Posting with Clearing in SAP FICO

Using the posting with clearing function, you enter document line items and then select the open items that are to be cleared. Once the total amount of selected open items equals the amount of the entered line items, the system clears the open items by creating one or more offsetting entries.

A customer pays for several receivables amounting to 5,000 USD with a check. You enter the amount of the check payment in the Checks Receivable account (see step 1 in the illustration below). To clear the receivables in the customer account, you choose the open items (see step 2 below). The amount you enter and the items you select must balance to zero. When you save your entries and selections, the system posts the incoming payment (automatic offsetting entry) to the customer account (see 3 below) and marks the open items as cleared (see 4 below). All four steps are performed in one procedure.

In this clearing procedure, the system generates a clearing document comprised of the items you entered and the offsetting entries it created to balance the document to zero.

The system marks the items as cleared and sets the clearing date and clearing document number in the open items you selected and in the offsetting entries it created. The clearing date is usually the posting date. But if the items you select for clearing have a posting date that comes after the posting date of the clearing document, the system uses the most recent posting date as the clearing date. The following illustration shows the item that the system posted automatically in the above example. The open item is cleared, and the document line item it is matched to contains the clearing information.

There are three functions you can choose from for posting with clearing. With a basic function, you can process any type of business transaction in which items need to be posted and cleared. The two other functions are specially designed for incoming and outgoing payments.

Options when Clearing Open Items

You can:

• Clear several accounts and account types
• Clear items in any currency
• Post differences that result from assigning items to each other
• Enter any number of line items (such as bank charges)

Automatic Clearing

You can also execute posting with clearing automatically by running the payment program. Normally, you will run the payment program to pay vendor invoices. You can also use the payment program if you and your customers have agreed on a debit memo procedure (collection or direct debiting procedure).

Some special G/L transactions, such as bills of exchange, are cleared using special functions. You can find additional information on special G/L transactions in the FI - Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable documentation.