Cost Centre

[Former Member]

Hi

Can somebody explain me the concept of a cost centre. What is the function of a cost centre and why is it required. Where can a cost centre be created or maintained and its assignments in SPRO.

Thanks in advance

Srikkanth

[Former Member]

Give your Email Id I will mail the Customizing of COST CENTRE

regards,

Amlan Sarkar

[Former Member]

Dear Mr. Sarkar,

Can u please send me the steps for Customizing of COST CENTRE in a company code to rupamkhanikar@gmail.com

Edited by: rupam khanikar on Jan 12, 2008 6:00 AM

[Lakshmipathi]

Dear Srikkanth

Definition

Organizational unit within a controlling area that represents a clearly delimited location where costs occur. You can make organizational divisions on the basis of functional, settlement-related, activity-related, spatial, and/or responsibility-related standpoints.

Use

Cost centers are grouped together into decision, control, and responsibility units.

You use cost centers for differentiated assignment of overhead costs to organizational activities, based on utilization of the relevant areas (cost determination function) and for differentiated controlling of costs arising in an organization (cost controlling function).

You can assign activity types to a cost center. These activity types divide the specific activities that can be produced in a cost center.

Structure

Before you create cost centers, you define a hierarchical cost center structure (see: Standard Hierarchies).

Cost center structures and characteristics depend on the accounting objective you are following and the cost accounting system you decide to employ.

Thanks

G. Lakshmipathi

[Former Member]

Hi Guys

Thanks for the replies. Can you tell me whether a cost centre can be created to individual plants in a company and whether any assignment to company code is required in the customizing.

Thanks

[Former Member]

cost centre is defined for a controlling area.

further this controlling area is customized to ur company code. So no need to assign it to company code.

[Former Member]

Cost centre is made to capture cost at different centres for the purpose of controlling.

For e.g in Production , we have 10 machines.

we can define these 10 machines as 10 cost centres so that we can know which machine has incurred how much cost in procucing the material.

u can define entire line as a cost centre.

KS01 - define cost centre

[Former Member]

hi

Cost center

Introduction

The SAP CO (Controlling) Module provides supporting information to Management for the purpose of planning, reporting, as well as monitoring the operations of their business. Management decision-making can be achieved with the level of information provided by this module.

Some of the components of the CO(Controlling) Module are as follows:

· Cost Element Accounting

· Cost Center Accounting

· Internal Orders

· Activity-Based Costing ( ABC)

· Product Cost Controlling

· Profitability Analysis

· Profit Center Accounting

The Cost Element Accounting component provides information which includes the costs and revenue for an organization. These postings are automatically updated from FI (Financial Accounting) to CO (Controlling). The cost elements are the basis for cost accounting and enables the User the ability to display costs for each of the accounts that have been assigned to the cost element. Examples of accounts that can be assigned are Cost Centers, Internal Orders, WBS(work breakdown structures).

Cost Center Accounting provides information on the costs incurred by your business. Within SAP, you have the ability to assign Cost Centers to departments and /or Managers responsible for certain areas of the business as well as functional areas within your organization. Cost Centers can be created for such functional areas as Marketing, Purchasing, Human Resources, Finance, Facilities, Information Systems, Administrative Support, Legal, Shipping/Receiving, or even Quality.

Some of the benefits of Cost Center Accounting : (1) Managers can set Budget /Cost Center targets; (2) Cost Center visibility of functional departments/areas of your business; (3) Planning ; (4) Availability of Cost allocation methods; and (5) Assessments/Distribution of costs to other cost objects.

Internal Orders provide a means of tracking costs of a specific job , service, or task. Internal Orders are used as a method to collect those costs and business transactions related to the task. This level of monitoring can be very detailed but allows management the ability to review Internal Order activity for better-decision making purposes.

Activity-Based Costing allows a better definition of the source of costs to the process driving the cost. Activity-Based Costing enhances Cost Center Accounting in that it allows for a process-oriented and cross-functional view of your cost centers. It can also be used with Product Costing and Profitability Analysis.

Product Cost Controlling allows management the ability to analyze their product costs and to make decisions on the optimal price(s) to market their products. It is within this module of CO (Controlling) that planned, actual and target values are analyzed. Sub-components of the module are:

· Product Cost Planning which includes Material Costing( Cost estimates with Quantity structure, Cost estimates without quantity structure, Master data for Mixed Cost Estimates, Production lot Cost Estimates) , Price Updates, and Reference and Simulation Costing.

· Cost Object Controlling includes Product Cost by Period, Product Cost by Order, Product Costs by Sales Orders, Intangible Goods and Services, and CRM Service Processes.

· Actual Costing/Material Ledger includes Periodic Material valuation, Actual Costing, and Price Changes.

Profitability Analysis allows Management the ability to review information with respect to the company’s profit or contribution margin by business segment. Profitability Analysis can be obtained by the following methods:

· Account-Based Analysis which uses an account-based valuation approach. In this analysis, cost and revenue element accounts are used. These accounts can be reconciled with FI(Financial Accounting).

· Cost-Based Analysis uses a costing based valuation approach as defined by the User.

Profit Center Accounting provides visibility of an organization’s profit and losses by profit center. The methods which can be utilized for EC-PCA (Profit Center Accounting) are period accounting or by the cost-of-sales approach. Profit Centers can be set-up to identify product lines, divisions, geographical regions, offices, production sites or by functions. Profit Centers are used for Internal Control purposes enabling management the ability to review areas of responsibility within their organization. The difference between a Cost Center and a Profit Center is that the Cost Center represents individual costs incurred during a given period and Profit Centers contain the balances of costs and revenues.

Follow this link

http://www.thespot4sap.com/IntroTo/SAP_CO_Module_Introduction.asp

http://help.sap.com/printdocu/core/Print46c/en/data/pdf/COALE/COALE_ALE_060.pdf

regards,

Arun prasad