FI / FICOintermediate

FICO Accounts Receivable Part 2: Posting Keys, Payment Terms and Customer Invoice Flow

Key takeaway

Configure and understand customer postings: posting keys for invoices, credit memos and payments, document types from SD billing, payment terms and cash discount, revenue account determination from SD, and down payments as special GL transactions.

Explanation

📌 KEY POINTS
✅ Posting keys: 01 debit customer invoice, 11 credit memo, 15 incoming payment (typical standard keys).
✅ SD billing creates accounting documents (e.g. document type RV) with revenue from account determination (VKOA).
✅ Payment terms from the customer or the sales order decide due dates and discounts.
✅ Down payments use special GL indicators and are shown separately from receivables.
⚠️ Revenue account determination errors stop billing documents from reaching accounting.

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▶ WHERE WE ARE
Part 1 introduced AR. Now postings and invoice flow.

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▶ 1. POSTING KEYS AND DOCUMENT TYPES

01/11/15; DR, DG, RV, DZ.

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▶ 2. SD INTEGRATION

Billing → release to accounting; revenue via VKOA; taxes from pricing.

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▶ 3. PAYMENT TERMS

OBB8; cash discount; installment terms.

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▶ 4. DOWN PAYMENTS

Request (F-37) and receipt (F-29), clearing with final invoice.

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▶ 5. CREDIT MEMOS

FB75 or SD credit memo; reference to invoice.

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▶ STEP BY STEP

Create a sales billing and check the accounting document.
Post a down payment request and receipt.
Clear the down payment with the invoice.

✅ CHECKPOINT: the customer shows net receivable after down payment clearing.

Code example

ABAP Code

===== POSTING KEYS (standard) =====01 Invoice (debit customer) | 11 Credit memo | 15 Incoming payment | 40/50 GL debit/credit ===== SD → FI =====VF01 billing → document type RV → Dr Customer | Cr Revenue (VKOA) | Cr Output taxVFX3 billing not released to accounting (errors) ===== DOWN PAYMENT =====F-37 request (statistical) → F-29 receipt: Dr Bank | Cr Customer (special GL A) → clear with invoice (F-39)

Real project scenario

A manufacturing client saw a spike in billing documents not posted to accounting after a new product line launch. VKOA had no entry for the new account assignment group. Adding the entry and releasing billing via VFX3 fixed it.

Common mistakes

Missing VKOA entries.
Inconsistent payment terms.
Down payments not cleared.
Manual FI invoices for sales.
Wrong posting keys.

Best practices

Test billing-to-FI for new products.
Define payment terms ownership.
Clear down payments.
Use SD for sales invoices.
Monitor VFX3.

Interview angle

Questions: "Which posting keys are used in AR?", "How does revenue get its GL account?", "How are down payments handled?"
Strong answer: keys and document types, SD integration and VKOA, terms, down payments, credit memos.

Practice this lesson

Quick check

1. Which standard posting key is typically used for a customer invoice?

2. A company wants to post customer down payments to a separate reconciliation account so they do not distort the normal trade receivables balance, while still being visible in AR reporting. Which functionality achieves this?

3. After a new product launch, many billing documents are not posted to accounting. What is the likely cause?

Interview questions

1. Billing documents are not reaching accounting and customer due dates look inconsistent. How do you review AR posting configuration?

Answer it in your own words first, then compare.

2. Walk through the end-to-end process of posting a customer security deposit or bank guarantee using a Special GL indicator against an outstanding invoice, and explain how its later release or forfeiture integrates with bank accounting when the guarantee funds are held at the house bank.