Have you noticed the colours when the concurrent requests are submitted?

Green when it is in pending or running status
Yellow for warning
Red for the errors

Do you know these colours are controlled by a profile called FND: Indicator Colors. If you se the value to Yes, you will these colors, if you say No, you will see no colors. Also I noticed, the prameters that are required while submiting the concurrent program usually show up in Yello color (standard for required fields). If you set this profile value to No, even they are becoming white.

Try it and feel the effect !

Conversion

Conversion takes place at the time of the transaction entry. Conversion converts the foreign currency value to the base currency at the days exchange rate. For example, if you have a payable liability of 100 USD and the exchange rate is 1 USD is 40 INR, the foreign currency payable is converted to the INR value of 4000.

Revaluation

This happens at the end of the period. The foreign currency account balances are revalued based on the period end exchange rate. Normally the impact goes into 'unrealized gains / losses' account. For example, if the exchange rate is 45 at the end of the period, the foreign currency payable is revalued to 4500 INR and the 'Unrealized Loss' in this case is Rs. 500. The accounting entry in the above case is:

Unrealized Loss Dr. 500
Liability Cr. 500

The above entry is either reversed at the beginning of the next period or carried forward. The actual realized gain / loss is booked at the time of closing the above transaction, by payment against the invoice in the above example.

Translation

Translation is used when the organization reports in a foreign currency which is different from its base currency. This process happens at the period end. In this case, the base currency trial balance is translated to the foreign currency trial balance. You can use different exchange rates to translate different account types. For example, you could use historical rates to translate owners equity and fixed assets, the period end rates to translate current assets and liabilities and period average rates to translate income statement accounts.

Remeasurement

This happens in situations where your base currency is an inflationary currency. In this case the parent will want to keep a close track of the transactions by remeasuring each and every transaction in the currency of parent company. For example if your base currency is Argentine Peso and the parent currency is USD, each and every transaction in Argentine Peso will be remeasured in USD in the day's exchange rate. This ensures a tight control by parent on the subsidiary's operations and provides the parent with a real time report of the subsidiary's financial performance. This helps effective intervention by the parent in case subsidiary's performance significantly deteriorates due to domestic inflation.

Service Tax is a form of indirect tax imposed on specified services called "taxable services". Service tax cannot be levied on any service which is not included in the list of taxable services. Over the past few years, service tax been expanded to cover new services. The intention of the government is to gradually increase the list of taxable services until most services fall within the scope of service tax.In the Union Budget of India for the year 2006-2007, service tax has been increased from 10% to 12%. For the purpose of levying service tax, the value of any taxable service should be the gross amount charged by the service provider for the service rendered by him

Readers, pl. update this section by providing your comments
Accounting for Service Tax

Service tax follows 'cash basis' of accounting. The actual service tax impact occurs on the event of the closure of the document. For example, the service tax recovery occurs at the time of payment of AP invoice and service tax liability occurs at the time of entering receipts in AR. To integrate the cash basis accounting with the 'accrual basis' of accounting, minimum of four new accounts are setup in Oracle. They are the Service Tax Interim Recovery account, the Service Tax Interim Liability Account, Service Tax Receivable A/c and Service Tax Payable A/c.

Accounting flow in Service tax is simple and intutive.

On PO Receipt

Service Tax Interim Recovery A/c Dr
AP Accrual A/c Cr

On Payment of receipt matched invoice

Service Tax Receivable A/c Dr
Service Tax Interim Recovery A/c Cr

On entry of AR Invoice

Receivables A/c Dr
Service Tax Interim Liability A/c Cr

On applying the receipt against the invoice

Service Tax Interim Liability A/c Dr
Service Tax Payable A/c Cr.

On settlement, if there is a net service tax payable, an invoice is generated on the tax authority

Service Tax Payable A/c Dr
Supplier Liability A/c Cr

Other Features

1. You can net off service tax payable against Cenvat (RG / PLA) accounts
2. You can distribute service tax from one OU to multiple OUs

Since Service tax is an evolving legislation there will be a lot of new knowledge being generated. I want this site to be a one stop shop for Service Tax setting up in Oracle. Pl. be active with your comments so that all the users and viewers to this site can benefit.

LOOK UP CODE	DESCRIPTION
TITLE	Represents TITLE in People Screen.
SEX	Represents Gender in People Screen.
PERSON_TYPE	Represents Person Types in People Screen.
ORG_TYPE	Represents the Organization Type.
MAR_STATUS	Represents Marital Status in People Screen.
NATIONALITY	Represents Nationality in People Screen.
REGISTERED_DISABLED	Represents Registered Disabled in People Screen.
ADDRESS_TYPE	Represents Address Type in People Screen.
ABSENCE_CATEGORY	Represents Absence Category in Absence Screen.
ABSENCE_REASON	Represents Absence Reason in Absence Screen.
APL_ASSIGN_REASON	Represents Assignment Change Reason in Application Screen.
APL_INTERVIEW_TYPE	Represents Interview Type in Interview Screen.
EMP_EVENT_TYPE	Represents Type in Bookings Screen.
PER_CM_MTHD	Represents Delivery Methods in Communication Delivery Methods Screen.
PROFICIENCY_SOURCE	Represents Source of Proficiency Rating in Competence Profile Screen.
CERTIFICATION_METHOD	Represents Source of Certification Method in Competence Profile Screen.
CONTACT	Represents Relationship Type in Contact Screen.
CONTRACT_TYPE	Represents Contract Type in Contract Screen.
CONTRACT_STATUS	Represents Contract Status in Contract Screen.
CONTRACT_STATUS_REASON	Represents Contract Status Reason in Contract Screen.
DOCUMENT_STATUS	Represents Document Status in Contract Screen.
CONTRACT_START_REASON	Represents Contract Start Reason in Contract Screen.
CONTRACT_END_REASON	Represents Contract End Reason in Contract Screen.
DISABILITY_CATEGORY	Represents Disability Category in Disability Screen.
DISABILITY_REASON	Represents Disability Reason in Disability Screen.
TERM_APL_REASON	Represents Reason for Ending an Application in End Application Screen.
LEAV_REAS	Represents Leaving Reason in End Employment Screen.
CONSULTATION_TYPE	Represents Consultation Type in Medical Assessment Screen.
CONSULTATION_RESULT	Represents Consultation Result in Medical Assessment Screen.
PHONE_TYPE	Represents Phone Type in Phones Screen.
PER_SUBJECT_STATUSES	Represents Status of Qualification in Qualifications Screen.
PER_SUBJECT	Represents Subject in Qualification Screen.
PER_WORK_HOURS	Represents Work Hours in Work Preferences Screen.
PER_WORK_SCHEDULE	Represents Work Schedule in Work Preferences Screen.
PER_FTE_CAPACITY	Represents FTE Capacity in Work Preferences Screen.
VACANCY_CATEGORY	Represents Vacancy Category in Requisition and Vacancy Screen.
VACANCY_STATUS	Represents Vacancy Status in Requisition and Vacancy Screen.
REC_TYPE	Represents Source Type for Recruitment Activity in Requisition and Vacancy Screen.
FREQUENCY	Represents Frequency for Review Salary, Review Performance, and Working Hours in Assignment Screen.
QUALIFYING UNITS	Represents Units for Probation Period and Notice Period in Assignment Screen.
PQP_EMPLOYER_TYPE	Represents Employer Type in Employment History Screen.
PQP_EMPLOYER_SUBTYPE	Represents Employer Sub Type in Employment History Screen.
DOCUMENT_CATEGORY	Represents Document Category in Documents of Record Screen.

Inside API

• Retrieve user profile values for the current run-time environment
• Set user profile values for the current run-time environment

There are various Objects that can be used with this API's. These are discussed below:

1. Put :This can be used to put a value to the specified user profile option.

Usage:

• FND_Profile.Put('PROFILE_NAME','New_Value')
• FND_Profile.Put('USERNAME', Usr_Name)
• FND_Profile.Put('RESP_ID', Resp_ID)
• FND_Profile.Put('RESP_APPL_ID', Resp_App_ID)
• FND_Profile.Put('USER_ID', User_ID)

2.DEFINED : this is function returns TRUE if a value has been assigned to the specified profile option.

Usage:

• SELECT fnd_profile.defined('ACCOUNT_GENERATOR:DEBUG_MODE') ACC_GEN_DEBUG_SESSION_MODE FROM DUAL;

3.GET :This is used to retrieve the current value of the specified user profile option

Usage :

Different type of options can be retrieved like

• FND_Profile.Get('PROFILENAME', Profile_name);
• FND_Profile.Get('CONC_LOGIN_ID', Conc_login_id);
• FND_Profile.Get('LOGIN_ID', loginid);

4.VALUE : This is function which returns a character string. Used to retrieve the current value of the specified user profile option.

Usage:

• fnd_profile.value('PROFILEOPTION')
• fnd_profile.value('MFG_ORGANIZATION_ID')
• fnd_profile.value('login_ID')
• fnd_profile.value('USER_ID')
• fnd_profile.value('USERNAME')
• fnd_profile.value('CONCURRENT_REQUEST_ID')
• fnd_profile.value('GL_SET_OF_BKS_ID')
• fnd_profile.value('ORG_ID')
• fnd_profile.value('SO_ORGANIZATION_ID')
• fnd_profile.value('APPL_SHRT_NAME')
• fnd_profile.value('RESP_NAME')
• fnd_profile.value('RESP_ID')

5.VALUE_WNPS: This is a function, returns a character string. This is Used to retrieve the current value of the specified user profile option without caching it.

6.SAVE_USER :This is function used to save a value for a profile option permanently to the database, for the current user level. It is necessary to explicitly issue a commit when using this function. Returns TRUE if profile option is successfully saved, otherwise FALSE.

7.SAVE :This is function used to save a value for a profile option permanently to the database, for a specified level. It is necessary to explicitly issue a commit when using this function. Returns TRUE if profile option is successfully saved, otherwise FALSE.

Usage

• fnd_profile.save('GUEST_USER_PWD', 'GUEST/ORACLE', 'SITE');

8.INITIALIZE :This is used by internal Applications Object Library to initialize the internal profile information at the level context.
The cache is first cleared of all database options.

Usage:

• fnd_profile.initialize(user_id);

9.PUTMULTIPLE :This is used by internal Applications Object Library to set multiple pairs of profile options and values.