If a company plans to generate sales with a partner company that belongs to the group, the partner company should then plan an expense in the same amount as this company. While there will be invoices/receipts for the transactions they engage in with each other in ACTUAL, this is not the case when it comes to planning. Depending on how the planning processes are organized within the group, the planned IC relationships can differ more or less from one another. The IC counter-planning will generate the IC balances with the partner companies automatically from the IC planning of a main company. This offers the following advantages for the group:
The following section contains the individual steps that must be performed in sequence in order to perform IC counter-planning:
Note: The transfer of the balance of IC counter-planning will need to be repeated if there are subsequently changes in the IC account assignments (= in the IC profile), the IC source balances or the exchange rates. The rule templates used do not have to be deleted and recreated in order to repeat the balance takeover from IC counter-planning. In some cases, it might also be necessary for rule templates to be applied for the main company, for instance if IC balances need to be derived from third party sales using the reference value rule.
Some topics are explained again in greater detail in the following sections.
The application IC Counter-Planning (ICGP) must be called up to define or change an IC profile with account assignments. The working window "profiles" in which the IC profiles are created is located on the left side. A new IC profile can be created by using the "star" in the integrated menu. A window will open in which the name of the IC profile can be entered and a chart of accounts can be selected. The entry can be confirmed by entering "finished" and the new IC profile will be listed on the left. Other editing options of the IC profile are listed in the context menu, including "Open," "Delete," "Copy" and "Rename."
When you enter "Open" or "Double click" on a marked IC profile, the account assignments related to it will appear in the main window of IC counter-planning (ICGP). These can be either defined for the first time or customized here. If account assignments are to be added, this too is done by using the "star" icon.
Each account assignment has a clear number. This will be displayed in error messages or in the reconciliation view "IC counter-planning" in the scheduling form so that it can be displayed separately quickly via a filter. An account assignment is divided into two parts:
Whether an account assignment was applied correctly will be checked and displayed below the main window in a separate message bar. If there are any errors or warnings, these will be listed with the respective consecutive number of the account assignment.
At the top right of the main window, a filter row can be displayed to filter all account assignments based on various criteria (consecutive number, main company, main account, target company and target account). In addition, there is also a sorting function that contains the same criteria as the filter row.
An open IC profile can be saved by pressing the "save button" in the main menu. If account assignments of an IC profile are closed without saving changes, a dialog query will ask you whether the changes should be saved or discarded.
Note: Any number of IC profiles can be created, but only one IC profile can be assigned to a scenario. Changes in an IC profile have a direct effect on the scenario, not only through explicit saving.
To use the IC counter-planning in a scenario, it must be activated by creating a new scenario, an IC profile must be assigned and a sub-/group must be chosen for determining the group currency.
Activating IC counter-planning has the effect that target accounts in the planning form will be locked against splashing and changes by the user with respect to the IC profile. The account balance will also be locked with I accounts. Manual alterations and individual postings can no longer be used with these target accounts. Rule templates can still be used, however. Updating of counter-planned IC balances (target accounts) via the balance deviation display is not possible. The general function "Update Balances" can still be carried out. If an update is performed repeatedly, an inherited IC balance from the J accounts will remain unchanged. Only the third party share and the account balance will change. The account balance of I accounts will also remain unchanged. If the switch 'Acquired IC balances change the account balance of J accounts' is set, the user must then delete the IC counter-planning before loading the balances. Otherwise, the changes in the account balances will be changed back by loading the original balances.
Note: If the option "Acquired IC balances change the account balance of J accounts" has been given a checkmark in "Update balances," the acquired IC counter-planning must be deleted before the balances are updated, otherwise the changes of the account balances will be changed back to the original balances by updating the IC balances.
When you save a scenario, the main IC balances according to the IC profile for the current company will be decumulated and stored in a hidden "collection area" of the scenario. These stored IC balances can now be "picked up" by the target companies by performing the actions "Refresh" and "Acquire IC counter-planning" in the reconciliation view "IC counter-planning" in the planning form. When you carry out "acquire IC counter-planning," the results of the previous acquisition will be deleted first. Afterwards the IC target balances in the target accounts will be deleted. If the target account is a J account, the third party share will also be deleted. The main (decumulated) IC balances from the collection point will then be read, converted into their own local currency and the target values will be determined for each assignment. These target values will be entered as a change in the target account.
If an IC balance is reentered or changed in the "collection area" by a main company, the company that takes on this balance must update and carry out IC counter-planning again. A corresponding stop status in the planning monitor (PM) will point to this change.
If a log has been activated for the scenario, the transfer will be logged accordingly.
To ensure that you do not lose track, the Reconciliation View "IC counter-planning" that goes by the same name helps to structure the IC-counter planning more clearly in table form. With scenarios for which IC counter-planning is activated, this view is attached below the planning form as an independent working area between the balance deviation indicator and the plausibility check. This overview lists all of the acquired IC balances and those that have yet to be acquired for the company that is currently open. It is a type of balance deviation display for IC counter-planning.
Like the balance deviation display, the reconciliation overview consists of two parts, an integrated menu bar and a table. The built-in menu bar has a refresh button for updating the view from the left to the right, a button for starting the acquisition of IC counter-planning, a button for deleting the last acquisition and buttons for fading in and deleting the filter row. Only the assignments for the company currently open for which IC balances have been set for entry in the "collection area" will be displayed in the table. Other IC relationships that do not pertain to the company that is currently open will not be displayed. If "differences" are shown in the last column to the right, the IC balances of the main company will not match those of the target company and the IC counter-planning will have to be reacquired.
Note: The source IC balances cannot be converted into the local currency of the target company if currency translation data is missing. 'WUM missing' will then appear in the table row.
The following plausibility checks will be performed on IC counter-planning: