SAP FI FAQs – Bank Master Record

1.    What is a house bank?  What information does it contain?

A house bank refers to the bank a company uses for receivables and/or payments.  It is any bank with which your company code does business.  Each house bank contains a company’s bank accounts.  It also contains a bank key that defines address and control data for the bank.  The house bank establishes a link between the various G/L cash accounts and the actual bank accounts.

2.    How does data enter the bank directory?

Automatically, if master data exists for the Bank Directory on tape or disk. ).  Data can also be manually entered when creating a customer or vendor master record, a one-time account, or by directly creating an account.

3.    What is the relationship between a bank account and a G/L account master record?

A G/L account master record must be created for each bank account.   The house bank and account ID must be entered in the GL account master record to ensure the accounting transactions involving the bank account will be reflected in the general ledger.

4.    Where are bank master records created in SAP?

Unlike customer, and vendor master records, the bank master records may be maintained on the configuration side in SAP.  They are also created on the application side in the Banking and Treasury sections.

5.     What does the Bank Directory contain?

The Bank Directory contains complete details about each house bank.

6.     Describe the purpose of the Bank Key.

The Bank Key is a unique country-specific code.  The system uses a combination of the Country Code/Bank Key to identify the house bank.

7.     Describe the Account ID.

Each of the bank accounts created within a house bank must be assigned a unique freely definable five-character Account ID.  The Account ID is used for the payment program specifications and in the account master records to make a reference to the bank account.