FICO General Ledger Part 4: Posting Periods, Document Types and Number Ranges

📌 KEY POINTS
✅ Posting periods are opened and closed per posting period variant in OB52, by account type and range.
✅ Special periods (13–16) are used for year-end adjustments.
✅ Document types (OBA7) classify documents and control allowed account types and number ranges.
✅ Number ranges (FBN1) are maintained per company code and fiscal year, internally or externally assigned.
⚠️ Leaving prior periods open invites postings into closed months and breaks reported results.

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▶ WHERE WE ARE
Part 3 covered account master data. Part 4 covers the controls around every posting.

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▶ 1. POSTING PERIODS
Company codes are assigned to a posting period variant. In OB52, ranges of periods are opened for account types — all accounts, assets, customers, vendors, GL — so finance can, for example, keep the old month open for GL accruals while closing it for subledgers. In S/4HANA, an extra setting can control period opening by ledger or authorisation group.

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▶ 2. SPECIAL PERIODS
A fiscal year usually has 12 normal periods and up to four special periods for year-end adjustments and audit entries. Postings into special periods are made with posting dates in the last normal period. They keep audit adjustments separate from December's operational postings.

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▶ 3. DOCUMENT TYPES
Document types such as SA (GL), KR (vendor invoice), DR (customer invoice) or AA (asset) classify documents. Each defines allowed account types, the number range, whether reversals use a different type and other controls. Custom document types for interfaces make their postings easy to identify and analyse.

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▶ 4. NUMBER RANGES
Each document type uses a number range per company code and fiscal year, defined in FBN1. Ranges can be year-dependent so numbering restarts each year. Internal assignment lets SAP number documents; external assignment takes the number from the source, which is used for some interfaces. Missing ranges for a new year stop posting on 1 January or 1 April.

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▶ 5. MONTH-END ROUTINE
Typical sequence: close subledger periods after their cut-off, keep GL open for accruals and reclassifications, then close GL. Restrict who may change OB52 and log changes. Before a new fiscal year, check number ranges are maintained, and open the first period.

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▶ STEP BY STEP

1. Display OB52 for your company code and note open periods per account type.
2. Review the settings of document types SA and KR in OBA7.
3. Check number ranges for next fiscal year in FBN1.
4. Write a month-end period closing sequence.

✅ CHECKPOINT: periods, document types and number ranges are controlled and ready for the next year.

On 1 April, an Indian company could not post vendor invoices because number ranges for the new fiscal year had not been created for several document types. Postings were blocked for half a day. A pre-year-end checklist now includes number ranges and period opening for every company code.

• Prior periods left open.
• Missing number ranges for the new fiscal year.
• One document type for all interfaces.
• Uncontrolled changes to OB52.

• Close by account type in sequence.
• Special periods for audit adjustments.
• Dedicated document types for interfaces.
• Year-start checklist for ranges and periods.

Interviewers ask how periods are opened and closed by account type, what special periods are for and what document types control.