Limits

Use

Limits serve basically to restrict the amount-based disposal of accounts.

SAP supports six categories of limits:

Account overdraft limit : Basis for the calculation of overdraft interest for account balancing. The debit interest rate is applied to any overdrafts tolerated that exceed this limit.

Internal account limit : Controls the coverage check of payment transactions. The account may be overdrawn up to this limit.

External account limit : The limit of which the customer is informed. This limit is for information purposes only and is generally identical to the account overdraft limit. The external limit must always be lower than or equal to the internal limit.

Limit categories for interest compensation:

Interest compensation overdraft limit: Basis for the calculation of overdraft interest for interest compensation.

Internal interest compensation limit : Controls the coverage check of payment transactions. The account pool for interest compensation may be overdrawn up to this limit.

External interest compensation limit : The limit of which the customer is informed. This limit is for information purposes only.

The limit categories for interest compensation are defined exclusively on the root account. They are needed during the posting operation since they provide information as to whether or not, according to the limit, a posting is permitted. For more information, see the documentation on Interest Compensation .

Note:

You can define other limit categories in the IMG. These are not supported by functionality in the standard system and must be customer-specifically programmed.

Integration

The issuing of limits can be subject to release in accordance with the principle of dual control, meaning that every limit must first be released by a second user with the appropriate authorization before it can be used for an account. You set whether or not the limit of an account is subject to the principle of dual control in the Implementation Guide (IMG) by choosing Start of the navigation path Master data Next navigation step Limits Maintain the principle of dual control for limits End of the navigation path . An entry in this table means that the principle of dual control is to apply.

You must grant separate authorization for releasing, since releasing limits is an activity in its own right. The authorization for releasing limits is independent of the authorization for changing an account.

When a limit is released, this replaces any limit existing for the same time period.

If you wish to assign a new limit to an account, note the following: The to-date of a limit being newly created is open, meaning you can choose it freely.
When you newly create and release limits, the system checks if limits already exist and if the time periods possibly overlap.
Checking of the limit to be released is always in comparison with the limits already released.
Limits not released at the time of creation are checked against the limits that are not yet released.

For a certain time period you can only assign a limit of a certain category to an account, as the limits are time-dependent.

In Customizing you can define standardized limits for a bank area and a currency. This simplifies their application. You can assign these reference limits to the account in the same way as an individual limit.

If the interval range of a new limit to be released overlaps the time period of a limit that already exists, the time period of the existing limit is reduced. This means that during the overlapping period, the new limit applies.

Following are some examples to illustrate this:

Example Example

Old Limit		New Limit
From	To	From	To
1.1.98	10.1.98	9.1.98	15.1.98

From 01/01/98 - 01/08/98, the old limit applies, from 01/09/98 - 01/15/98 the new limit applies. After this date there are no specifications.

Old Limit		New Limit
From	To	From	To
1.1.98	10.1.98	3.1.98	15.1.98

From 01/01/98 - 01/02/98, the old limit applies, from 01/03/98 - 01/15/98 the new limit applies. After this date there are no specifications.

Old Limit		New Limit
From	To	From	To
1.1.98	10.1.98	30.12.97	8.1.98

From 12/30/97 - 01/08/98, the new limit applies, from 01/09/98 - 01/10/98 the old limit applies. After this date there are no specifications.

Old Limit		New Limit
From	To	From	To
1.1.98	10.1.98	3.1.98	7.1.98

From 01/01/98 - 01/02/98, the old limit applies, from 01/03/98 - 01/07/98 the new limit applies, from 01/08/98 - 01/10/98 the old limit applies.

End of the example.