How To Fix KI280 - Define a cost element category for account &1 (controlling area &2)

KI280 - Overview

• Message type: E = Error

• Message class: KI -

• Message number: 280

• Message text: Define a cost element category for account &1 (controlling area &2)

What causes this issue?

Account &V1& is a profit and loss account. You assigned it to an object
in cost accounting (for example, a cost center, order, project, or profi
tability segment).
In this case, a cost element category must exist for account &V1& in the
determined controlling area &V2&.
See transaction <DS:TRAN.FS00>FS00</>, "Control Data" area.

System Response

The system issues an error message and will not allow you to continue with this transaction until the error is resolved.

How to fix this error?

Define a cost element category for account &V1& and post again or delete
the auxiliary account assignment to objects in cost accounting.
With profitability segment assignment, the error message is only
displayed when account-based profitability analysis is activated. Here
it may be a good idea to suppress the error message and ignore the
account assignment during the posting. This is particularly the case
when the posting is not only relevant for the result from the usual
business activity, for example for interest from cross-company sales in
a billing document. Such postings should not be taken into consideration
in the profitability analysis. In order to do this, you can define the
account &V1& in transaction <DS:TRAN.FCO_COPA_EX_N>FCO_COPA_EX_N</> (IMG
-> Controlling -> General Controlling -> Account Assignment Logic ->
Exceptions for Postings to Profitability Segment)

Error message extract from SAP system. Copyright SAP SE.

Smart SAP Assistant

• What is the cause and solution for SAP error message KI280 - Define a cost element category for account &1 (controlling area &2) ?

  The SAP error message KI280 indicates that a cost element category has not been defined for a specific account in a given controlling area. This error typically arises when you attempt to perform a transaction that requires a cost element to be defined, but the system cannot find the necessary configuration.
  
  Cause:
  The error occurs because:
  
  The cost element category for the specified account (account number &1) in the specified controlling area (&2) has not been set up in the system.
  The account may not be configured as a cost element in the controlling area, which is necessary for cost accounting purposes.
  
  
  Solution:
  To resolve the KI280 error, you need to define a cost element category for the specified account. Here are the steps to do this:
  
  
  Access the Cost Element Configuration:
  
  Go to the SAP Easy Access screen.
  Navigate to the following path: Controlling (CO) -> Cost Element Accounting -> Master Data -> Cost Elements -> Create
  
  Alternatively, you