Open items that have identical characteristic values are grouped into one clearing step and processed as one unit (for example, all items that belong to the same company code).
Grouping characteristics can be attributes in the FKKOP table.
Grouping characteristics can be specifically derived in a function module as well.
Sorting determines the sequence of the groups themselves and the sequence of the assignments of the open items within the group.
Sorting is generally used when a company is unsure how a payer will group payments and, therefore, uses custom priorities to clear items. For example, the company may wish to clear open items of a certain revenue type before any additional charges and interest.
You can use the grouping rules to influence the grouping string and, therefore, the grouping.
The following grouping rules are available:
_ – Group definition according to the characteristic value.
1 – Group definition to use if you want to combine several groups into a single group.
Any characteristic values that cannot be grouped can be allocated to a separate group based on the characteristic value. For example, you are grouping by product group and there are three possible values. Product groups 1 and 2 are grouped using an alternative grouping and form one group. Product group 3 forms the second grouping.
2 – Group definition similar to 1 except that any non-specified values for the characteristic all contain the value SPACE and are therefore grouped into one additional group. This is used to exclude certain groups.
3 – Group definition where any values for the characteristic not specified in the grouping rule will not be considered for payment.
You can enter an alternative grouping by choosing the Alternative Grouping button on the right of the grouping rule after you have confirmed the rule with Enter.
For most characteristics, sorting them according to their values does not lead to the desired results. For example, if you want to clear charges first (STAKZ = G), you cannot achieve this simply by sorting the characteristic values by statistics key. To get the result you want, you can define a ranking order rule for each characteristic. Depending on this rule, you can sort a specific characteristic value so that it appears at the start or the end of the table.
The following sorting rules are available:
_ – Sort by the value of the characteristic (for example, due date).
1 – Sort by value ranking first and then by the value of the characteristic.
Not all values must be specified explicitly. For example, if there are four values 1, 2, 3, 4, priority 1 is assigned to value 4, and the remaining values are not ranked. The result of sorting will then be that values 1 and 4 (same rank) are allocated first, followed by 2 and 3.
2 – Unranked values have priority and the others are handled in ranked order (1, 2, 3, 4).
3 – Unranked values have the lowest priority (after all other ranked values) (4, 1, 2, 3).
You can enter an alternative sorting by choosing the Alternative Sorting button on the right of the sorting rule after you have confirmed the rule with Enter.
The following amount rules are available:
_ – No amount restriction (only use when not using a grouping).
0 – Clear only when amounts are equal.
1 – No partial clearing allowed, but overpayment is permitted.
2 – No overpayment allowed, but partial clearing is permitted.
3 – Maximum amount difference according to tolerance group. Post tolerance.
4 – Maximum amount difference according to amount check group.
Partial clearing takes place (difference is not written off when using a tolerance group). If the difference between the payment amount and open item amount is greater than this amount, the payment will be posted on account. Amounts specified here are not added to tolerance group amounts.
With clearing rule 1, the system makes proportional payments.
For example, a payment of 90 is made to two open items with 100 and 50: (100/150)*90. This means that a payment of 60 is made to the item with 100 and a payment of 30 is made to the item with 50.
Amount check groups are used in a clearing step to define amount-dependent conditions.
Amount check groups are used within a group of open items in the following way:
In the case of incoming payments, the difference between the available payment amount and the total balance of open items in a group that have already been posted undergoes the amount check.
For all other business transactions, the difference between the total credit items and the total receivable items undergoes the standard check.
Amount check groups allow you to specify differentiated amount variances within which a clearing is permitted.
Amount check groups should not have the same functionality as the tolerance group defined in the contract account. It only has to specify whether a clearing takes place or not. The amount differences that were calculated from the payment and item allocation, in accordance with the information in the amount check group, are not implicitly written off. Instead, they can be written off, cleared, or posted on account depending on the additional specifications in the clearing step.
Amount check groups are defined according to currency.
In the selection criteria, you can specify, for every clearing type, which item is to be included in the clearing analysis based on transaction and due date. You can use clearing category, main transaction, andsub transaction to specify whether an item is to be included and, if so, within which due date interval.
The restrictions are interpreted in four steps: starting with the specified clearing category, main transaction, subtransaction and finishing with an unspecified entry. Normally, the level found first is used. If the system cannot determine any selection restrictions for open items, the items are considered to be unfiltered in the clearing analysis.
The selection criteria can be used to exclude items with specific main transactions and sub transactions, or to define how many days into the future the system should look for open items for possible clearing (Grace Days column). If you select the NC indicator, the items of the corresponding main transaction and subtransaction are excluded from the clearing analysis. You can also exclude items from clearing in the corresponding clearing step.
Statistical items can be written off automatically in several ways when posting a payment to an account with statistical postings on it.
In the Control data: payment on account folder, you can define rules for posting on account. For example, it could be set that any amount over X will be posted directly to the clarification (interim) account and not posted on account (payment lot status would be not posted).
Program enhancements allow for the use of two function modules: one for the selection of open items, and the other for how statistical items should be written off.
Since no characteristics have been entered, 4710, 4711 and 4712 form a group.
Within the group, the items are sorted according to their due dates.
The invoice credit of 30.00 is calculated step-by-step, as follows:
First, the invoice request of 10.00 from September 15 is cleared.
The remaining credit of 20.00 is cleared using the budget billing request of December 5.
The budget billing request remains open at 40.00.
Since no characteristics have been entered, 4709, 4710, 4711, and 4712 form a group.
Within the group, the items are sorted according their due dates.
The clearing algorithm produces the following processing steps:
The payment on account of 20.00 is used to clear the invoice request of September 15.
This is cleared completely using the invoice credit from November 15.
The remaining credit of 25.00 means that the invoice request for the gas division (dated November 15) is partially cleared.
The budget billing repayment request of 10.00 is cleared against the remaining invoice request for the gas division dated November 15.
The outstanding receivable from invoice 4711 is 65.00.
Clearing step 1 leads to the following processing steps:
Document number and due date are specified as characteristics with the result that the following groups are created:
Group 1: Open item document 4709
Group 2: Open item document 4711
Group 3: Open item document 4710
Group 4: Open item document 4712 with due date December 5
Group 5: Open item document 4712 with due date January 5
The following clearing steps take place:
In groups 1, 2 and/or 5, no clearing takes place.
In group 3, the credit of 30.00 from the electricity division is cleared against the gas receivable of 100.00, which leaves an outstanding receivable of 70.00.
In group 4, the budget billing requests from December 5 are balanced so that a budget billing amount of 140.00 is due on December 5.
Clearing step 1 leads to the following results:
No further characteristics have been specified. All items still open are grouped together.
The payment on account of 20.00 is cleared with the oldest open invoice.
The receivable of 5.00 is still outstanding.
IMG: Transaction SPRO.
Financial Accounting (New) → Contract Account Receivable and Payable → Basic Functions → Open Item Management → Clearing Control → Clearing Variants → Define Clearing Variants.
Mark Variant 014, and select in the dialog structure on left-hand side Clearing steps.
The additional grouping according to due date is necessary because the due dates of a budget billing plan or installment plan have the same number. The clearing consideration should usually take place at the level of the individual due dates.
For example, the customer wants to pay invoice 4709. The customer can pay the full amount of 25.00 or the remaining amount of 5.00 after withholding the credit of 20.00 (document 4710).
