Prepayments
This is money paid to accounts for future trade promotions. The customer uses the funds for future trade promotions, as agreed with the consumer products company.
Note
To work with prepayments, you need to implement the Customizing described in Dispute Management.
The consumer products company can decide to prepay customers for future trade promotions.
After a trade promotion, the customer submits an invoice to the brand owner for the costs incurred. If applicable, the customer can also submit proof of performance documentation to the consumer products company.
The consumer products company validates the claim and creates a settlement. The validated amount, or part of it, is then offset against the balance of the prepayment. The customer does not receive payment for the invoice; the balance of the prepayment amount is reduced.
A fund must be assigned to the prepayment. You must select the fund, or funds, when creating a prepayment. When you create an invoice claim, you can assign prepayments to the claim items. The validated amounts for these items are not paid out, they are offset against the prepayment.
Creating Prepayments
When the prepayment is approved, the system transfers the prepayment to the settlement due list. A fund usage item is created in funds. The prepayment amount for the fund item or items is communicated to the Funds Management component.
The statuses Partially Settled
and Settled
are set by the system when the system creates a settlement document for the item. When all items at item level have a status Settled
, the system sets the header
status to Settled
. When you cancel a prepayment, you invalidate it. A canceled prepayment still exists in the system but it cannot be used in the claim settlement process.
Approving and Settling Prepayments
Prepayments must be approved before they can be settled.
When all items at item level have a status Settled
, the system sets the header status to Settled
.
Note
A prepayment can only be used in the claim settlement process when it is completely settled.
Transferring Prepayments
You can reassign prepaid amounts between funds, and transfer prepaid amounts to different funds entirely.
Reassigning prepaid amounts between funds involves changing the funds involved, not the prepaid amount.
Example
You distribute EUR 20,000 evenly between two funds:
Fund 1: EUR 10,000
Fund 2: EUR 10,000
You then decide to transfer the prepaid amount to two different funds entirely:
Fund 3: EUR 11,000
Fund 4: EUR 9,000
The prepaid amount remains EUR 20,000
You can also transfer prepaid amounts to different funds. For example, if funds are closed at the end of the fiscal year, you can transfer the remaining prepaid amounts to a different fund.
The system represents the transfer as a carried-over prepayment.
Structure
A prepayment consists of a header that provides overview information about the prepayment. You can view the items associated with the prepayment, including fund and project assignments. Fund assignments are displayed at item level.
Note
Project assignments are optional. A prepayment can only be used for validating a certain trade promotion if the trade promotion is entered in the Project Assignment
assignment block