The function of the cost category in cost accounting is equivalent to the function of the chart of accounts in general ledger. Cost amounts are posted to cost categories through general ledger postings or cost accounting postings.

There are three cost types. Each cost category must have one of the following cost types assigned to it:

  • Primary costs: Always posted directly. They can be set up to be identical to the profit and loss general ledger accounts, revenue general ledger accounts, or costs general ledger accounts. When the cost categories are the same as general ledger accounts, they are created automatically as primary costs.

  • Secondary costs: Cannot be posted directly. They are used to post allocations. When setting up allocations, cost categories that are secondary costs are mandatory.

  • Service categories: Used to post quantities and are usually linked with the production cost categories or with the project categories. For more information, see About service categories.

When a cost category is created manually in , the local account option is activated automatically and the cost category can be used in cost accounting only. The cost category numbers cannot be used as account numbers for general ledger accounts later.

Referencing a general ledger account

There are two ways to reference a general ledger account:

  • If the cost categories and the general ledger accounts (profit and loss, cost, and revenue) are identical, activate the transaction control after creating a new ledger account.

  • If the cost categories and the general ledger accounts are not identical, create the cost categories manually and link them to the general ledger account by using the form.

Transaction control

If no dimension is selected, no cost transactions are created by the general ledger and no posting entries are possible for this cost category. When one or more dimensions are activated, cost transactions are created.

Note Note

When more than one dimension is selected for a cost category, creates one cost transaction for each dimension.

When a dimension in one or more cost categories is activated, general ledger transactions can be reposted to the form to create cost transactions ( > > ).

After the transactions have been created, the dimension cannot be cleared for this cost category.

See Also