Cost centers are used to develop activity rates specific to different production processes.Cost centers identify the departmental “owners” and are an integral part of financial accounting. Cost centers are contained in a hierarchy which groups the cost centers into reporting areas. For this reason, each cost center created must be attached to a node that will enable this grouping to take place. Therefore, the cost center is the lowest level in the cost center hierarchy. This also facilitates cost/revenue comparisons, as each cost center in the hierarchy must be linked to a profit center.

The user will display a cost center when searching for relevant information or to ensure that the appropriate changes have been made. The views that may be displayed during this transaction are basic data, indicator, address, phone, and history.

To display a cost center, the following information is required:

The cost center (9 digit number for Health System, 7 digit “fund code” for University).

Display a Cost Center – KS03

Accounting àControllingà Cost centers àMaster dataà Cost center à Individual processing àDisplay.

Note: If prompted, enter DUKE in the Controlling area field and click on the
Enter button to display the Display Cost Center: Initial screen.

1. Enter the Cost center (DUHS = 9 digit number, University = 7 digit number).

Note: You may also use the matchcode search for this field to find the cost center by the name or description, if the number is unknown.

2. Click on the Master data button or press F5 to display the Display Cost Center: Basic screen.

Note: The valid from and to fields at the top of the screen are information only. Those dates do not solely control whether a cost center can be used for posting, but are an indicator. Below the dates, there are several tabs representing different screens of information.

3. View general data about the cost center on the Basic data tab:

Description = name of the cost center (department or area).

Person Responsible of the cost center.

Cost Center Category = a one digit code that indicates the category for the cost center (use the matchcode search to view the various categories).

Hierarchy area = the Cost center group (8 digits for DUHS, 10 digit BFR code for University) which is where the cost center rolls up in the reporting hierarchy.

4. Click on the Ctrl data tab to display the Display Cost Center: Indicators screen.

Note: The Lock section of this screen determines if the cost center is blocked for postings of costs or expenses. If all the boxes are checked in this section, then the cost center can not be used for posting. The two boxes referring to revenue should be checked, since this is a cost center.

5. Click on the
History tab to display the Display Cost Center: History screen. The change document button can be used to see changes made to the account.

To exit the transaction:

6. Click on the Exit button until the initial R/3 screen is displayed.