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Activating Profitability Analysis in SAP S/4HANA Finance

After the creation and activation of the operating concern in SAP S/4HANA, you need to activate profitability analysis.

 

First, however, you need to assign controlling areas to the operating concern to activate profitability analysis in the controlling functionality.

 

Assigning Controlling Areas

To assign controlling areas to the operating concern, follow the configuration path: Enterprise Structure > Assignment > Controlling > Assign Controlling Area to Operating Concern. The transaction shows an overview of all controlling areas in the system in the figure below in the COAr (controlling area) column. In the OpCo (operating concern) column, you can see which controlling areas have an operating concern assigned. In our example, controlling area KW01 has been assigned for operating concern Z100 created earlier. You can assign several controlling areas to an operating concern if the controlling areas are assigned the same fiscal year variant as the operating concern. After confirming the assignment by pressing (Enter), the system displays the name of the operating concern in the Name column. Press (Ctrl)+(S) or click to save the assignment.

 

Assigning the Operating Concern to a Controlling Area

 

Activating Profitability Analysis: Transaction KEKE

After the controlling areas are assigned to the operating concern, you need to activate profitability analysis in the controlling area via Transaction KEKE or by following the configuration path Controlling > Profitability Analysis > Flows of Actual Values > Activate Profitability Analysis. As shown in the figure below, the left COAr (controlling area) column provides an overview of the controlling areas available in the system.

 

The From FY (from fiscal year) column indicates as of which year the controlling area has been valid. The Op.co (operating concern) column indicates whether and, if so, which operating concern is assigned to the controlling area. The figure below shows controlling area Z100 being activated for both costing-based and account-based profitability analysis by selecting the corresponding checkboxes. With account-based profitability analysis, Margin Analysis will be activated. SAP didn’t change the naming in all configuration transactions, yet. You can also see a column for combined, which can’t be checked, as we didn’t activate combined profitability analysis in our operating concern. Save the changes with (Ctrl)+(S) or Save.

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Activating Profitability Analysis in the Controlling Area

 

After you’ve saved the activation, you can see in the figure below that the costing-based and Margin Analysis checkboxes are checked under Activate Components.

 

Activated Components in the Controlling Area

 

The Operating Concern

In the operating concern, you define which type of profitability analysis you want to use. You can activate margin analysis, costing-based profitability analysis, or both types of profitability analysis.

 

If you use SAP S/4HANA Finance, it’s recommended to activate margin analysis. If you’re working with SAP S/4HANA, you can activate both types of profitability analysis, whereas in SAP S/4HANA Cloud, you can only activate margin analysis.

 

Learn Margin Analysis in Our Rheinwerk Course!

Your deep-dive into margin analysis (formerly known as account-based profitability analysis) with SAP S/4HANA! Master value flows from sales and distribution, financial accounting, materials management, and controlling. Optimize reporting using summary reports, line-item reports, and SAP Fiori apps! Get access to course recordings by clicking the banner below.

 

Courses_06_Margin_Analysis_Blog

 

Editor’s note: This post has been adapted from a section of the book Margin Analysis with SAP S/4HANAby Kathrin Schmalzing.

 

This post was originally published 7/2021 and updated 9/2025.

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