Reversal Documents
Users sometimes make errors when entering documents. As a result, the created documents contain incorrect information and need to be modified. To log the adjustments made to the documents, you first need to reverse the incorrect document. Then, you can post the document again with correct entries.
SAP S/4HANA provides a function that helps you reverse general ledger documents, customer documents, and vendor documents individually or as a group. This mass reversal function allows reversals of a large range of documents that a user enters. The function also allows you to use the same transaction and reverse one document.
You can reverse a document by using either of the following methods:
- Normal reversal posting
- Negative posting
Normal reversal posting executes an inverse posting by increasing the transaction figures. Negative posting, on the other hand, performs an inverse posting by resetting the transaction figures. You can use negative posting to avoid an unnecessary increase in the transaction figures. This function was developed to meet customer requirements and is optional.
When you reverse a document, you have to enter a reversal reason to explain the reversal. The reversal reason settings can be configured to allow you to enter a reversal date different to the original posting date.
You cannot reverse documents that contain cleared items. You need to reset the document before reversing it.
Normal Reversal Posting and Negative Posting
Normal reversal posting causes SAP S/4HANA to post the incorrect debit as a credit and the incorrect credit as a debit. This form of posting causes an increase in the transaction figures.
Negative posting also posts the incorrect debit as a credit and the incorrect credit as a debit. With negative posting, the posted amount is not added to the transaction figures, but is subtracted from the transaction figures on the other side of the account. This sets the transaction figures back to what they were before the incorrect posting.
To enable negative postings, the following prerequisites must be fulfilled:
- The company code must permit negative postings.
- The reversal reason must be configured to allow negative postings.
You can also use negative postings to perform transfer postings of incorrect line items. The item is removed from the wrong account by using negative posting, in which the transaction figures are reset. The item is then posted to the correct account by using a normal posting. This can only be done with a document type that explicitly allows negative postings.