Maintaining Bank Details for Business Partner

It is time for Jennifer to take a closer look at the settings available in the supplier master record.

It is important to notice that the fields available in a supplier record are determined by the configuration of the system. This means that, for example, depending on the grouping used for the supplier creation, a zone can be mandatory in some cases, optional in other cases, or may even be hidden.

In the General Data of the business partner, we find the settings that belong to that partner and that are shared and available across all the company codes of your group. For example, the telephone number of the supplier. This means that if an update is made to this number, it will be immediately available to all the companies using this supplier.

In the General Data, we find among other settings:

• Address: Its completeness might be a requirement to perform certain payments process - for example, check payments.
• Language: Will determine the correspondence language with the partner.
• Bank Accounts: Required in case of bank transfer payments.

Jennifer is now going to review a summary of the supplier data maintained at the general data level:

Jennifer can now have a closer look at the bank setting at the general data level of the business partner.

The supplier bank accounts belong to the General Data settings of the supplier and therefore they are shared across all the companies using the supplier. Since this is very sensitive information, specific authorizations might be required to manage it: only authorized users will be able to edit the bank details of the suppliers.

In this case, a new bank, identified by the Bank Key, might be required that is not yet created in the Bank List of SAP. To facilitate the process, the system will prompt the user to complete the missing bank details and will create a new bank on the fly. The Bank list will then be automatically updated without needing to go through a specific transaction.

To facilitate the bank creation process in the business partner record, it is possible to derive the bank from the International Bank Account Number (IBAN). Conversely, it is possible to generate an IBAN proposal when all the bank account details are completed in the system.

Several banks can be associated with the supplier. Depending on the customization of the payment program, SAP S/4HANA will then decide which bank to use to proceed with an automatic payment.

• Improved data accuracy and consistency: By maintaining bank keys as part of the supplier master record, businesses can store and maintain accurate and up-to-date bank information for each supplier. This helps you to reduce inconsistencies and inaccuracies in financial data, thereby improving overall data quality in the system.
• Centralized data management: Creating bank keys in the supplier master record enables centralized management of supplier bank information. This makes it easier for procurement, finance, and other relevant teams to access and update supplier banking details whenever needed, reducing the chances of data discrepancies across systems.
• Reduced lead times for payments: As bank information is readily available in the supplier master record, payment processing lead times can be reduced. This helps in timely payments to suppliers and maintaining healthy working capital cycles for the business.

Review now with Jennifer how to set up the payment transaction tab in the supplier master data: