SAP FI FAQs – Vendor Master Records
1.   What are the three segments of a vendor master record? Give an example of data stored at each level.
- General data – account name, address
- Company code level – payment terms
- Purchasing data – Terms and conditions
2.   What is a reconciliation account? Explain its significance with respect to posting data to customer and vendor accounts.
A reconciliation account is a G/L account that is defined within each customer/vendor master record. By posting to a customer/vendor account, the reconciliation account balance is automatically updated.
3. Â Â Â What can be done to prevent duplicate vendor master records from being created?
A check for duplicates can be configured to prevent the creation of more than one master record for the same vendor. This check is configured on address match code fields and occurs when creating new accounts or when changing the address on an existing account.
4. Â Â Â What information is included in the General Data section of the vendor master record?
- Address and Communication
- Account Control
- Bank Details
5. Â Â Â What information is included in the Company Code section of the vendor master record.
- Account Management
- Payment Data
- Automatic Payment Transactions
6.    Your client indicates they would like to use a graded scale of discounts as an incentive to pay invoices early. How can this be accomplished in SAP?
Payment Terms are established to represent the due date for payment of invoices. The terms include a graded scale of discounts used as an incentive to pay the invoice early.
7. Â Â Â How are payment terms identified in SAP?
Payment terms are identified using a four character alphanumeric key.
8. Â Â Â Explain the concept of Baseline Date.
For each payment term, the system can default a Baseline Date. The Baseline date is the date from which the payment terms begin to calculate. This default can be overwritten.
9. Â Â Â When creating a transaction, what happens when the default payment terms data is changed?
Payment terms data can be changed manually when creating a transaction. The system will prompt the user with a warning message acknowledging the change.
10.    The client has expressed a concern with certain employees having the ability to post documents above a dollar amount. Can SAP handle this concern?
Employees are assigned to an Employee Tolerance Group. For each Employee Tolerance Group, a maximum amount for posting procedures (how much an employee can post per document and per line item) can be specified. In addition, the Employee Tolerance Group specifies the payment differences allowed.
11. Â Â Â Who usually maintains purchasing organization data in SAP?
The Purchasing Department.
12. Â Â Â What is included in the purchasing organization data?
- Conditions (order currency, payment terms, minimum order value)
- Sales Data (Salesperson, Telephone)
- Control Data (GR based invoice verification, evaluated receipt settlement, acknowledgment required, automatic PO).
13. Â Â Â What does the account group control?
The account group controls the numbering for the Vendor master record. A number range is assigned to an account group. The account group also determines the field status group and is used to designate one time accounts.
15.    Your client indicates they would like to allow for alpha-numeric number ranges on vendor accounts.  What type of number range would you recommend? Why?
External number range. An external number range can be alpha-numeric. An internal number range, on the other had, can only be numeric and is automatically assigned by the system.
16. Â Â Â What are the three levels for field status groups that determine the screen layout for a vendor master record?
- Account group
- Company code
- Activity type
17. Â Â Â If the field status group for the account group is different from that of the company code and the activity type, how is the screen layout (field status) determined?
Since there are three levels for determining screen layout, link rules exist to determine which level takes precedence as to whether a field will be mandatory, displayed, suppressed, or optional.
