Accounting document - Getting Cleared

[safeer_rahman2]

Hello Folks,

I have an issue with the Invoice documents and Accounting documents posting.

When I am saving the invoice of a particular invoice type the accounting documents of the invoice is getting automatically cleared. Actually I want the accounting documents to be created , but not cleared. which should be a seperate process / activity by the finance team.

What setting I need to do for stopping this accounting document getting cleared automatically. The setting for 'posting block' check box in invoice type was not helping as it stops the accounting document itself from getting created. What I want is to stop the accounting documents getting cleared automatically.

Kindly help.

Cheers,

Safeer Rahman

[VeselinaPeykova · Accepted solution]

This is unexpected... most customers are thrilled when automatic clearing works without any issues.

SD/LE consultants don't have many options to influence automatic clearing without breaking the clearing process.

Please do not change the settings in OB74, the selection criteria for the background job (I assume that this is how it was done in your company) or data transfer settings in the copy control without discussing first with your FI colleague.

You may get very good answers from the FI experts in the forum on how to achieve the task, but your colleague is the best person to estimate the impact of changing the configuration.

[Jelena · Accepted solution]

I agree - this does sound rather odd, usually auto-clearing is a desirable effect. Perhaps OP will come to his senses after reading this.

[safeer_rahman2]

Advised the user to maintain the rejection reason and maintain the pricing condition as 0. As the sales order is not currently open & no outstanding value  , users agree to the solution.

Still not sure how to delete orders as the order doc flow is showing the invoice doc and cancellation doc with their respective account entries.

Thanks for your replies anyways.

[VeselinaPeykova]

Why would you want to delete the order from document flow? It was taken at some point and processed, so it should be kept in the system at least for reporting purposes, not to mention that it would look suspicious to have SD invoices for returns referencing a non-existent sales order.

[safeer_rahman2]

Precisely the point... They don't want that document to stay open which would allow the user to reprocess that . They want that order to be deleted from the system which would eliminate such a chance and also it would not show in the list of open orders which would be questioned by their managers.

Thanks,

Safeer Rahman

[VeselinaPeykova]

If the order is rejected, it would not show as open in the document list and it cannot be processed unintentionally.

So if a user decides to remove manually the rejection reason via VA02- this is his/her responsibility.

It is a really dangerous move to agree on document deletion in a productive environment - especially when you have subsequent documents generated.

I understand that it can be very difficult to say 'no' to the client, but in this case this would be the best approach.

[Jelena]

The "list of open orders" should not include rejected items.

As far as "reprocessing" - if you have such poorly trained (or just plain stupid) people using the system then what's preventing them from entering a new incorrect order?

Sorry, but these are very weak arguments in defense of the clearly flawed process here...

[safeer_rahman2]

Thanks a lot for your replies. As you said it is most commonly desirable to have the auto clearance of accounting documents.

However my requirement is a bit different.

1. The user is creating a return order and invoiced it.

2. Now the user wants to cancel the invoice and delete the sales returns order.

3. Return invoice cancelled and cancellation doc created . Both the accounting documents at this point of time is appearing as 'Cleared' . And both the invoice and the cancellation invoice documents along with their account documents are visible when I view in the sales order document flow.

4. I was now not able to delete the return order . Reason is expected to be the cleared accounting document.

5.I was not able to delete the items in the return order either. "Item cannot be deleted due to the subsequent documents"

And ofcourse I searched SCN for a solution , which I couldn't find unfortunately. Would be great if anyone can refer any solution or any useful post in SCN.

Thanks,

Safeer Rahman

[Jelena]

Safeer, I don't believe the fact that invoice was cleared actually matters here. Since invoices are not deleted and remain in the document flow, even after cancellation, the preceding documents can no longer be deleted. But you should be able to use rejection reason in the order.

Also why are you letting it go to the invoice and then cancelling the whole thing? This is a very strange process and definitely not a best practice. Return should only be entered when you have actual goods to return and have checked that item is eligible for return, etc. You can also add billing block to have an extra check. If you have to cancel a return invoice it tells me something is wrong with the process. This should be a very rare exception.

[VeselinaPeykova]

For now I assume you mean the regular returns process, not advanced returns.

Return orders have also a delivery and goods movement. What have you done with them?

Did you reverse the goods receipt and delete the delivery or you created items with opposite signs in the same order?

Both options are possible.

Sometimes you cannot reverse goods movement or delete the delivery (for example if the delivery is in a shipment, which was already processed and you are not allowed to reverse statuses. In this case it makes sense to perform the same movement with opposite signs (I assume that no products were returned physically) and no billing should be done. In such case I usually have manual item categories set up with copy controls, so that I can create a delivery and post goods issue. Of course the delivery should not be relevant for any WM/LE activities and I have to post it with the same date.

After I process the dummy delivery, I can reject all items from the return order.

The second option:

You cancel the billing, then reverse goods receipt and delete the delivery. You can reject the order items.

Of course, both options can be not applicable for some localization solutions - you have to check with the business. In some countries you have to purchase back the products from the customer even if this is a dummy step, otherwise you mess up the legal reporting. In some countries you have special document types for cancellations and have to use specific procedures to update print/task codes etc with other programs.

It is usually not a good approach to delete any sales orders from the productive system (especially if you are a consultant), the end users typically are not authorized to do that. It is better to use rejection reasons and keep the evidence for reporting purposes.

Edit:

I just saw that you posted that as a separate question in the forum. It is probably a good idea to ask the moderator to remove the obsolete thread if the provided answers here were sufficient.

Message was edited by: Veselina Peykova

[Jelena]

This is not an SD question. Accounting document clearing is handled in FI. SD only takes it as far as posting to accounting.

I'm not an expert, but believe auto-clearing is quite trivial question for FI, so if you just search on SCN or ask an FI consultant you'll find an answer.