Electronic Bank Statement (EBS)
Import bank statements (MT940, CAMT.053, bank-specific formats) into SAP automatically and finish bank reconciliation with rule-based clearing.
What problem does it solve?
Posting bank movements to SAP by hand takes time and delays the reflection of collections and payments on customer and vendor accounts. For companies working with several banks and currencies, daily bank reconciliation is the finance team's most repetitive task.
How does the solution work?
The solution imports electronic bank statements (MT940, CAMT.053 or bank-specific formats) automatically, applies posting rules by transaction code and clears collection and payment items automatically against customer, vendor or bank clearing accounts. Unmatched movements are collected in an exception list, and the cash position is visible intraday.
What changes in practice?
Bank entries are no longer posted manually and reconciliation differences are managed as exceptions. Cash visibility moves to a daily basis, and together with the DBS and e-Reconciliation solutions the collection chain closes end to end.
Benefits
- Bank transactions are no longer keyed into SAP by hand
- Collections and payments are matched by rules; the unmatched ones are handled as exceptions
- The cash position is followed with current bank data
Where it sits in SAP
Integrated with FI bank accounting and Cash Management; covers importing electronic bank statements (MT940, CAMT.053 and bank formats), posting rules and open-item clearing. Format and channel definitions per bank are made during implementation.
Who it is for: Treasury and Cash Management, Finance, Collections teams
Frequently asked questions
How are statements received from the banks, and does each bank need its own integration?
Statements are received through the channel each bank offers: SWIFT MT940 or CAMT.053 files, bank-specific file formats or the bank's web service. For standard formats a single import layer is sufficient, while bank-specific formats require a conversion definition for that bank. Which channel and format is used for which bank is decided during implementation; adding a new bank requires a conversion definition and transaction code mapping.
What information does automatic clearing use to match customer payments, and what does the user do with unmatched movements?
Matching runs through an ordered rule set using the invoice number, customer number or tax ID read from the statement narrative together with amount and date, and the rules are adapted to the company's collection practice. Tolerance and distribution rules are defined for partial payments, a single payment clearing several invoices and small exchange differences. Unmatched movements are posted to the bank clearing account and appear in the exception list, where the user selects the correct open item to clear it, and recurring cases lead to a new rule proposal.
We work with several banks and currencies; how do we see the cash position intraday?
Each bank account is defined in SAP as its own G/L account and house bank account; statements are processed in the account currency and the local currency equivalent is calculated from the standard exchange rate table. Where intraday statements (MT942 or the bank's intraday service) are available, movements are processed during the day and the cash position is monitored by bank, currency and company code through the standard cash management reports. For banks without an intraday service, the position is updated from the previous day's closing statement and the payments planned in SAP.