Keep a subsidiary's books in an SAP FI simulation, from the first receipt to closing.
SAP is the business software large companies use to run purchasing, production, accounting and more. SAP FI (Financial Accounting) is the part that keeps a company's books: what it owns, what it owes, what it earns. A specialization is a complete course on one SAP area: you practice in a simulator, with reference sheets (short course pages) alongside.
This one puts you in the accounting team of Glass+ Iberia, the Spanish subsidiary of Glass+, a made-up glass group. Everything happens in a simulator, not in a real SAP system: our screens are our own creation, designed so you find your bearings the day you open SAP. They are not identical to SAP's screens, and you never work inside SAP here.
You start with a toll receipt, which you enter as a journal entry (SAP calls it a document: the record of one accounting event). Then you reserve a number range for the monthly statements (invoices) of a toll-road operator, reduce the value of doubtful receivables (you write them down: amounts customers owe you that may never be paid in full), pay a supplier using a new bank account, and put an office building into the books as a fixed asset (a long-lasting asset that loses value year after year). Finally, you set up a new company code in Porto (a company code is one legal company inside SAP, with its own books).
On December 31, 2027, you close the fiscal year yourself. Closing means finalizing the accounts of the year by posting the last entries (depreciation, write-down of doubtful receivables, invoices that arrived late), in a set order. Depreciation spreads the cost of a long-lasting asset over its life. The write-down records that a receivable may not be paid in full. Every entry is posted (recorded for good). You work through the main steps of the closing; a few closing jobs are only explained on the reference sheets.
Know, do, practice.
All three take place in the books of Glass+ Iberia, from November 2026 to the closing of the 2027 fiscal year.
Understand the topic
Each concept is explained when the task calls for it. Alongside the simulator, you have 40 reference sheets (grouped in 9 chapters, more than 27,000 words) and 26 diagrams we drew ourselves, readable on a phone. Together they run from the journal entry to the closing of the fiscal year. Every task has a button that opens the matching sheet.
Do the job
49 hands-on tasks (jobs you do on screen) in the simulator put you in charge of the books of a subsidiary. For example, you enter a toll receipt of €58.08, tax included. If you forget to check the Calculate Tax box, the simulator stops you.
Practice for the certification (exam not included)
The specialization covers the topics on the official outline of the SAP Financial Accounting certification: every topic has its own reference sheet, and most are practiced in the simulator, at Glass+ (a little over a third are only explained on their sheet). The exam itself is not included in the price: you register for it and take it separately, with SAP. An eighth episode, Exam review, gives you 52 practice questions we wrote ourselves.
You know what a debit and a credit are. You wouldn't know how to prepare a closing in the system.
You have probably posted entries before, or taken accounting classes: the specialization starts from there, and its reference sheets only remind you of these basics when SAP uses them. On closing day, you launch the write-down run and it comes back with an empty list. A run is a program that processes a whole batch of items in one go. This one works out how much to write down on doubtful customer invoices. Nothing tells you whether an empty list is good news or a missing setting.
One amount, two readings
A toll receipt for €58.08: net or gross? It all comes down to a box nobody notices, Calculate Tax. Checked, it tells the system the amount includes tax and that it should work out the tax itself. Leave it unchecked and the system reads €58.08 as net. It looks for a tax line that you never entered, then refuses to go any further. With the box checked, the same receipt splits into €48.40 of expense and €9.68 of tax.
A "safe" number range that blocks everything
Every document type (a category of documents, such as a supplier invoice or a payment) draws its numbers from a number range: a block of numbers set aside for it. The toll operator numbers its own statements (for example AL26004512), and the system has to keep those numbers. Andrés's request asks for A000000000 to AZZZZZZZZZ "to be safe". That sounds sensible. The system refuses: number ranges cannot overlap, and one starting with AX already exists inside it. You need to know that letters sort like words in a dictionary, then find the free slot without touching what is already there.
A run that proposes nothing
The write-down run (the simulator's screen calls it "Valuation run") comes back with an empty list. Are there no doubtful customers? Or are the overdue tiers (the steps that say how much to write down, by days overdue) set up for a different valuation area from the one the run uses? A valuation area is one accounting rulebook: the group's or the local one. The write-down key (a code attached to each customer) holds one set of tiers per valuation area. The system will not tell you which is missing: open that key before you rerun anything.
Paying a blocked invoice without removing the block
A supplier invoice was blocked over a dispute. The dispute is settled, but the block stays recorded in the document, as a trace. Management wants the invoice paid today, without touching the document or the supplier's master record (the file that holds its permanent data). In the payment run's proposal (the list of invoices the run suggests paying), you release the invoice for that run only. You do not guess that: you have to have done it once.
Eleven months of depreciation at once
Depreciation spreads the cost of a long-lasting asset, here an office building of €1,440,000.00, over its life: 40 years, which is €36,000.00 a year and €3,000.00 a month. In 2027, only January was posted (€3,000.00): the runs for February to November were not launched. The December run therefore catches up eleven months at once, February to December: €33,000.00. With January, the year totals €36,000.00. A normal month is €3,000.00, so €33,000.00 is a surprise. Before posting a run for real, you run it in test mode and read the result: that is how you see where the amount comes from.
In interviews, closing stays abstract
You are asked how a closing works. You can list the steps. But you cannot explain why January 2028 must be open before the December 31, 2027 runs. Nor can you say what happens when the new year's number ranges are missing. A closing you saw through to the end, incident included, gives you a precise case to walk through.
The story: a subsidiary growing faster than its books.
Glass+ is a fictional company, and everything happens in a simulator. In Valencia, Glass+ Iberia now has to keep its accounts to group standards, with no spreadsheet on the side. Isabelle Morel, the group's chief financial officer (CFO), sets the course. Andrés Soler, the chief accountant, guides you. Both are characters in the story, not real tutors.
The simulation starts on November 16, 2026. From there you take on one project after another, up to the evening of December 31, 2027. That night, Andrés hands you a list of jobs to check off, and the order matters.
We don't just explain FI to you. We have you do it.
Glass+ Iberia hands you its books across more than a year of its story. Each episode starts from a request with exact figures, and the simulator checks the documents you post. The 7 episodes of the mission, from November 2026 to December 31, 2027, end with the main steps of the year-end closing. An eighth episode, Exam review, follows.
The dispute with Transportes Rutalba Exprés is settled. I want their invoice paid in today's payment run. We touch neither the invoice nor the supplier's master record: the block has to stay in the document, for the record.
Isabelle sets the course, Andrés spells it out
Isabelle Morel, the group CFO, writes when a decision comes down. Andrés Soler, the subsidiary's chief accountant, turns it into a precise request: a reference (text to copy as is), a tax code (the code that tells the system which rate to apply), a cost center (the unit that an expense is charged to, such as a department). You enter those values exactly as given.
Episode 3: an empty list is not good news
The first write-down run proposes nothing for Cristalería Fornalet. The write-down key (the record that holds the tiers) exists, but the group only set tiers for its own valuation area. You add the tiers for the local books (area GL, the General Ledger): 25% from 45 days overdue, 50% from 90 days. Cristalería has two unpaid invoices: the October one (€2,400.00 including VAT, so €2,000.00 net) and another, dated November 20, 2026 (€1,200.00 including VAT), only 11 days overdue. On the new run, only the October invoice passes the first tier of 45 days. The result: a €500.00 write-down, which is 25% of €2,000.00 net.
Episodes 7 and 8: you close a year, then write it up
Episode 7 is the 2027 closing: Andrés's list, worked through in order from posting periods (the months open for entries) to receivables, with one stop nobody saw coming. Every episode wraps up with a "Key points" summary, so in an interview you can explain what you set up, and why. Episode 8, Exam review, comes after the mission. It ends with your final document, the closing file: a write-up, produced outside the simulator, that lets someone else run your closing again without calling you. The "Your mission portfolio" sheet then lists what you can do, episode by episode, so you can talk about it in an interview. By the end, you have in front of you:
Six projects you will have seen through, in the simulator.
On the evening of December 31, 2027, in the simulator, Glass+ Iberia has correct year-end accounts, ready for Isabelle to review, and Glass+ Portugal in Porto has a company code of its own. The settings that make this possible are the ones you made.
Post a clean entry
You will know how to enter a journal entry with tax, simulate it before posting, and find a line item (one line of the entry) with the Assignment field, a sort field that you fill in by hand or that the system fills in for you.
Reuse a supplier's numbers
You will know how to create an external number range (it accepts numbers supplied from outside, letters included), the document type that uses it and the matching supplier.
Write down doubtful receivables
You will know how to set overdue tiers in the write-down key, on the right valuation area, then run the write-down, check the list and transfer (post) the result.
Pay from a new bank
You will know how to set up your bank (SAP calls it a house bank: the bank where your company has its account), its bank account and the bank determination (the rule that tells the payment program which bank to pay from), then take a payment run all the way to the document that clears the invoice, meaning it marks the invoice as paid.
Put a fixed asset into service
You will know how to prepare a company code for fixed assets, create the master record (the file that describes the asset), post a non-integrated acquisition (no invoice) and run the first depreciation.
Open a company, close the year
You will know how to create a company code by copy and give it its accounts, then close the year: open January 2028, run the last day's jobs in order and create the missing number range.
Who it is for, and who it is not.
Andrés Soler guides you step by step. Every step has its hints, and your first task is to display a document that already exists. There is nothing to install. You can start with no SAP experience. In accounting, you need the basics (debit, credit, VAT); if you have none, learn them first.
This specialization is for you if…
- You want to understand why a closing run proposes nothing, and which setting to open to fix it.
- You come from accounting or controlling and want to see what the system does with your entries, one setting at a time.
- You are retraining toward SAP consulting, you already know the basics of accounting (debit, credit, VAT) and you want to be able to talk about a closing you ran yourself in the simulator.
- You are starting out with FI on a project, have only seen one piece (invoices, or banking) and want to follow more than a year of accounts.
- You are aiming for the SAP Financial Accounting certification and want to have run most of these processes before the exam.
This specialization is not for you if…
- You are already a seasoned FI consultant: these projects are part of your daily work.
- You want human support throughout a career change: that is what our complete path with human follow-up, Beyond the Horizon, is for, and it includes a specialization of your choice.
- You want to practice every FI topic on screen: some, like dunning (reminders sent to customers who pay late) or foreign currencies, have a reference sheet but are not practiced in the simulator.
- You are looking for a tax course: the simulation's tax codes are teaching codes, with no country-specific rules.
- You would rather work on sales or procurement: look at the SAP SD (Sales and Distribution) or SAP MM (Materials Management) specializations.
- You have none of the accounting basics (debit, credit, VAT): learn them first, then come back.
Eight episodes, from the first toll receipt to exam review.
You follow Glass+ Iberia from November 2026 to December 31, 2027. Seven episodes make up the mission, in four blocks and a final episode, up to the main steps of the year-end closing (a few closing jobs are only explained on the reference sheets). An eighth episode, Exam review, follows: it helps you prepare for the SAP certification exam (taken separately with SAP, not included) and ends with your closing file. Its practice questions were written by us, and none of them comes from the exam.
The journal entry and its numbers
You enter your first toll receipt, €58.08 gross (€48.40 of expense plus €9.68 of tax), then reserve a number range for the statements from Autopistas Ribaluz: their numbers, AL followed by eight digits, become your document numbers. The number range suggested in the request is refused, and it is up to you to work out why.
Doubtful receivables
Cristalería Fornalet is a slow payer. On December 31, 2026, you enter two invoices, dated October 10 and November 20, 2026 (€2,400.00 and €1,200.00, tax included, so €2,000.00 and €1,000.00 net), then launch the write-down run, and the first list comes back empty. Once the tiers are in the right place: a €500.00 write-down (25% of the €2,000.00 net amount of the October invoice), reversed on January 1 (the next run starts over from the invoices' current status).
Bank and payments
Glass+ Iberia opens its account at Banco Lirvela. A €3,600.00 invoice (including VAT) from a carrier, Transportes Rutalba Exprés, blocked over a dispute, has to go out in the January 5, 2027, payment run without anyone changing the document or the supplier's master record.
Fixed assets and a new company
The subsidiary buys the office building next to the plant: €1,440,000.00 to put into service, depreciated evenly over 40 years (€36,000.00 a year, which is €3,000.00 a month). The land, €360,000.00, is not depreciated. Andrés's note still refers to fiscal year 2026, while the acquisition is in 2027, so the system refuses it until you correct the year. Then the group opens Glass+ Portugal in Porto, and you create company code 1040 (SAP identifies each company by a number), test document and reversal included.
The 2027 closing
Last evening of the fiscal year, and Andrés's list must be checked off before Isabelle's review. The December run catches up eleven months of depreciation at once (€33,000.00), because only January had been posted. A November 2027 invoice of €2,160.00 including VAT from Transportes Rutalba Exprés only arrived tonight and still has to be posted in the fiscal year. The write-down climbs to €1,500.00 (50% of €3,000.00 net), then the simulator refuses to go further. SAP numbers documents in number ranges set aside year by year, and the reversal dated January 1, 2028 needs the 2028 number range, which did not exist yet. Andrés had forgotten it in his list.
Getting ready for the SAP certification
The 2027 accounts are posted, and in the story the group auditors will read them. The episode opens with an email from Andrés, who proposes going back over everything, theme by theme. It is also practice for the real certification exam (taken separately with SAP, not included). Andrés also says each time which themes the mission did not cover, so you know what you practiced and what you only read. There are 52 practice questions in all, and they are our own. None of them comes from the exam. He also has you reopen three screens, in three hands-on tasks, to check that you can still do them. Then comes your final document, the closing file: a write-up, produced outside the simulator, that lets someone else run your closing again without calling you.
Three choices you will not find in a video.
Read, simulate, then post
On day one, Andrés lays down his rules: read the request to the end, enter the values you are given exactly, simulate before posting. A posted document cannot be erased, only corrected by another one. Better to check it first.
A story over more than a year, moving forward one episode at a time
The date in the story moves forward from one episode to the next, from November 2026 to December 31, 2027, and nothing starts over. To validate a step, the simulator checks the documents you actually posted, down to the cost center on each line item. Everything runs in your browser.
Traps hidden in the instructions
A request from Andrés still set to last year, a reversal requested on a date the system rejects, a closing list that forgets the 2028 number ranges. When you are stuck, hints are waiting (one, two or three, depending on the step), from the lightest nudge to the most detailed.
XiaoXiao and Pierre wrote the simulation.
XiaoXiao Liu
SAP consultant since 2014, business administration graduate (FH Aachen, Hochschule Trier)
XiaoXiao works on multi-country SAP projects (MM, PP and QM modules) and teaches in English, German and Mandarin Chinese. She wrote this simulation with Pierre Balbinot, co-founder of Key User Training.
The simulator's screens are our own creation, designed so you find your bearings the day you open SAP.
What our learners say about Key User Training.
These reviews are about our training in general. This specialization is too new to have its own, but it is built the same way: concrete cases, inside a simulated company.
The simulation is what unlocked it for me
I tried courses on Udemy, explored the SAP Learning modules, and something was always missing to become a junior SAP consultant. The simulations and module configurations based on virtual companies are really what sets Key User Training apart. Every euro spent is truly worth it.
It is like you are on SAP
I already worked as a SAP user, so I did this course to refresh my knowledge. The interactive way of the course is the best, it is like you are on SAP. It is dynamic, with a base of an enterprise case, so it helps you understand and think in those terms. I will always recommend this course.
Structured, progressive, concrete
Key User trainings take you by the hand. They are structured, progressive and combine theory with practice through demonstrations based on concrete situations encountered every day in companies.
Tailor-made and a perfect fit
Key User Training is to SAP training what a good tailor is to the textile industry: hand-stitched, elegant, and for me it was tailor-made and fit like a glove.
A leap forward in my SAP practice
Already a SAP user across several modules for a few years, the Key User Training team really helped me take a leap forward and genuinely moved my SAP practice ahead. The professionalism and availability of the trainers are their main strengths.
Five trainings, same clear structure
Five trainings already with Key User Training. It is really the same structure whatever the course: theory and practice through concrete situations. The big plus is the responsiveness, the trainers getting back to you on questions or difficulties.
Practice for the hands-on format of the SAP Financial Accounting certification (exam not included)
SAP's Financial Accounting certification (reference C_TS4FI) is taken in a real SAP system, with tasks to carry out.
The specialization covers the topics on the official outline of this certification, and every topic has its own reference sheet. Most of them are practiced in the simulator, with our own accounts, partners and amounts at Glass+ Iberia, up to the 2027 closing that brings them all into play again. Only the Exam review episode is made of questions: they are there to practice the concepts, alongside the hands-on tasks. You work through these main areas:
- Journal entries: tax, document types and their number ranges
- Business partners, invoices and due dates
- Write-downs on overdue receivables, from the write-down run to its reversal
- Banks and automatic payment, from bank determination to the payment run
- Fixed assets: setup, acquisition and depreciation
- Creating a company code and its account groups
- Closing: open periods, number ranges for the new year, and the order of the last-day runs
More than a third of the topics of the outline are not practiced in the simulator: they are only explained on a reference sheet. For example:
• going live, loading data from an old system and archiving old documents;
• holding or parking a document (keeping an entry aside before it is posted), validations and substitutions (company rules applied at data entry);
• documents between two company codes of the same group;
• clearing open items by hand (matching invoices and payments), payment differences (the small remainder between an invoice and its payment) and tolerances (the gap the system accepts);
• special operations such as down payments (a payment made before the invoice);
• dunning (reminders to customers who pay late) and correspondence;
• asset retirements (selling or scrapping an asset), asset transfers and assets under construction;
• inventory closing and cost of sales, and foreign currency valuation at closing;
• regrouping receivables and payables on the balance sheet, and the closing cockpit (a task list for the closing).
The Exam review episode brings all of them back, as practice questions, and says each time which themes the mission did not cover. They are for practice only: none of them comes from the exam.
By exam day, you will have run most of these processes from start to finish on the same subsidiary, and seen what happens when a setting is missing. The exam itself takes place in a real SAP system, so its screens are different from our simulator's.
8 episodes, lifetime access, updates included.
One-time payment, immediate access, 14-day guarantee. You progress episode by episode, at your own pace, and come back whenever you want.
SAP FI Specialization
Keeping a subsidiary's books in the simulator, from the first journal entry to the main steps of the year-end closing.
Episode by episode, you get Glass+ Iberia ready for its closing: journal entries and their numbers, doubtful receivables, banking and payments, fixed assets, then the Porto company code, up to the evening of December 31, 2027. An eighth episode, Exam review, helps you prepare for the SAP certification exam and ends with a closing file. It all runs in your browser, with nothing to install.
14-day money-back guarantee
If the specialization is not right for you, a simple email within 14 days of purchase is enough. Full refund, no justification required.
The questions we get before people start.
What is Glass+?
Glass+ is a fictional company we created for this training: a glass group whose Spanish subsidiary, Glass+ Iberia, is growing fast and now has to keep its books to group standards. It is the setting for the whole specialization, and everything takes place in a simulator. The people you meet there, such as Isabelle and Andrés, are characters in the story, not real tutors. You need nothing else, no other course and no prior knowledge of it: everything is inside the simulation.
Do I need to take another specialization first?
No. The specializations are independent: the first episode starts from scratch. If you have already done MM (Materials Management), EWM (Extended Warehouse Management) or SD (Sales and Distribution), you will recognize Valencia and the Glass+ group, seen this time from the accounting side.
Do I need SAP access to take this specialization?
No. Everything happens inside the simulation, from your browser. No installation, no SAP system to set up on your side.
I am a beginner. Is it doable?
Yes, if you have the basics of accounting (debit, credit, VAT). You can start with no SAP experience. If you have no accounting basics, learn them first: the reference sheets remind you of them when SAP uses them, but this is not an accounting course. The simulation explains each SAP concept when it is needed, starting with what a journal entry is, and guides you step by step. If you first want to understand what FI is, read our SAP FI guide.
How long does it take?
It mostly depends on how comfortable you already are with SAP, so we do not give a duration. You go episode by episode, at your own pace, you can stop and resume whenever you want, and access is for life.
What if I get stuck, with no coaching?
Each step offers up to three hints (one, two or three, depending on the step), revealed one at a time, and the reference sheets stay open alongside. Every task also has a button that opens the matching sheet. If you want human support and a complete path, that is what Beyond the Horizon offers, with a specialization of your choice included.
How long do I have access?
Lifetime access to the specialization content, updates included. You can come back to it as often as you need. Access covers the learning content and the simulation, not an SAP system.
What will I actually do?
You go through 8 episodes on the books of a simulated subsidiary: the 7 of the mission, plus an Exam review episode. You carry out 49 hands-on tasks in the simulator. They use 24 screens of the simulator (SAP calls its own screens "transactions"), from entering a first journal entry to payment runs. Alongside, you lean on 40 reference sheets and 26 diagrams. By the end, you will have run the main steps of the year-end closing in the simulator. The balance carryforward (carrying the year's balances over to the next year), the fixed asset year-end close and a few other jobs are only explained on a sheet. You will also have written the closing file that lets someone else run your closing again without calling you.
What does the simulation not cover?
It focuses on journal entries, suppliers and customers, receivable write-downs, banking and payments, fixed assets, creating a company code and the December 31 closing. It works in euros only, with simplified tax codes, and does not simulate the balance carryforward (carrying the year's balances over to the next year), the fixed asset year-end close or flows between companies of the group. There is a single user, with no authorizations or approval workflow.
More than a third of the topics on the official outline are explained on a reference sheet but not practiced: for example clearing open items by hand, dunning, down payments, foreign currency valuation, asset retirements and the closing cockpit. The "What this simulator simplifies" sheet in the simulator's Documentation section explains these choices. We would rather tell you up front.
Which SAP version is this on?
The simulation imitates how accounting works on SAP S/4HANA (the current version of SAP): every document ends up in the universal journal, and suppliers and customers alike are Business Partners. The screens are ours, not SAP's. The concepts covered (document types, number ranges, closing runs) stay valid from one version to the next.
Does this course prepare me for the SAP FI certification?
Yes, in part. SAP's Financial Accounting certification has the reference C_TS4FI. The specialization covers the topics on its official outline and takes its inspiration from the hands-on format of the exam, using our own projects at Glass+ Iberia. Every topic has its own reference sheet. Most are practiced in the simulator, and a little over a third are only explained on a sheet. An eighth episode, Exam review, gives you 52 practice questions we wrote ourselves, none of them from the exam. The exam is not included in the price. You take it directly with SAP, in a real SAP system whose screens are different from those of our simulator, and we advise you to also review the variants it may test.
What if it is not right for me?
You have a 14-day money-back guarantee. A simple email is enough, no justification required, and we refund you in full.
Can I get an invoice for my company?
Yes. Key User Training is a Luxembourg-based training organization: we issue an invoice in your company's name after payment. For any specific details on the invoice, contact us before purchasing.
The first toll receipt is on your desk.
It is for €58.08 and was paid in cash. More than a year later, in the simulation, you are the one running the main steps of Glass+ Iberia's closing, and you write the file that lets someone else run it again.