Performing Period-End Close in SAP Group Reporting

⇨ SAP S/4HANA Finance for Group Reporting can perform extensive financial consolidation activities.

⇨ After the consolidation process, your period must be closed in the FI SAP S/4 database and the SAP Group Reporting Period.

⇨ SAP Group Reporting is not open for custom development, so be careful if you choose to make any changes.

Introduction

SAP S/4HANA Finance for Group Reporting is the latest SAP product meant exclusively for financial consolidation purposes. It is a centralized financial consolidation tool—the only one in SAP’s landscape that can perform consolidation processes like Currency Translation Adjustment (CTA). Figure 1 summarizes the processes available within the SAP S/4HANA Group Reporting product, which is standard for all versions.

Figure 1—SAP Group Reporting Summarized Process Flow: Source SAP

It is crucial to remember that after the end of the consolidation process, your period must be also closed—not only in the FI SAP S/4 database but also in the SAP Group Reporting Period. If you remove the implementer and someone else delivered the final stages, or the implementer left and someone else is supporting it, there is no excuse from a financial and auditing perspective to leave the SAP Group Reporting period opened.

Unfortunately, the options are not easily accessible in the two key tiles: Data Monitor or Consolidation Monitor. Even if you have blocked all tasks in both of these monitors, this does not mean that the Period is closed in SAP Group Reporting. Someone can still enter data by mistake in your period using the Post Group Journal Entries App.

If you have concerns that the SAP S/4 FI period close is difficult and now you need to perform another difficult process in SAP Group Reporting, do not worry. This article will help you resolve any issues, and implement it right away if you and your implementation team forgot about it.

What’s the Pre-Delivered Process for SAP Group Reporting Period-End Close?

Period-end Closing in SAP Group Reporting is a critical step in the consolidation process. But before we explore it, let’s understand first the system’s pre-delivered logic. As shown in Figure 2, the overall logic behind the Period-end close in SAP Group Reporting is described. It is using the Initial Status, Action in either the Data Monitor or the Consolidation Monitor, and the expected system pre-delivered result. If your system does not follow the process described in Figure 2, it is recommended to check with your technical team and, of course, reach out to us at Arellius Enterprises. Let’s review Figure 2.

Figure 2—SAP Group Reporting Period-end Close Process Logic: Source SAP

Step One

First, if the Initial Status of your SAP Group Reporting Period is not SAP S/4 HANA FI Period-end close process, this means the Posting Period has the status as “opened.” If it is opened, you can close it in the Consolidation Monitor if you did not do it in the Data Monitor. This is the most common process.

Step Two

If the Period is in status “opened,” you can also close it in the Data Monitor. Notice the period is closed in either Data Monitor or Consolidation Monitor, so once it is closed in one, you do not need to close it in the other tile. The locked status will apply to all processes in SAP Group Reporting, including the Post Group Journal Entries app.

Step Three

If your SAP Group Reporting Period is in “closed” status, then you can open the period in Data Monitor, and it automatically must be opened for Consolidation Monitor.

Step Four

If the Period status is “closed” as shown in Figure 2, you can open it in the Consolidation Monitor and then it will be opened in the Data Monitor. Notice that performing the Period-end closing process in the Data Monitor or the Consolidation Process are two independent steps, and they are not dependent on each other.

If you have tried to do it by now, you probably received the SAP system message shown in Figure 3. This message indicates that the SAP Group Reporting overall status of all Tasks in Both Data Monitor and/or Consolidation must have “successfully completed” status (green traffic light) and all tasks also in block status should be at the Consolidation Group level or “Initial Stage.” The last status indicates reset status, not executed or just the status with the icon  sign.

Figure 3—Message G082 in SAP Group Reporting Linked to Period-end Close: Source SAP

**I will let your implementation team explain how a task in your Data Monitor or Consolidation can be set to be completed, executed successfully, and set to blocked or reset status. These topics by themselves could be another article.

Now, at this point, we know there is a process for sure that have a standard program behind it. I am sure some of you will be tempted to explore T-code OBMSG to change it from error to warning or optional message. Feel free to do so; just be warned that you will be changing a standard SAP program.

SAP has not opened SAP Group Reporting for custom development officially, so SAP Support will recommend against doing any changes that could affect the standard program logic. Remember that SAP does not support custom developments.

Performing the SAP S/4 Group Reporting Period Close Following the Standard SAP Process

Another point on how to use the Data Monitor and Consolidation Monitor in SAP Group Reporting is also out of the scope of this document. You can refer to this document for further reading, and also help.sap.com.

Steps:

1. Access the Data Monitor as shown in Figure 4.
2. In the More Menu in the Data Monitor/Edit/Close Data Monitor, close the Period for the selected Group. In this case, I am closing G20000; you need to position the cursor and select the Group before you click on the Close Data Monitor option.

Figure 4—Accessing the Data Monitor and Period-end Close Menu

3. In both the Data Monitor and the Consolidation Monitor, you can select the Group that you want to close the Period for. Right click and select the Detail Overview option or Close Data Monitor as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5—Accessing the Data Monitor with Right-click on the Group Structure for Close Data Monitor or Detail Overview

Figure 6—Accessing the Period-end Close Option in the Data Monitor in the Detail Overview Tasks Menu

4. After you click on the “Close Data Monitor” option in any of the menus shown in the previous step, the message shown in Figure 7 will appear to confirm that the Period for the Group has been closed. Click on the Continue button; now no postings anywhere in the system, not only within the SAP Group Reporting environment, can be posted to Period 11/2022.

Figure 7—Closing the Period P11/2022 in the Data Monitor for G20000 Consolidation Group

5. Now, all Consolidation Units (Company Codes) are loaded to try to execute any process in that period, the Consolidation Group structure for G20000. If you try to Post a Journal Entry in the Post Group Journal Entries App for Period 11 and Fiscal Year 2022 in this example, the message shown in Figure 8 will be displayed.

Figure 8—Error message when trying to Post a Group Journal Entry in Period P11/2022 in the Data Monitor for G20000 Consolidation Group

6. Similarly, the Period can be closed in the Consolidation Monitor following the same path in the More/Edit/Close Period, as described in Figure 2.
7. In the Consolidation Monitor, you can perform the same process described as shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9—Closing the Period in the Consolidation Monitor Following the Process in Figure 2

8. After performing this task for the line of the Consolidation Group G20000, the period can be closed if all tasks have been performed successfully or the X status is set. The system will confirm that the period has been closed with a message in the lower corner of the screen as shown in Figure 10, which is similar to the Data Monitor message.

Figure 10—System Confirmation that the Period has been closed in the Consolidation Monitor

9. Now, if you try to post a Group Journal Entry, the system will inform you it is closed. The posting for the Consolidation Unit related to the Group Closed will not be posted, as shown in Figure 8.
10. To reopen the Period in Data Monitor or Consolidation Monitor, click on the Open Cons Monitor or Detail view or the Edit menu in the MORE menu following the previous screens. You can open the whole Consolidation Group as shown in Figure 11 and 12 or a specific Consolidation Unit that is part of the Group.

Figure 11—Opening the Period in the Consolidation Monitor at the Consolidation Group Structure

Figure 12—System confirmation in the Consolidation Monitor that the Period has been opened for the Consolidation Group and the companies associated with it.

 Conclusion

The key functionality of SAP S/4 Group Reporting Period-end closing is expected by any auditor or business consultant. However, the documentation available in the topic is limited, and certainly it is missed in the generic SAP Group Reporting diagram shown in Figure 1. Also, the menu itself in both Data Monitor and Consolidation Monitor can be easily missed even by the most experienced consultants. I hope in the future this changes, as this activity is business critical.

Without performing Period-end close, even though you have completed and blocked all tasks in your Data Monitor or Consolidation Monitor, the Period as an object is still opened in the backend. An interface or Journal Entry can still be performed, so please implement or review this process as soon as you read this article.