I could really use some help in setting up our COA in SAP. We are in the implementation phase right now, Our consultant says we need to make a decision whether we will use segments or cost centers. Our organization is a nonprofit organization and I need to track all revenue and expenses by department, person in the department who has to raise funds for their support, and fund (temporarily restricted, permanently restricted, or unrestricted use), and also by project number that a department is working on.
Example: College campus ministry -- at Johns-Hopkins in MD - project: renovation work at student center
As I understand SAP if we chose segments, then I will need to set up revenue and expense GL numbers for each new campus location we add. But if we select "cost center" then I would only need to set up GL R/E numbers for ONLY each new MINISTRY we add since each new LOCATION would automatically use the natural accounts set up in the segments.
This is very simplified but hopefully you understand my struggle. Our current system requires a new revenue account for each ministry, each location, and each person under that ministry location. Our COA is 99 pages long! Our auditors hate it. It is quite cumbersome. We have 65 personnel in campuses throughout the US. That's a lot of GL numbers to create in the COA.
Thank you very much for your help.