ETCircle.com SAP FI and CO consultant information
Continuing the series for becoming a SAP FICO Consultant I would like to share with you several resources and major steps you could follow. They will give you a very good knowledge in this area. So far, you should be familiar with business processes in SAP ERP, capabilities of FICO modules and have access to SAP IDES. Then it is a good time to dive into FICO Configuration world.
You should already know that without practice you could not become a SAP Consultant. Experience is vital to become a SAP expert, but without fundamental knowledge, almost nobody will hire you for any important FICO role. So while you read and practice in the SAP IDES environment you should also look for SAP FICO entry Role such as FICO Super user/Analyst.
By the way, SAP already announced next generation Business Suite – S/4HANA which is expected to have wizard based implementation Fiori menus where several steps are combined into one. While those statements will have an impact on the implementation, most likely you will need to know the IMG menu configuration steps as well. I think no matter how good pre-delivered SAP configuration options are, very often you will need to go to the IMG menu and design processes based on the customer demands.
Here are some major steps that you could follow:
1. Become familiar with FICO Configuration
So, let’s move back to the current FICO configuration. I think that the best way to learn something is first to get an overall picture and then get into nitty-gritty things. In our case this means building a business scenario from scratch and after that go into every particular topic. For this task I found a very useful SAP Press Book called SAP ERP Financials: Configuration and Design 2nd edition. The book describes a business scenario where you are able to build configuration from ground up.
2. Follow Associate FI and CO Certification Routes
At this stage, it will be really nice if you already have a FICO job. No matter if it is a FICO Analyst or a Consultant, it will always help to learn faster and be more focused. Probably one of the best choices could be to follow FI and CO Certification Routes of the Official SAP Training. The exam numbers are C_TFIN52 for Financial Accounting and C_TFIN22 for Management Accounting. The related courses will be nice if you can attend in the SAP Education Cetenrs are TFIN50, TFIN52, TFIN20 and TFIN22. If you are not able to attend the SAP courses for one reason or another, at least try to find the related study books from a friend.
3. Follow Professional FI and CO Certification Routes
This route is optional and usually it is advised to be followed on a very late stage of your FICO career. You should have at least several years of FICO configuration experience, before you dive into these paths. The exam numbers are starting with P_FINACC for Financial Accounting and P_FINMGT for Management Accounting. You could find more about their syllabus on training.sap.com. Most of the related courses are starting with AC where almost any FI and CO topic is covered in detail.
Final Words
These are the major steps which you could follow. Meanwhile it is always good to read books and be active in the communities whether in SAP SCN or in a personal blog. Usually the official study books for the courses will give you the options, but will not advise which one is the best. The best option you could get from the SAP Trainers, personal experience, SAP books, SCN, etc and personal experience. Be prepared to invest a lot of time and in some cases, a lot of money, before you get to the desired level. Don’t forget to have fun and enjoy learning!
Great Article,
Thank you for taking the time to provide this information. I found it very informative and a great starting point.