SAP S/4HANA FI: Establish a new Company Code

Creating a company code is a sequence, and exam questions usually ask about the order or about which settings become immutable. Typical flow:

1. Define the company (OX15) and the company code (OX02), then assign the company code to the company.
2. Maintain global parameters for the company code (OBY6): chart of accounts, fiscal year variant, posting period variant, company code currency, country, address, tax settings.
3. Create or assign the chart of accounts (OB13) and assign it to the company code; define account groups and the accounts themselves.
4. Define document number ranges per company code and year (FBN1) and assign them to document types; set up field status groups, posting keys, tolerance groups, and automatic postings account determination.
5. Add subledger settings: number ranges for vendors/customers, payment terms, house banks, payment methods in FBZP, dunning, and the chart of depreciation for Asset Accounting.

The fiscal year variant determines posting periods and special periods; the posting period variant controls which periods are open per account type and can be refined per account. Copying an existing company code is the usual shortcut, but every copied object (number ranges, account determination, house banks) must be checked.

Traps to expect

• Company code currency is effectively fixed once postings exist.
• A company code must be assigned to a company for consolidation and reporting purposes.
• Number ranges for documents are maintained per company code, while vendor/customer number ranges are client-wide.
• Opening periods in the posting period variant is frequently the hidden cause of "period not open" errors.

Rule of thumb: company → company code → global parameters → chart of accounts → number ranges → subledgers → assets. If a posting fails at go-live, work up that list.