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.
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