SAP FI FAQs – Outgoing Payment Processing
1.   Discuss the steps involved with configuring and running the payment program.
A)Â Â Â Payment Program Configuration
– Set up paying and sending company codes
– Payment methods per country
– Payment method per company code
– Bank Selection (rank banks, available amounts, G/L account assignment)
B)Â Â Â Check Lot Configuration
– Per house bank and account
C)Â Â Â Running the Payment Program (application side)
– Maintain parameters (company codes, payment method, next run date, vendors, Additional Log)
– Schedule Proposal
– Display/Edit Proposal
– Create Variant for Print Program
– Schedule Payments (clears vendors’ accounts)
– Schedule Print (cuts checks)
2.   The payment program is controlled at three parameter levels. What are they?
•   Company Code
•   Payment Method
•   Bank
3.   Describe the bank optimization options for efficient payments within the payment program.
Optimization by bank group – Money transfer is made from the house bank to the bank of the customer/vendor as fast as possible. To use this feature, assign all banks (in the master record) to a bank group (which you define).
Optimization by postal code – Selection of the house bank according to the location of the customer/vendor.
4.   What are the dates relevant for the payment program (PP) open item selection?
A)Â Â Â Document date of an open item (falling into the range specified in the PP parameters)
B)Â Â Â Baseline date (important for calculating due date and discounts)
C)Â Â Â Next posting date specified in the PP parameters
5.   Where does the payment program get bank information?
A)Â Â Â Vendor /customer master record
B)Â Â Â Open item
C)   PP configuration ( payment method, house bank)
6.   The PP configuration can be set up so that PP clears special G/L items (down payment requests) and other G/L open items.
True/False
The PP configuration can be set up so that PP clears special G/L items (down payment requests) but it cannot clear other G/L open items (only customer and vendor open items).
7.   Briefly explain the purpose of intermediary banks.
When two banks are not able to communicate directly, an intermediary bank may be used to facilitate the flow of funds. If necessary, up to three intermediary banks may be used to complete this process.
8.   Briefly explain the concept of alternate payment currencies.
An alternate payment currency is a currency that is specified in the header of a payable or receivable. When specified, the open item will be paid in the alternate currency not the document currency. It is typically used when consolidating payments into a single currency or when the document currency is difficult or too expensive to obtain.
