SAP SYSTEM PERFORMANCE IN COST CENTER ACCOUNTING: EVIDENCE BASED ON SQL TRACE REPORTS

This paper empirically examines the effect of different integrated planning strategies within cost center accounting on the SAP system performance based on SQL trace reports from industrial companies. Specifically, we have analyzed how the two types of cost allocation between cost centers – distribution and assessment – affect the SAP system performance. In this respect, we point out that cost assessment has better performance than cost distribution because costs from different primary and secondary cost elements can be totaled in one posting to the assessment cost element. In order to make a case for the cost assessment, considerable attention is devoted to the processing time of cost transfers between cost centers.