Goods Receipt / Invoice Receipt
In Inventory Accounting, goods receipts and invoice receipts are not transaction-based. Instead, they are settled at period-end close.
With goods receipt postings, an offsetting entry for the total inventory value is made to the GR/IR clearing account. This posting is made in Inventory Accounting and also transferred to classic SAP Accounting.

For more information, see Goods Movements.
To make it possible for the GR/IR clearing account to be cleared for milestone invoices or partial deliveries, the system also stores the quantity in the order unit in the GR/IR journal.

This quantity information alone enables you to recognize that some of the postings have already been cleared.
You have entered an inventory price for all materials (including materials that are not valuated).
Invoice verification posts the invoice amount (without taxes) to the GR/IR clearing account, both in classic SAP Accounting and in Inventory Accounting. Payables are posted only in classic SAP Accounting.
GR/IR clearing balances the GR/IR clearing account to zero for cleared order quantities. The balance of the GR/IR clearing account representing the variances between the purchase order price and the invoice price is posted to price differences, inventory, or the account assignment as an offsetting posting.
The system valuates in accordance with the selected valuation procedure. GR/IR is valuated with the purchase order price. The offsetting item is valuated with the standard price (to inventory and to price differences if necessary) or the purchase order price (such as with MAP), P&L based on the account assignments.
Taxes are not posted until the invoice is received.
If the quantities in a goods receipt differ from those in the corresponding invoice, you still need to manually clear the balance on the GR/IR clearing account using the account maintenance transaction in MM:
Quantity
Variance Between Goods Receipt and Invoice
Business Transaction |
Order Unit |
Valuation Unit |
Reference Unit |
Local Currency |
Purchase order |
100 pc |
|
|
EUR 10,000 |
Goods receipt |
-100 pc |
-1,100 kg |
|
EUR -13,200 |
Invoice |
90 pc |
|
|
EUR 11,000 |
Account maintenance |
10 pc |
|
|
|
GR/IR clearing |
100 pc |
|
1,100 kg |
EUR 2,200 |
In account
maintenance, the invoice quantity is adjusted to match the goods receipt
quantity. This change in quantity updates the data in the GR/IR journal.
The reconciliation of the values is then posted at the next settlement
run.

In the example above, the invoice receipts are shown with a positive sign (debit) and goods receipts with a negative sign (credit).
You still create purchase orders only in Materials Management (MM-PUR).
As before, use Goods Receipt for Purchase Order (transaction MIGO) to post goods receipts for purchase orders.
You can enter the quantity for goods receipts in both units of measure. If you enter the quantity in the base unit only, it needs to be converted into the valuation unit using the planned conversion factor in the material master.

For more information, see Entering Incoming Invoices.
Goods receipt postings for assigned purchase orders for production and process orders must always be valuated. Non-valuated goods receipts are not supported.
Invoice verification still takes place in classic SAP Accounting (logistics invoice verification). Since goods receipts are always posted in Inventory Accounting, invoice verification is based on the assumption that no goods receipt has yet been posted for the purchase order (applying the principle invoice receipt before goods receipt). For this reason, the complete invoice amount (without tax) is posted to the GR/IR account.
Updates of the GR/IR journal do not always post both quantities and values:
- GR/IR account maintenance: update quantities only, no values
- Subsequent debits/credits: do not update quantities (or a quantity as a reference quantity); the reference quantity is saved to the inventory account (vendor).
- Credit memo/reversal: Both quantities and values are updated (the GR/IR update corresponds to the invoice update).