Negative Postings

Use

In Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable , you can create negative postings. A negative posting reduces the transaction figures for the account posted to in the general ledger. A debit posting as negative posting therefore does not lead to an increase of the debit transaction figures; it leads to a reduction of the credit transaction figures. This enables you to show transaction figures for accounts after an incorrect posting and subsequent correction (for example, invoice posting and reversal) as if neither the incorrect posting nor the correction had taken place.

Features

The following table gives an overview of the effects of negative postings for the most important business transactions:

Business Transaction	Result
Reversal	For a reversal, the document type used decides: Whether there is never a negative posting Whether a negative posting is always permitted That a negative posting is created if the posting and reversal are in the same fiscal year A special feature is that the items in the reversal document for which the account to be posted to has been swapped in comparison to the original document are not posted negatively. This can be the case for aperiodic reversals (swap of P&L accounts) or for posting incoming payments where the reversal is used to post back to the clarification account.
Resetting Clearing	After resetting clearing, all accounts should appear as if the clearing had not taken place. This means that the inverse posting of cash discount, small differences, exchange rate differences, and taxes that were posted due to the clearing are to be posted negatively. The display in the receivables accounts is retained. You reset clearing for a payment received. After the clearing reset, the payment with clearing of open items becomes a payment on account again, which means that the credit from the payment is an open item in the receivables account. From the view of the account balance in the receivables account, it is irrelevant whether there was a payment on account or whether items were cleared.
Returns	Returns should be treated like reversals. The first item of a returns posting, that is, the posting to the returns clearing account, is never posted negatively. This also applies to returns charges.
Manual Posting	If you want to post a document for which negative postings are required for all items manually, all you have to do is select an appropriate document type. However, if you only want to post individual items negatively, you have to enter the entire transaction in two documents. Transfer posting from an incorrect G/L account to the correct G/L account. The reset in the incorrect G/L account should be posted negatively, the posting to the correct account not. First enter a negative posting: Clearing account to incorrect G/L account. Then a “normal” posting: Correct G/L account to clearing account.
Payments on Account	If, on receipt of payment, you first post on account instead of clearing immediately and then carry out clearing later, (for example, via account maintenance or during processing of a subsequent payment), the debit and credit side of the receivables account increases by the amount of the payment on account. If you want to avoid this effect, make sure that every clearing of a posting on account is posted negatively. To do this, you have to indicate in Customizing for the main and subtransaction used for payments on account that each clearing of this item is to be posted negatively.
Distributing Revenues	In contrast to the normal distribution postings, adjustment postings that arise from, for example, clearing reset or reversal of payments, are posted negatively. The prerequisite for this is that negative postings are permitted at company code level and that the document type used for revenue distribution (posting area 1381) is supported for negative postings.

Activities

You decide whether to permit negative postings at company code level. The corresponding setting in the company code table is also effective for Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable. You make the setting for the company code (negative postings possible) in the Implementation Guide for Financial Accounting under Start of the navigation path Financial Accounting Global Settings Next navigation step Company Code Check and Supplement Global Parameters End of the navigation path .

In addition, in Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable , the document type decides whether a posting may be posted negatively. You can designate a document type such that negative postings are always created, or such that negative postings are only created for corrections in the same fiscal year. You make the setting for the document type in the Implementation Guide for Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable under Start of the navigation path Basic Functions Next navigation step Postings and Documents Document Maintain Document Account Assignments Document Types Maintain Document Types and Assign Number Ranges. End of the navigation path For more information about the setting for the document type, see the field documentation for the field Negative Posting .

The main and subtransactions that you want to define for a negative clearing (example: Payments on Account) are in the Implementation Guide for Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable under Start of the navigation path Basic Functions Next navigation step Postings and Documents Document Maintain Document Account Assignments Maintain Subtransactions. End of the navigation path