---
title: "SAP WBS/internal order error for Administrators - Payhawk Help Center"
slug: "failed-to-export-into-sap-s4-hana-either-wbs-element-or-internal-order-needs-to"
description: "Resolve SAP S/4HANA expense export errors by ensuring only one true account assignment is set, allowing for accurate financial tracking."
updated: 2026-10-27T15:14:08Z
published: 2026-10-27T15:14:08Z
canonical: "payhawk.com/failed-to-export-into-sap-s4-hana-either-wbs-element-or-internal-order-needs-to"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://payhawk.com/help/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Failed to export into SAP S/4 HANA. Either the WBS element or the internal order needs to be empty or statistical.

## Error message

```plaintext
Either the WBS element or the internal order needs to be empty or statistical.
```

## Affected ERP integrations

- SAP S/4HANA®

## Cause

When exporting an expense, you may encounter an error indicating that multiple true account assignments have been entered.

In SAP S/4HANA, your setup may allow you to enter more than one cost assignment object on an expense, for example, combining a **Cost Center** with a **Project** to track both department and project budgets. However, SAP S/4HANA may require that only **one** of these objects acts as the **true** (real) financial destination absorbing the actual cost. Any additional objects must be **statistical** - meaning they are used purely for reporting and background tracking.

This error happens because SAP S/4HANA received both a WBS element and an Internal Order marked as **true** destinations for the exact same expense line. Since SAP S/4HANA cannot split the actual financial ownership between these two specific objects, the transaction is rejected.

## Solution

Before changing anything in SAP S/4HANA, look at how the expense is coded in Payhawk:

1. Log in to the [Payhawk Web Portal](https://portal.payhawk.com).
2. Navigate to **Spend**.
3. Open the affected expense by clicking on it and review the tracking fields.
4. Check if both an **Internal Order** and a **Project/WBS Element** have been selected together.
5. If your specific company setup does not require tracking both for this spend type, simply clear out the unnecessary field so that only one remains.

If your organization workflow does require you to enter both fields together to capture reporting data, you must configure one of them, usually the **Internal Order**, as a statistical object in SAP S/4HANA so they can coexist without a conflict.

### SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud Edition

To resolve the issue in SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud Edition:

1. Log into your SAP Fiori launchpad and open the **Manage Internal Orders** app.
2. Search for the **Internal Order ID** being used for this expense.
3. In the order details, look for the **Control Data** or general settings section.
4. Ensure that the **Statistical Order** checkbox is turned **ON**. This tells SAP S/4HANA that the WBS element will absorb the actual financial cost, while this order is just for tracking.
5. Save your changes.

### SAP S/4HANA Private Cloud Edition

To resolve the issue in SAP S/4HANA Private Cloud Edition:

1. Go to transaction code `KO02` (Change Internal Order).
2. Enter the Internal Order number and press **Enter**.
3. Go to the **Control data** tab.
4. Locate the **Statistical order** checkbox and select it.
5. Click **Save** to update the order master data.

### Next steps

Once you have either adjusted the fields in Payhawk or updated the master data configuration in SAP S/4HANA to allow multiple objects, go back to Payhawk and follow the steps:

1. Log in to the [Payhawk Web Portal](https://portal.payhawk.com).
2. Go to **Spend**.
3. Locate the pending expense and click **Review** to re-try the export.