The purchase order is stored in the SAP system as a document. This document principle is also relevant for inventory management and invoice verification.
Documents in Inventory Management
When you post a goods movement (goods receipts, goods issues, or transfer postings) in the SAP S/4HANA Cloud system, a material document is created. This material document is generated as proof of a process that has caused a change in stock.
If the goods movement is relevant to valuation, the system creates at least one accounting document in addition to the material document.
Goods movements are relevant to valuation if the Financial Accounting is affected by them. For example, the posting of a goods receipt to stock for a raw material usually results in an increase in the stock value of your current assets. If the raw material instead is only transferred within one plant, no postings are made in Financial Accounting.
The material document consists of a document header and at least one item. The header information includes the posting date and the name of the creator. The information at item level includes, among other things, the material number, the posted quantity, the movement type, and the plant and storage location. As soon as a goods movement is posted, you cannot change these values in the document. To correct errors, you must first cancel the incorrect document items and then post them again with the correct values.
The accounting document records the effects of material movements on the accounts. The document header contains generally applicable data, such as the document date, posting date, posting period, and document currency. The G/L account numbers and the associated amount posted are recorded at item level.
The material document and accounting document are separate but linked documents. You can identify the material document by the material document number and the material document year. The accounting document can be uniquely identified by the company code, the accounting document number, and the fiscal year. The company code in which the accounting document is posted is automatically taken from the plant in which the goods movement takes place.
Material and accounting documents for a goods movement are created simultaneously.
You can view these documents in the system using process flow. When you create a non-valuated goods receipt for a purchase order you will see that the accounting document is not created along with the material document. Hence, it won't show any accounting document in the process flow of the material document.
Documents in Invoice Verification
When you enter an invoice using invoice verification, a separate accounting document (FI document) is generated in addition to the supplier invoice document (MM document).
In this way, when the invoice is posted, payment information is forwarded to financial accounting and various accounts are updated. The system automatically determines which amounts have to be posted to which accounts.
The invoice document/receipt consists of a document header and at least one item. The header data includes the supplier (invoicing party), the posting date, and the name of the person who created the document. The item data indicates which amount is charged for which quantity of a material.
The accounting document shows the bookkeeping effects of the entry of the invoice. The document header contains generally applicable data, such as the document date, the posting date, the posting period, and the document currency. The G/L account numbers and the associated amounts posted are recorded at item level.
The invoice document and accounting document are separate but linked documents. You can identify the invoice document by the document number and the document year. The accounting document can be uniquely identified by the company code, the accounting document number, and the fiscal year.
Material and accounting documents for an invoice posting are created simultaneously.
You can view these documents in the system using process flow. When you create a supplier invoice, you will see that the accounting document is created along with the invoice receipt.
