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- Sep 28, 2016
- 4 min read

Storing Multiple Currencies in CO-PA

Storing Multiple Currencies in SAP CO-PA

Structure

Till now we have been discussing about how CO-PA is structured. We have also discussed in brief about the Operating Concern, Value Fields, Characteristics. All these discussions and briefings were about the configuration or basic structure required for making CO-PA operational.

Now in this post we will discuss about the actual postings.

Currencies

We all are aware of the various currencies that we can post our transactions in Financials. We may use the Group Currency, Company Code Currency, Transaction Currency etc. All these currencies make it possible for us to prepare statutory reports.

All the Statutory reports are prepared for submission to the statutory authorities (Government). The requirement of statutory reporting is generally restricted to the General Ledger accounting and hence are not more flexible in nature and may be required in Group currency for an organisation with presence in multiple countries.

Reporting

When we go little further of the Statutory reporting, we start thinking about the various reports which are required internally by the management. These reports may contains information on various costs incurred on Cost Centres, Project Costs etc.

There is one particular report which is required by Management the most i.e. Profitability Analysis. This is a kind of MIS Report that provides management with boundless information which forms basis of many strategic decisions.

Now when we speak about our above example of an organisation with presence in multiple countries, the company code currency will naturally be local currency of the country. For e.g. X Ltd. has head office in USA with subsidiary in India. In this case the Company Code currency will be INR but the reports required by Head Office will be in USD. In such case we have a provision in CO-PA to store data in two currencies. This helps us draw reports in INR or USD both.

CO-PA supports the following currency types:

B0 (operating concern currency)
10 (company code currency)

It makes sense to use both currencies when the organization carries out transactions in currencies whose exchange rates change daily (such as US dollars and British pounds). This helps you avoid exchange rate differences and makes it possible to reconcile the CO-PA data with that in FI.

Planning

Prior to planning, you need to specify for each plan version whether you want to plan in the global currency for your organization (operating concern currency) or in the local currency of whatever company code you are planning.

In planning, you are always working with estimated future exchange rates. Consequently, it is not necessary (and likewise not possible) to update two currencies simultaneously for each transaction in planning (see also Updating Two Currencies in CO-PA ).

You can convert your planning data to the other currency by copying the data to a plan version that uses the other currency and translating it using a planned exchange rate.

In the information system , you can display reports in the operating concern currency as well as in the company code currency.

Actual Posting

When actual data is posted in CO-PA, the system technically creates two line items: one in the operating concern currency and one in the company code currency.

Where possible, the values in each currency are taken directly from the original documents (invoices, G/L accounts, and so on). If the amounts do not exist there in the desired currency, the system translates them from the transaction currency using the exchange rate valid on the posting date.

Exchange Rate Type

By default, CO-PA uses exchange rate type “M” (mean rate) for translating actual data. You can use other exchange rate types, though, by defining customer exits. (For more information, see the documentation on customer enhancement “COPA0004” (foreign currency translation).)

Information System

You can update all actual data transferred to CO-PA simultaneously in both the company code currency and the operating concern currency. In reports, you can then display both the operating concern currency and the company code currency. This is true of both basic reports and form reports.

Customising

Before you can update data in CO-PA in two currencies, you need to activate the company code currency on the Attributes screen for your operating concern.

You do this in Customizing under Start of the navigation path Structures > Operating Concern > Maintain Operating Concern

When you create a form or a basic report, the system displays a dialog box asking you whether you want to see the values

– In the operating concern currency only or

– In both the operating concern currency and the company code currency

In the following image we can see the configuration screen where we can maintain Operating concern Currency which if different from Company Code Currency, we have an option to activate the storing of Company Code Currency as well.