last adjustment date

The date, in Inflation Accounting, up to which you last adjusted a G/L account or line item.

The system records separate dates for provisional and definitive runs.

Example

You adjust a G/L account for the first half of the fiscal year, which runs concurrently with the calendar year. The last adjustment date would therefore be 30 June.

last revaluation date

The date, in inflation accounting, up to which you last revaluated an asset.

Example

You adjust an asset for the first half of the fiscal year, which runs concurrently with the calendar year. The last revaluation date would therefore be 30 June.

layer

A stock stratum in LIFO valuation.

LIFO stands for "last in, first out".

In the case of a material subject to LIFO valuation or a pool, a positive difference between the opening and closing stock balances of a fiscal year is regarded as a layer for the purpose of balance sheet valuation. This layer is valuated as a separate item. The total stock of a material is the sum of all layers.

A layer is partly or completely dissolved if there is a negative difference between the opening and closing stock balances at the end of a fiscal year. If it is necessary to dissolve several layers, the most recently created layers are dissolved first.

layer version

In material valuation, a version of a layer enabling you to examine LIFO valuations for test purposes or for internal interim results without reducing or cancelling out existing layers or creating new ones for balance sheet valuation.

layout

An object that defines the screen layout for the individual processing of G/L master data.

The screen for the individual processing of G/L master data is arranged on tab sheets. The design of the tab sheets (that is, the number of sheets and the position of the field groups on the sheets) can be defined by the customer in the form of layouts.

lead qualification

Definition of the following activities:

• Generating leads
• Ascertaining business partners' potential interest, recording interaction with him/her, providing business partners with information required to make a purchasing decision.
• Qualifying leads
• Passing lead information on to "Sales"
• Closing leads

leading primary product

An output material (primary yield) in joint production, for which the following were created:

• BOM
• Material list
• Routing or recipe

leased asset

An asset that has not been bought, but is leased from the manufacturer or leasing company.

These assets are different from normal leased assets, depending on the terms of the lease, primarily in regard to how they are shown in the balance sheet. In certain circumstances, leased assets have to be capitalized by the lessee. The SAP System provides the capital lease procedure for this purpose.

leasing expenses

The rental expenses for leased assets.

The SAP System can determine the expected expense in leasing payments for the future year using the leasing agreement conditions defined in the master record.

leasing type

An indicator that controls how the leased asset is handled for bookkeeping purposes (either as operating lease or capital lease).

ledger

A specialized framework that determines how values and quantities are entered and presented for

• A particular area of accounting
• Reporting or evaluation purposes.

A ledger consists of the transaction figures and documents that represent the changes in values and quantities arising from business transactions.

legacy asset data

The asset master records from a legacy system that have to be transferred to the SAP System during the legacy data transfer.

legal regulation

A specification of the laws that apply to the foreign trade activities of a particular country.

Each legal regulation has its own types of export licenses. It is possible for various legal regulations to apply to one export transaction. For this reason, when performing legal control, the system determines one or more licenses from all the active regulations for every item in a document.

legal unit

The legal customs division of a foreign trade organizational unit into different groups, such as warehousing and production units, branch offices, sub-offices or external offices of a company.

letter of credit

A letter issued by a bank to obtain payment for goods.

When a letter of credit is confirmed, the advising bank guarantees payment only if all stipulations in the letter of credit are conformed to exactly.

letter of reconciliation

A letter that passes between two trading partners to reconcile any differences between their respective balances with each other (that is, payables and receivables, revenue and expense).

liabilities and owner's equity

The sum of all line items of a company that are listed on the right-hand side of the balance sheet.

These include:

• Net equity
• Provisions
• Liabilities
• Accruals and deferrals

library

A collection of characteristics, key figures, and predefined columns that can be used in a report.

All reports are assigned to a library. Report definitions in one library can only use the characteristics, key figures, and predefined columns defined for that library.

Libraries also contain sample receiver reports.

license

In the SAP System, the approval by an official authority to import or export goods.

The approvals by the authroities are named differently in each country, for example, export license and export certificate. In the SAP System, all requested approvals and approvals that are issued by official authorities are stored and managed in the form of licenses.

LIFO

An approach used in the LIFO withdrawal method and the LIFO valuation procedure. LIFO stands for "last in, first out".

LIFO procedure

A stock valuation procedure for balance sheet purposes. LIFO stands for "last in, first out".

With the LIFO procedure, stocks are valuated separately for an accounting period. As a rule, the accounting period is a fiscal year or a posting period.

If the stock level at the end of an accounting period is higher than at the start of that period, a separate valuation layer is created for the difference.

If the stock level at the end of the accounting period is lower than at the start of the period, existing layers are partly or completely dissolved, starting with the last layer to be created.

LIFO valuation procedure

The separate valuation of the increase or decrease in the stock quantity of a material for different accounting periods (for example, fiscal year or month). (LIFO is the abbreviation of "last in, first out".)

The LIFO valuation procedure for stocks (inventories) is based on the assumption that the material acquired most recently is used or consumed first. When new stock is acquired or consumed, there is no change in the value of older stocks. As a result, price inflation cannot lead to an overvaluation of older stocks. Phantom (illusory) profits are thus avoided.

LIFO withdrawal method

A method of issuing or withdrawing goods from stock whereby the most recent goods to be acquired are used or sold first (last in, first out, or LIFO). The closing stock determined by the physical inventory thus always comprises the opening stock and the earliest acquisitions and is to be valuated with the prices thereof.

LIFO/FIFO indicator

A field in a material master record indicating whether the material is LIFO- or FIFO-relevant.

LIFO/FIFO valuation area

An organizational unit in balance sheet valuation subdividing a company with a view to the uniform and complete valuation of material stocks.

LIFO/FIFO valuation level

The degree to which valuation is perfomed.

LIFO or FIFO valuation can be performed at the following levels:

• Company code, the stocks of all valuation areas of the company codes are valuated together for each material.
• Valuation area, the stocks in different valuation areas below the company code level are valuated for each material.

LIFO/FIFO-relevant

Designation indicating that a material is subject to LIFO or FIFO valuation.

line group

An arrangement of the fields in a list.

The line group determines which fields appear in a list and in what order the lines are arranged.

line ID

A concept used to structure the costs and revenue of a results analysis object.

Line IDs allow you to:

• Separate the costs that must be capitalized from the costs that cannot be capitalized for the balance sheet
• Determine the cost of sales for Profitability Analysis

The following data is updated with reference to a line ID:

• Work in process
• Reserves for unrealized costs
• Reserves for costs of complaints
• Cost of sales

line item

The part of a document containing information on a single item.

It always includes an amount, an account number, the assignment to debits or credits and further specifications that depend on the business transactions to be posted.

line item

A display of postings by transaction and by document number.

line item

The part of a document containing information on a single item.

This information includes the:

• Amount
• Account number
• Whether the item is a debit or credit
• Additional information depending on the transaction to be posted.

line item display

A display of line items from one or more accounts.

To be able to display line items from more than one account, the accounts must be managed on an open item basis.

This is compulsory for customer and vendor accounts. For G/L accounts this setting must be defined in the master record of the account.

line item method

An adjustment method whereby you adjust a G/L account for inflation by adjusting every line item individually (as opposed to the balance method).

Once the SAP System has calculated the inflation adjustments, it posts them in one of the following ways:

• By creating one inflation adjustment document that contains all postings for that account
• By creating a separate inflation adjustment document for every line item

You can only use this method if the account in question is managed on an open item basis or if it supports line item display.

line item report

A list of line items, such as those selected by the user for a cost center group and cost element group.

line layout

A tool that can be used to determine the sequence of the lines on a data entry form or standard report.

A single line layout can be assigned to one or more reports or entry forms.

liquidation

A term given to an imported shipment once it clears customs.

The paperwork completed by the importer and inspector is not subject to audit by the Customs Service.

liquidity

The ability of an individual or company to fulfill payment obligations on schedule at any time.

load transfer point

A location/point at which transported goods are loaded or loaded onto another means of transportation.

loading group

A key that identifies the equipment required to load the goods.

Example

A crane or fork lift truck could be defined as a loading group.

loading time

The time required to load goods.

The system takes into account the shipping point, the route, and the loading group of the material to determine loading time.

loan repayment plan

An agreement with a business partner that a loan receivable(s) can be repaid in installments.

local currency

The currency of a company that belongs to a corporate group.

If the local currency is not the same as the group currency, the local currency must be translated into the group currency.

local currency

The currency of a company code (country currency) in which the local ledgers are managed.

local currency

A currency used by a company code or a sales organization.

This currency must be converted into another currency, such as the INTRASTAT currency in the EC, for calculating customs duties.

local currency amount

The amount entered in the currency defined for the company code.

If an amount is created in foreign currency, the SAP system translates it into local currency.

local ledger

A ledger used to store data entered for company codes.

local sales tax number

A tax number, in India, assigned by the authorities to legal persons for transactions involving local sales tax.

local tax office

A tax office, in South Korea, that is reponsible for collecting inhabitant tax.

local valuation

The local valuation (of a balance sheet) is equivalent to the individual financial statements of a company according to local guidelines.

From a FI-LC view, a company's financial statement data of corporate valuation can also enter the SAP System as a local valuation.

lockbox

The procedure for rapid deposit of checks used mainly in the U.S.A.

Checks that are sent by the business partner to the bank or the lockbox provider (service company that processes checks) are credited to the payee's account. The information entered is forward to the payee per file transfer.

logistics payment block

An indicator showing why an invoice document is blocked for payment:

• A: Invoice document blocked for reasons shown in the invoice items
• S: Invoice document stochastically blocked
• M: Invoice document blocked manually at header level
• W: Invoice document blocked through Invoice Verification on the Internet

long-term vendor declaration

A document issued by a vendor for the period of one year that verifies origin of a product or group of products and authorization for preference treatment.

This document can be required by customs authorities and is used in the SAP system for costing calculation during preference determination.

Lorenz curve

A method used to represent the distribution of economic magnitudes.

In a sample-based physical inventory, the Lorenz curve can be used to graphically display the distribution of stock management units in the stock population, the sampling area, or the complete-count area.

loss cancellation

The value created by results analysis that shows a loss that was realized in an earlier period but later canceled because of changes in the planning data.

Loss cancellations can arise when the Percentage of Completion method is used.

loss creation

The value created to date by results analysis on the basis of the planning data.

A loss creation is calculated by results analysis when the Percentage of Completion method is used.

loss realization

The value calculated in results analysis that shows the loss realized to date based on the planning data for the object.

This value can arise when the Percentage of Completion method is used.

loss-free valuation

A procedure in balance sheet valuation of material stocks.

The system compares a modified sales prices with a comparison price. The lower price is adopted as a partial result of balance sheet valuation and can be saved as a physical inventory price.

lot size variance

The difference between planned fixed costs and allocated actual fixed costs.

Lot size variances arise when part of the total cost of an order or cost object hierarchy remains the same as the quantity manufactured changes.

Example

The fixed costs of an operation (such as setup costs) remain the same regardless of how often the operation is repeated.

lot-size independent costs

The costs that are always incurred when a material is produced, regardless of the lot size of the material.

Cost-optimizing, lot-sizing procedures in material requirements planning access this value.

lower level contract

A legally binding agreement that has been grouped with other contracts under a master contract so that data in all these contracts is consistent.

lowest value comparison

A procedure in which the preliminary results of LIFO or FIFO valuation (gross value) are compared with a value obtained using the lowest value determination procedure.

(LIFO stands for "last in, first out", FIFO for "first in, first out".)

The lowest of the two valuations is taken as the net LIFO or FIFO value.

lowest value principle

A valuation principle in which the lower of two possible valuation rates either MUST be used (strict lowest value principle) or CAN be used (moderate lowest value principle).

low-value asset

An asset for which the acquisition and production costs, less any included sales tax, does not exceed a legally pre defined amount.

Typically, low-value assets can be completely written off within the period in which they are acquired.