Lesson 2 of 5
Product purchasing and accounting data
9 min
The rotor CMC-RTR-200 is a product (SAP S/4HANA's name for the material master). Like the supplier, it is organized in views, and each view is maintained at a different organizational level. For procurement, four areas matter: basic data, purchasing, MRP and accounting.
Purchasing view: what it proposes
| Field | Effect in purchasing |
|---|---|
| Purchasing group | Proposed on requisitions and POs; routes work to the right buyer |
| Order unit | Unit in which the product is ordered if different from the base unit (for example, boxes of 50) |
| GR processing time | Days needed after receipt (inspection, put-away); added to delivery date planning |
| Under / overdelivery tolerance | How far a goods receipt may differ from the ordered quantity before a warning or error |
| Source list | If set, a valid source list entry is required to buy this product in this plant |
| Automatic PO | Allows automatic conversion of requisitions (the supplier must allow it too) |
| Post to inspection stock | Goods receipts go to quality inspection stock instead of unrestricted |
Purchasing view fields and what they do.
Accounting view: valuation class and price control
The accounting view decides how the product is valued and where its postings go. Price control is either S (standard price: inventory always valued at the standard, differences to price difference accounts) or V (moving average price: inventory valued at actual purchase prices). Contoso uses S for produced and key purchased components like rotors, and V for some consumable stock.
The valuation class groups products that post to the same G/L accounts. Automatic account determination combines the valuation class with a transaction key (for example, the inventory posting key) and the plant's valuation grouping to find the account. Which valuation classes are allowed depends on the product type. Choose the wrong valuation class, and every receipt and issue posts inventory to the wrong balance sheet account.
- Goods receipt of rotorsMovement type 101 at plant 1710
- Transaction keyInventory posting, GR/IR clearing, price difference
- Valuation classFrom CMC-RTR-200's accounting view, for example raw materials
- Account determinationKey + valuation grouping + valuation class → G/L account
- Journal entryInventory raw materials debit; GR/IR credit; price difference if needed
Who maintains what
Product data spans teams. Purchasing owns the purchasing view, planning owns MRP views, and cost accounting owns the accounting and costing views. In practice the most frequent master data defects in P2P come from gaps between them: a product created by engineering with a purchasing view but no accounting view in plant 1720, or a standard price that was never released.
What would you do?
A test goods receipt of rotors in plant 1720 Chicago posts without error, but finance sees the value in the finished goods inventory account. What do you check first?
- The product has basic, purchasing, MRP and accounting views at different org levels.
- Purchasing view fields default and control POs and receipts.
- Price control S or V decides how inventory is valued; valuation class decides the G/L accounts.
- The most dangerous master data defects post successfully to the wrong place.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. Which product field determines the G/L accounts for inventory postings?
2. What does price control S mean?
3. At which level is the purchasing view maintained?
4. What does the "post to inspection stock" setting do?