Paul Ovigele, Ovigele Consulting
This is a continuation of my previous blog, in which I describe how you can use translation keys for foreign currency conversion in drilldown reports. This functionality is useful in cases where you want to convert financial data into a specified currency at some point after the transaction has been posted. For example, you may have a month end rate, which is provided by a parent company or affiliate, and you want your reports to be translated at that rate at the end of the closed month. You can enter the rate for your specified exchange rate type using transaction OB08, and then use the Currency Translation button in the drilldown report to pick this rate up.
When you use the Currency Translation functionality, you have to decide what section of the report you want to translate. If you want the currency translation to apply to the whole report, simply follow the instructions described above. However, if you have different columns in the report and you want a different currency translation for each column, you will need to click somewhere in that column and hit the Currency Translation button. You will notice that in the ensuing pop-up box, a new section called “Area of Validity” appears in the top-part of the screen and it describes the specific line of the column that you clicked on. This may seem like the currency translation will only relate to that line, however it really relates to the whole column that the line exists in. You can then select the relevant currency and translation type that you want the column to be translated to.
If you do not want to keep selecting the Currency Translation button and change the settings key every time you wa nt to convert the report’s currency, you may want to save the definition of the report so that it always defaults to the specified currency at the appropriate rate.
In order to save the definition of a drilldown report, you can go to the top-menu of the report and select the option “Report -> Save Definition”. You will then get a message at the bottom of the screen saying that the report has been saved. Alternatively, you can click on the “Save” icon, which also does the same thing. Note however, that you can only have one setting saved per report. This means that if (say) you set the currency of the report to convert to Euros at a month end rate, you will always have this setting when you execute the report. If you change the currency setting to Canadian Dollars, this will overwrite the previous setting. If you want to delete your setting or bring it back to the default currency you would need to do the following: When you execute the report, click on the Currency Translation button and then click on the “Database Currency” button, which is at the bottom of the pop-up box; then click on the ‘Save’ button so that the changes are stored.
For more information on how to optimize your SAP Financials landscape, I've put together my top tips in the book 100 Things You Should Know About Financial Accounting with SAP which is published by SAP Press.