Down-Payment Approval
Route PO-based down-payment requests through approval — keep cash outflow under control.
What problem does it solve?
Down-payment requests against purchase orders (PO) often proceed without approval; advances cause uncontrolled cash outflow and risk. Which PO an advance belongs to isn't clearly tracked either.
How does the solution work?
Conforcus's down-payment approval solution subjects advance requests raised against the PO to a defined approval process. An advance can't move to payment without clearing the approver and stays linked to its PO.
What changes in practice?
The down-payment request is raised with reference to the purchase order (PO) and enters the approval workflow. The approver sees the request together with the details of the related order: which supplier, which order and what amount of advance is being requested. The request cannot move to the payment stage until approval is complete; once approved, the down-payment process in FI continues with its familiar steps. A rejected request goes back to the person who raised it. The link between the advance and its PO is preserved to the end of the process, so the advance can be followed from the PO at any stage.
For finance and treasury teams, what changes is that every advance reaching the payment stage has an approval and a purchase order behind it. Since advances do not go out without approval, control over cash outflow becomes stronger. Because it is visible which requests are waiting for approval and which have been approved, cash planning can be based on that information. Procurement follows the stage reached by the advance requested for the supplier. Nobody has to investigate afterwards which order an advance was paid against, because the link is created when the request is raised and stays on the document.
Benefits
- Advances no longer go out uncontrolled — stronger cash management
- Every down payment stays tied to its purchase order
- An unapproved advance can't reach the payment stage
Where it sits in SAP
Integrated with MM PO and FI down-payment processes; uses an approval workflow on the PO-based advance request.
Who it is for: CFO, Finance Director, Treasury & Procurement
Frequently asked questions
Which document does the down-payment approval run on?
The approval workflow runs on the down-payment request raised against the purchase order (PO); the scope of the solution is PO-based advance requests. The approver sees the request together with the order it is linked to. An advance that has not cleared approval cannot move to the payment stage.
How are the approvers and approval steps determined?
The approval process is defined during implementation, and the workflow routes the down-payment request to the relevant approver by rules based on criteria such as amount and organizational structure. How many steps there are, and in what order procurement and finance approve, is set according to the company's advance policy. Each approval is recorded with who gave it and when.
How does an approved advance proceed in accounting, and is its link to the PO preserved?
An approved request continues through the down-payment process in FI; the solution does not change how the advance is posted or how it is cleared when the invoice arrives. The advance stays linked to its PO from start to finish. Which advance was paid for which order can therefore be followed on the document.