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Q1:  Does Electronic Bank Statement show transactions at customer or bank point of view? «+» means debit from bank point of view, but credit from client point of view. How can I distinguish incoming and outgoing payments?

A: Bank statement in format SWIFT MT940 shows transactions from the bank point of view. It means D is company’s outgoing payment and C is incoming payment.

SAP automatically understands direction of money movement and transforms them from D/C into +/-.

Anyway, test run of real bank statement is the best indicator if settings are correct or not.

Q2: I got full documentation for the statement in format SWIFT MT940. It has huge list of possible transactions. Do I need to configure all of them in Electronic Bank Statement? How can I do it?

A: It worth asking your colleagues (like treasury and accountants) which of those transactions do actually exist in statements. Sure, not all of them will be in use. The same people will also tell you how to post each transaction in General Ledge. Then we set up these transactions as external transactions and group them into internal transaction codes where possible.

Q3: Transaction code in SWIFT MT940 statement are very high-level. For example, TRF (NTRF) can be incoming or outgoing payment. Don’t even mention smaller details. You can’t say more using the field 61. And it is field 61 which maps to posting rule. Some banks like Credit Suisse can give more details in tructured field 86. дают более детальные коды в структурированном поле 86. But system recognizes the transaction type using the field 61. How can I ask it to look into field 86??

 

A: Transaction FF.5 has choice of variants for upload: with field 86 structured and unstructured. Of course, you have to configure transaction types as they are in field 86 if you use structured statement.

As for NTRF transaction type for incoming and outgoing payments, they can be split by direction of money movement.

If bank uses NTRF, say, for outgoing payments and bank commissions, you cannot do much here, unfortunately. You have to do it manually. Or try to use search strings to replace the transaction type.

Q4: How can I split domestic and international payments if they go under the same transaction type in bank statement?

 

A

: As a rule, all the payments use the same transaction type in the bank statement. It does not matter if the payment is domestic or international. That is why you cannot distinguish them in the statement.

It is different in Russia, where all domestic payments are in roubles and international payments are in foreign currency, except for loans and deposits. Things are easier in this case.

Q5: Is it good idea to use special document type for the bank statement postings? Or document type SA is good enough?

 

A: It is very good idea to use special document type. Of course, document type SA will suite the first posting area. But I would recommend to use document types KZ/DZ for the second posting area, or even introduce special document type for bank statement.

Q6: Our chart of accounts has account number with less that 10 symbols. How should I specify mask for the account symbol in bank statement configuration? Should it be left justified or right justified?

++++++++++

++++++++

    ++++++++ 

 

A: SAP always adds zeros on the left of numeric account number up to 10 characters. That is why you have to put the mask for all 10 characters.

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_erp60_sp/helpdata/en/43/0bd49743de11d1896f0000e8322d00/frameset.htm

This help document has an example where account has 6 characters, but mask has 10 pluses.

Q7: When I configure the bank statement, I can put “+” for the currency. Do I need to create separate GL accounts for each currency?

 

A: If you need to create different masks for different currencies, then put each currency separately. Usually bank account is single-currency. That is why “+” is enough.

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_erp60_sp/helpdata/en/43/0bd4a443de11d1896f0000e8322d00/frameset.htm

Q8: What is Interpretation Algorithm?

A: Interpretation algorithm is a ling between data in bank statement and data in SAP system. For example, interpretation algorithm can find paid items using payment order number or cheque number.

You can see list and details of the most available algorithms in SAP Note 114713.

Q9: I put posting type = 8 (open item clearing) in the posting rule of the EBS. There are no open items in the system when I run a test. And I cannot post a payment now. What should I do if I get a down payment from customer? Which other posting type should I use for the subledger?

It is unclear what to do with subledger postings. Even if I put customer number in the manual bank statement, posting only goes to General Leder.

A: Posting rule can have posting type without clearing. I.e. just a customer posting. Try to use it. Or you can leave incoming payments unposted in the bank statement. Leave this task to treasury/accountants. Of course, it depends on the number of payments like this.

Q10: When I try to post to subledger, Payment advice is created. What should I do with it? What is Payment Advice?

 

A: If I correctly understand, Payment Advice is created for Cash Management. There is no use of it unless you implement Cash management. You can switch Payment Advices in the parameters of manual bank statement entry. Transaction FF67, Settings – Specifications.

If it does not help, have a look at SAP Note 452579 (older SAP versions - 162571).

Q11: How can I delete bank statement?

 

A: Use program RFEBKA96. This program deletes bank statement itself, but not the posted documents. That’s why I would recommend using this program in test systems only; and being very careful.

Q12: What else can I read about the bank statement?

A: Have a look at SAP Note 549277.

Q13: Where do I define interpretation algorithms?

A: Interpretation algorithms are defined in program RFEBBU10.