Alternate Chart of Accounts (COA)
In some countries, the legal COA can be different from the operational COA for business or legal reasons. A company that is part of a larger organization may be required to define an alternate COA according to local GAAP, and then report to their head office using the operational COA. An alternate chart of accounts is a secondary grouping of accounts that is generally used for statutory reporting.
The Alternate COA function provides the ability to generate reports using alternate COAs, in addition to a company’s operational COA. However, alternate COAs can be used for reporting purposes only—you cannot post transactions to alternate accounts. Currently, only Chinese accounting regional reports have the option to use an alternate COA.
In order to link alternate accounts to their corresponding operational GL accounts, you create a COA cross-reference from within the alternate COA structure, or directly in COA Cross Reference Create (25.3.14.1).