Correspondence Types (SAP Library - FI Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable)

Correspondence Types

Correspondence types differ with respect to the contents and structure of the letters you can send to your business partners.

Example

An account statement and open item list are two types of correspondence. They differ with respect to the information they contain and the way it is displayed. Unlike an open item list, an account statement displays all items in a specified period along with the balance carried forward. The open item list merely displays the open items for a certain key date.

This topic describes the different correspondence types that are delivered with the standard system.

You can define your own types of correspondence and allow users to choose the ones they require. Contact your system administrator for more information on this.

Account Statement and Open Items List

The account statement can be created for your customers or vendors is an extract from the customer account which enables him to check the items there or is merely for information purposes. The account statement displays the balance carried forward, all items in the chosen period and the closing balance of the account.

The open items list is a special form of account statement. It is also sent to the customer for verification or information purposes. Occasionally, the list is also used as a reminder letter. The open items up to the chosen key date are displayed in this list.

Both letters contain the document number or reference document number, the document date, the document type, the currency and the amount for every item as well as the balance of the open items at the key date. The account statement may also contain the clearing document number. If branches were included in the letter of a head office, their addresses are listed at the end of the letter.

The layout of the letter is determined via a form. Depending on the form used, the letter may also contain, for example, the days in arrears per item at the key date or other information. The form must be defined and stored in the system.

Document Extracts

You can use document extracts to inform your customer about specific line items (e.g. a credit memo). The line items that you can select for this are defined in the system.

Individual and Standard Letters

You can use the individual letter to enter an individual text when you request correspondence. This text is stored separately. Information on the customer such as the address is entered automatically by the system. You enter the individual letter like an individual text.

There is a fixed text defined in the system for the standard letter . All you have to do is request the standard letter for the customer account you are currently processing. Information on the customer such as the address is entered automatically by the system. You would send a standard letter to customers if, for example, you have a new accounting clerk.

Statement of Bill of Exchange Charges

The system automatically creates a correspondence request for the statement of bill of exchange charges when you post bill of exchange charges. Statements of bill of exchange charges are always document-related. Which company codes you can specify should incur bill of exchange charges for entering a payment by bill of exchange depends on how your system is configured. More information on entering payments by bill of exchange can be found in Bills of Exchange Receivable

Payment Notices

You use payment notices to inform your business partners which open items have been cleared with received payments. If payments have been made which you cannot allocate to open items, you ask your business partner to specify for which item the payment was made.

In the standard system, you can select from two correspondence types for payment notices:

Notices without line items

Here, a payment notice is created for the total payment amount, without the line items. If residual items or payments on account were posted during the clearing procedure, they are displayed separately.

Notices with line items

Here, the items cleared due to incoming payments and/or partial payments are listed individually.

If you want to allocate to open items payments on account or other non-allocated credit memos which were to be posted during the clearing procedure, it is possible to also create a reply slip . This lists the open items of the customer. He can indicate the open item to be settled and make further notes.

Restrictions for Payment Notices

The following restrictions apply to payment notices:

Only incoming payment postings made with the functions "Internal transfer posting with clearing", "Incoming payment" and "Fast entry incoming payment" are supported.

A negative total amount to be paid is interpreted such that a clearing is carried out on another account to account for the incoming payment. Standard payment notices do not make an exception for cases where money has been paid to the customer. Thus, in this case, the customer would receive a payment notice.

Intercompany transactions are not supported.

Even for head offices with local processing, payment notices are sent to the head offices and not to the branches.

Only business transactions for one customer may be posted in a document for payment notices to one-time account customers.

For clearings between customers and vendors, if the appropriate fields are marked in the master records, only one payment notice is created per pair of customers/vendors and sent to the customer.

Internal Documents

Internal documents are documents that you print out for your accounting department or another department. You can print out either individual internal documents, for example when changing and displaying a document, or a whole series of internal documents (for example, documents that are generated from recurring entry original documents).