This process helps ensure that the export transaction meets the terms of its associated financial document. Failing to meet the financial document’s terms can result in delayed payment or even loss of payment to the exporter.

To use financial documents in R/3, you must first maintain financial document settings in Customizing for Sales and Distribution. Choose Foreign Trade/Customs ® Documentary Payments.

1. A customer contacts you about buying goods. Perhaps due to economic factors in the customer’s country, you tell the customer that you require a financial document for this transaction.

In the customer master record, you may have already indicated that sales to this customer require financial documents, or you may have configured the system so that all sales orders require financial documents.

2. The customer opens a financial document with its bank, and the opening bank sends the financial document to the advising bank in your country.
3. The advising bank confirms the authenticity of the financial document and sends the financial document to you. You create a master record for this financial document in the system.

For increased security, you can configure the system to require two authorized users to activate the financial document.

4. You create the sales order for this transaction and assign the financial document to the sales order.

You can assign the financial document to the entire sales order or to selected items in the order.

Depending on how you have set up the customer master record and the document type, the system defaults a payment guarantee procedure in the sales order. You can change the payment guarantee procedure in the sales order if you want to use a procedure other than the default.

5. The system checks the sales order to ensure that complies with the financial document’s terms. For example, the system checks that the sales order’s value does not exceed the financial document’s value.

– If there are discrepancies between the sales order and the financial document, the system blocks the sales order. Authorized users may release this block using the Credit Management component.

– If there are no discrepancies, the system updates the financial document master with the sales order amount.

6. You create the delivery for this transaction and the system copies the financial document information from the sales order to the delivery.

The financial document applies to the entire delivery.

7. The system checks the delivery to ensure that it complies with the financial document’s terms.

– If, for example, the delivery date is later than the financial document’s validity end date, the system blocks the delivery. Authorized users may release this block using the Credit Management component.

– If no discrepancies exist between the delivery and the financial document, you may post goods issue. The system also updates the financial document master with the delivery amount.

8. When you post the invoice, the system updates the financial document master record with the invoice amount.