If you divide accounting into internal and external accounting,

FI represents external accounting, while CO represents

internal reports. CO has a management-oriented approach. It
is a tool in the hand of management for effective control of an
entity. Like the company code, in CO your highest entity is the
controlling area. Depending upon company code assignment,
your controlling area may be a cross-company code controlling
area or the company code = controlling area. This configuration
is done through transaction code OKKP. You can perform
cross-company code cost accounting by assigning more than one
company code to one controlling area. You may assign multiple
company codes to a controlling area under these conditions:
n A company code may have different operating currencies. In this
case, you may choose either one of the company code currencies
as the controlling area’s currency or you may choose a different
currency as the controlling area’s currency.
n A company code may use different fi scal year variants, but they
should have the same number of posting periods.
n All company codes within a controlling area use the same COA