designed to meet all the reporting and accounting requirements. This way SAP FICO helps an organization manage the finance resulting in improved decision-making and record-keeping ease. Especially, SAP FICO helps an organization generate and manage financial statements to analyze and report the relative data.
As well as aids in improving business planning effectively with proper decision-making. This way, many organizations, and businesses are looking for candidates with SAP FICO certification. With the SAP FICO certification, the expectation of the organization from an employee
increases by maintaining the best financial data.
As mentioned above SAP FICO consists of two components SAP Financial(FI) and SAP Controlling(CO). Each of these is used for the specific financial processing of the organization. SAP FI focuses on financial reporting and accounting whereas SAP CO deals with the planning and monitoring of costs. SAP FI and CO are separate modules but are tightly integrated which counts them as one module. Together SAP FI and CO help to hold the organizational financial data and analysis of the data with better standards.
Let us look at each module of SAP FICO separately which can help you understand the basic structure of FICO and its usages in the organization.
SAP FI
SAP FI helps an organization generate financial statements for analysis and reporting of the data. Balance sheets and Profit-loss statements are the financial statements of the organization.
SAP FI consists of below sub-modules handling specific accounting processes-
● General Ledger consists of all the company’s transactional data listing the accounts of the systems. With General Ledger, these transactions are recorded in real-time.
● Accounts Receivable helps to comprehend customer transactions along with managing their accounts. These transactions may include invoice posting, down payments, credit memo posting, executing customer reports, or invoice payments.
● Accounts Payable includes all the transactions relating to vendors and management of the vendor accounts. These transactions may include credit memo posting, automatic payment programs, down payments, invoice posting, invoice payments, and execution of vendor reports.
● Asset Accounting deals with the transactions relating to the company’s fixed assets like buildings, land, and any heavy equipment. Here transactions include retirement, sales, revaluations, transfers, asset acquisitions, and depreciation.
● Bank Ledger comprises all the company’s bank data and account transactions. It can integrate all the transactions relating to the bank statements that are recorded. And these records are then compared with the transactions in the organizational system.
● Consolidation enables the organization to blend financial statements for multiple entities to provide an overview of the organization’s financial status.
● Fund management is to manage the budget for the organization’s expenses and revenues.
● Special purpose ledger describes the ledgers in SAP FI for reporting purposes.
● Travel Management is to manage all the transactions for traveling like booking trips and handling travel-related expenses.
SAP CO
As the SAP FI manages the organizational accounting along with the internal and external reporting, SAP CO manages the process of planning, reporting, and monitoring the cost of the business operation. SAP CO is instrumental to improve organizational profits.
SAP CO comprises of below sub-modules to handle the specific processes -
● Cost Elements provides an overview of all the company’s costs and revenue on the basis of the profit and loss statements. These statements are also referred to as income statements. Cost element accounting interprets the origin of the cost representing the company-specific cost.
● Const center deals with the cost related to the company’s internal departments like production, sales, marketing, and human resources. The cost center does not include any revenues but only includes expenses.
● Profit centers handle all the cost data related to the organization’s business. It deals with expenses as well as revenues.
● Internal order manages the cost of internal projects that are small and non-fixed assets involving limited-time marketing campaigns.
● Profitability analysis helps an organization to analyze the profits from the organizational products. As an example, Profitable analysis is used for decision-making on things like product pricing, target market segments, and distribution channels. It also shows the analysis profitability for each region, area or country, product type, and distribution channel.
● Product costing deals with the data relating to the costs needed for the production of an organization’s services and goods. Product costing analysis manages
manufacturing cost and optimization efficiencies.
Some benefits of SAP FICO certification
● Financial Accounting is a module in SAP designed to portray the company’s business and transactions by providing an external report. This way SAP FICO can track and report multiple organizations across the world with different currencies. The SAP FICO software enables integration with material management, sales and distribution, and purchasing allowing the user to drill down to the real transactions. These transactions can be sales orders or purchase orders or material movements across the organization.
● SAP FICO is believed to be the central unit to integrate SAP because every financial transaction impacts the other modules resulting in the automatic flow of transactions automatically in real-time. So it is necessary to configure the FI and CO modules together to support the skeletal framework of the organization as a whole.
● Another important advantage of SAP is it provides a comprehensive financial management solution worldwide. Also, SAP FICO helps to read, appraise and respond the changing business situations with effective strategies. SAP allows better transparency across the departments to improve corporate governance with higher adherence to accounting standards.
● Automating credits and collections with no dispute is managed by the SAP FICO module. This creates invoices and billing with electronic payment to improve the traditional accounts as receivables or payables. Managing the better technique with manageable cash flow across the regions, and countries enable for integration of financial processes.
Career benefits of SAP FICO certification for Finance Professionals
SAP FICO training has many benefits for Finance professionals and businesses. Knowing the momentous benefits of the SAP FICO certification can help you master the SAP FICO application with the help of better training and facilities. Below are some of the benefits of SAP FICO certification-
● Manages business flow with ease
● Better reputational growth
● Multiple demands by many organizations
● Selecting an in-demand career
● Earn a better salary
Manages business flow with ease
SAP FICO helps to organize the financial management system systematically in any organization. Using this software extends every aspect of business operations enabling ease and efficiency in the accounting processes. This way the business flow becomes easier to aspire more professionals to excel in finance and accounting. Any organization can keep the track of its costs with the help of this software.
Better reputational growth
SAP FICO-certified candidates have a good reputation in their career, it can be in the financial field, getting experience in the SAP along with adding more value to the resume. SAP provides the required essentials which help the individual to own the SAP FICO certification.
Multiple demands by many organizations
SAP FICO has many components serving different financial purposes like General Ledger Accounting, Accounts Receivables and Payables, Asset and Bank Accounting, and Travel and Fund Management. This makes it user-friendly with better flexibility in the business world. The ability to merge with other SAP modules makes it a demanding module in the organization.
Selecting in-demand career
SAP FICO plays a prominent role in the SAP module which increases the career opportunities for an individual. An SAP FICO certification fetches a decent job in the SAP field. This way SAP aspirants can advance the financial management of an organization. Many global companies and MNCs hire SAP-certified professionals. Communication skills and financial knowledge also make the foundation of the SAP consultant strong and fetch the recruiter's attention.
Earn better salary
Getting SAP FICO certification and getting into the SAP FICO profession can help you find a handful of jobs like Module Lead, SAP Functional Consultant, Project Leader, etc. You can expect to get higher payment with the growth the experience in the profession.
Conclusion
Many businesses are looking for SAP professionals to manage their financial and accounting strategies. SAP FICO training can be the best option to opt for and start a career in the SAP profession. As aforementioned, there are many benefits for individuals and organizations to using SAP FICO. Earning SAP FICO certification can hold you at the top of your career with better conceptual and practical knowledge. On the other hand, SAP FICO professionals are much required for organizational growth.
FAQs
Q.1 Is SAP FICO training worth taking?
Ans. As SAP FICO is a core component in the SAP ERP that helps business to handle all their financial data. SAP FICO helps any organization to collect financial data and make the efficient implementation of them in the SAP.
Q.2 What are the important topics to be learned during SAP FICO training?
Ans. Basically, SAP FICO training is about the elements, code, usage, and operations need to manage the financial accounting of the organization.
Some of the other modules with which SAP FICO can be integrated are -
● Material Management
● Production Planning
● Human Resource
● Sales and Distribution
● Controlling Financial transactions.
Q.3 Is there any option to take online SAP FICO training?
Ans. Amid COVID there are multiple institutions offering online learning facilities. As the syllabus and the pattern of learning are similar you can opt to take online SAP FICO training. Learning online will need a little more effort from your end as you do not have direct interaction with the instructors and peers to discuss any issues.
Q.4 What are the three types of data in SAP FICO?
Ans. The data can flow in SAP FICO as
● GL Master Data
● Vendor Master Data
● Material Master Data
● Customer Master Data
Q.5 Is there a scope for SAP FICO professionals in the future?
Ans. There is always a need for financial maintenance and accounting. So, SAP FICO professionals need not worry about the future. With the growing companies and industries SAP FICO professionals are expected to be hired on a larger scale.
Having SAP FICO training along with the certification will be valuable adding a point to raise your bar in the recruiter's list. And also can help you get better salaries from the fresher level itself. Along with the growth in the experience you can expect growth in
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