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China Audit Reports (CADE) — Practical Tips and Gotchas

  • By sujay
  • 31/07/2026
  • 3 Views

This is Part 2 of the CADE series. For business context and official documentation links, see [Part 1 — What It Is and Who Needs It].

CADE's Help Portal documentation covers the configuration steps well. This post focuses on what the docs don't make obvious — patterns from real customer cases that cost time when missed. Where Chinese XML element names appear, English labels are included for reference.


Gotcha 1: “Set to Completed” Is Not Optional

The most common first-run error. In the Define Settings for SDI – China app, you must click Review → Set to Completed after finishing all 7 configuration steps. Clicking Save leaves the configuration in draft status, which causes a hard error at runtime.

This applies equally to the CADE all reports: the “Reporting Company Value not found” error is almost always a sign the configuration status is not Completed.


Gotcha 2: Silent Exclusions — Unmapped = Not Exported

Two configuration steps follow the same pattern: if you don't map it, it's silently excluded from the XML. No warning, no error.

  • Step 2 (Exchange Rate Type Mapping): Only mapped exchange rate types appear in the Common Information XML. Unmapped types are excluded entirely.
  • Step 3 (Journal Entry Type Mapping): One entry per GB/T type category must be marked as the leading type. When a document type is not mapped, the system outputs the leading type instead — producing valid-looking XML that may misclassify transactions.

Map all exchange rate types and document types your company uses. Choose leading types deliberately.


Gotcha 3: Accounts Outside the FSV Are Excluded from GL Output

Context: Financial Statement Version (FSV) is the legacy hierarchy tool that CADE still relies on for Step 6 (G/L Account Details). Note that FSV has been superseded by Universal Hierarchy in S/4HANA — but CADE has not yet migrated to the new solution. This means your FSV must be maintained and up to date even if your broader setup has moved to Universal Hierarchy.


Only G/L accounts included in the FSV are extracted into the GL XML. Accounts that exist in the system but are not assigned to the FSV will not appear in the audit file — no warning, no error.

Hidden trick: You can override the account Type value in the XML by wrapping the desired type in # characters within the FSV node description — for example: #Four-Digit Account Code#Bank Deposit. The system reads what is between the # markers as the Type field value. Useful when the account group in master data does not match the GB/T classification required.


Gotcha 4: Subsidiary Accounting Items — Four Come Free, More Need Configuration

Step 5 has four system SAIs always active: Supplier (LIFNR), Customer (KUNNR), Cost Center (RCNTR), Functional Area (RFAREA). No setup needed for these.

If the XML element 科目辅助核算 (Account Auxiliary Accounting) shows 0 occurrences, the issue is almost always that custom SAIs were not configured. Go to the Subsidiary Accounting Items tab and assign the dimensions you need from the 23 available ACDOCA fields.


Gotcha 5: Cash Flow — One Valid Approach in Public Cloud

Step 1 (General Information) has a Liquidity Item Hierarchy field. For the cash flow statement, select “Not Used for Cash Flow Report” and configure the cash flow report structure in Step 7 (Statutory Reporting) instead.

The alternative option (“Used for Cash Flow Report”, based on Liquidity Item Hierarchy from Advanced Cash Management) has been sunset for China. The offsetting accounts solution is the only supported approach. All Public Cloud customers are on this path by default.

If 现金流量项目 (Cash Flow Items) shows 0 occurrences:

  1. Confirm Step 1 is set to “Not Used for Cash Flow Report”
  2. Confirm Step 7 has the cash flow report structure assigned
  3. Check whether Online Offsetting Account Determination was activated — only documents posted after activation are included. For earlier documents, a migration step is required (Public Cloud migration guide).

Gotcha 6: Fixed Assets — Three Common Empty Sections

The AA report is the module most prone to silent empty sections:

XML Element English Label Root Cause Fix

固定资产卡片Asset CardIncorrect or missing fiscal year variantCheck fiscal year variant assignment on company code
固定资产变动情况Asset ChangesNo change documents in periodSourced from Change Documents — empty by design if no movements were posted
固定资产处置情况Asset RetirementsWrong AssetTransactionVariantMust be 2 (Retirement) when posting via ABAVN or ABAON; transaction type 210 = prior-year, 260 = current-year

Gotcha 7: Step 7 (Statutory Reports) Is Optional for GL — But You'll Get a Warning

In the Define Settings for SDI – China app, Step 7 (Statutory Reporting) is where you assign the financial statement structures (balance sheet, income statement, etc.) that are embedded in the GL audit file.

What's not obvious: if you skip Step 7 entirely, the CN_GBT24589_GL report will still generate successfully — but with a warning message indicating that the statutory reports section is empty. The journal entry and account balance data will be there; only the financial statement part will be missing.

This means Step 7 is optional depending on what the auditor actually needs. If they only require the GL transaction data and not the embedded financial statements, you can defer this configuration. But if the auditor expects complete output, Step 7 must be configured before submission.


Still Stuck?

Open a customer incident with:

  • System release and SP level
  • Exact XML element name showing 0 occurrences or exact error message
  • Screenshot of Define Settings for Standardized Data Interface – China configuration
  • Sample FI document or asset master data for reproduction

Based on SAP standard GB/T 24589.01-2010 | Reference: SAP Note 3285703

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