Company-initiated payments are initiated by the company because the company determines when to collect or disburse payments to or from the customer.
Company-initiated payments can be incoming and outgoing payments.
Company-initiated payments require incoming or outgoing payment methods in the contract account master data, which flexibly refer either to one or more bank account with IBAN and SEPA mandate or to one or more payment card ID of the contract account's business partner.
Payments that can't be completed by the house bank, are sent back in a returns lot, which is processed similar to a payment lot. Returns are typically the result of expired accounts or insufficient funds in an account.
The returns processing is explained in lesson 2 of this unit.
Company-initiated payments are processed by the payment run.
The payment run processes payments automatically using the run parameters such as house bank, paying company code, payment method and due date as well as the technical settings for scheduling and parallel mass processing.
The payment run is created, scheduled, executed and monitored by the administrator.
The payment run can be executed as a simulation run prior to the actual payment run. The simulation run creates a payment list, but no payment documents.
The payment run carries out the following steps:
- Selecting open items based on run parameters and due date.
- Grouping open items into payments or debit memos.
- Selecting open items for clarification.
- Determining payment methods.
- Determining house bank.
- Posting payment documents and clearing open items.
- Creating payment list to check payments and exceptions.
- Creating payment medium depending on the payment method:
- Check printout using the Print Workbench.
- Payment medium file in all required and pre-configured formats:
- Incoming Bank Direct Debit with/without SEPA Mandate.
- Incoming Credit Card Payment.
- Outgoing Bank Transfer.
- Outgoing Check Printout.
Payment Run Control
Payment Run Control Data
| Business Partner | Contract Account | Receivable Item |
|---|---|---|
| Paying Company Code | ||
Bank Data:
Credit Card | Payment Method
Alternative Payer Bank ID from Business Partner Credit Card ID from Business Partner | Payment Method Due Date Deferral Date |
Posting and Payment Lock Clearing Restriction Grouping | Posting and Payment Lock Clearing Restriction Grouping |
The payment run control data is specified in the master data and in the line item to be payed. The payment run control data on line item level override the data on contract account level.
The paying company code is used for the definition of house banks and payment methods. The payment methods are country-specific. For this reason, it's only possible to select company codes within a country that has the same currency in each payment run.
The payment run control data are divided into outgoing and incoming payment methods in the contract account master data, which flexibly refer either to one or more bank account with IBAN and SEPA mandate or to one or more payment card ID of the contract account's business partner.
The payment can be locked and default values for the lock duration can be configured. Furthermore, when debit memos fail, automatic debits can be prevented until a processing lock date is reached.
The alternative payer pays all his contract accounts items together. Payment methods, banks, and locks are determined using this offsetting contract account.
The payment run's posting date is applied as the baseline date for determining the due date, except in the following cases:
- If a deferral date has been entered in an item, it is always used to determine the due date.
- If the cash discount date is prior to the posting date, the cash discount due date is used to determine the due date and the item is paid minus the cash discount.
- If the cash discount period has expired, the due date for net payment is used.
The due date for an item that is determined in this manner must fall within the due date interval entered in the payment run parameters.
The grouping ensures, that items with the same term, for example items of the same invoice, are paid together.
The posting logic of the payment run is as follows:
- The receivable posting in contract accounting creates - after reconciliation key transfer - a posting on the general ledger's receivable-, revenue and tax account.
- The company-initiated payment run is triggered in contract accounting and clears - after reconciliation key transfer - the general ledger's receivable account against the bank clearing account and creates the outgoing payment medium.
- The payment in general ledger accounting clears the bank clearing account against the bank account.