The ‘account group’ determines which ‘Screen Layout’ should be used while creating a GL account master record. For each of the account groups, you can define different screen layouts, which essentially determine the ‘Field Status’ of a field.
The field status refers to whether the field is:
- Suppressed (field is invisible, hidden from display)
- Required (display on, entry mandatory)
- Optional (display on, entry not mandatory)
All the above three are shown as ‘radio buttons’ against each of the fields in the screen layout, and you should select any one to set the status to that field; by default all the fields are ‘suppressed.’
There are two levels of controls of field status:
- Field status at the account group level
- Field status at the activity (create/change/display) level (i.e., at the transaction level).
You may also have the field status defined for posting keys (40-debit and 50-credit for the GL account postings). Also remember to define the field status for ‘reconciliation accounts’ as you will not be able to define any such status in the sub ledger accounts (for example, customer or vendor).
SAP has built-in rules, called link rules, to link these two levels and to decide the final status of a field in the ‘screen layout.’ The link rules also help to overcome the field-status setting differences arising out of different settings at the Client level (field status for posting keys) and the Company Code level (field status settings at the account group level).