Asset Accounting (User's Guide)

In this section I cover the basic principles of asset accounting and the SAP
subledger FI-AA from the users perspective, the more asset-intensive an
enterprise is the more significant the FI-AA component is, tangible fixed
assets are managed not only on the basis of their physical location but also on
their value. In addition to local accounting principles complex fixed assets are
frequently valuated in accordance with IFRS or U.S. GAAP, in this context
the depreciation posting run and its parallel valuation is a main feature within
asset accounting. I have a whole section on asset accounting in my FI
configuration and setup section.
Fixed assets can be divided into tangible fixed assets, intangible fixed assets
and financial assets
Tangible fixed assets

are complex fixed assets such as buildings, machines, etc that are at the long-term disposal of an

Intangible fixed assets

are assets such as patents, licenses, software, etc

Financial assets

are shares in other enterprises, long-term securities, long-term loans and mortgage claims

Traditional asset accounting encompasses the complete history of the asset,

from purchase order or initial acquisition (possibly managed as an "asset
under construction" (AuC)) through to retirement. The system will calculate
the values for depreciation, insurance and other purposes between two points
in time and then make these values available in many different forms in the
Asset Accounting Information System (AAIS), in addition an evaluation
facilitates depreciation forecasting and the simulated development of asset
values.
The FI-AA component does not have any country specific valuation rules hard
coded, which helps with the depreciation of an asset, at present parallel
valuation approaches in accordance with local and international depreciation
regulations are the normal, the capitalization criteria for an asset in accordance
with local regulations and with international accounting standards largely
correspond to each other, this means that apart from some minor exceptions
for intangible assets there are no relevant (practical) differences between
capitalization prerequisites of both.
FI-AA component
FI-AA (Asset Accounting) is used to manage and monitor tangible fixed
assets with the system, data can be transferred with other components within
the SAP system for example it is possible to assign the invoice receipt and
goods receipt in the material management (MM) module directly to the assets

in the FI-AA component, also depreciation and interest can be transferred

directly to financial accounting (FI) and cost accounting (CO). Like accounts
payable and receivable asset accounting is also treated as a subledger of
financial accounting, however to cover all legal and accounting requirements
it is necessary to define some organizational elements.