Bank reference numbers

In some countries, it is a common banking practice to use bank reference numbers for domestic transactions.

The bank reference number is a unique number that is used to identify the invoice for which the payment is made. It is only required for invoices and for payments related to invoices. The bank reference number is communicated to the customer on the invoice document and is always referred on the payment document. The bank reference number is also required on payment slips.

The bank reference number length varies between about 20 and 30 digits, depending on the country. The numbers are composed in such a way that a specific check can be performed to verify that the number is correct.

Bank reference numbers on sales invoices

If you use bank reference numbers and the country of the invoice-to business partner is the same as the country of the sales office, LN generates the bank reference number when the invoice is composed in Invoicing. Instead of the invoice number, the bank reference number is printed on the invoice. Bank reference numbers need not be generated for manual sales invoices, because no invoice is printed and sent to the customer.

The bank reference number is based on the composing data that you define for the country. The bank reference number consists of the following components:

• The transaction type (mandatory).
• The document number (mandatory): the serial number of the document.
• The financial company number (optional).
• The invoice-to business partner code (optional).

The bank reference number must be numeric and does not contain leading zeroes. If any of the components contains non-numeric characters, LN leaves the bank reference number field blank. In that case, the sales invoice number is printed on the sales invoice.

An operator that indicates the type of check to be performed on the number is added at the end of the bank reference number. To verify the bank reference number on received purchase invoices, LN applies the check that is indicated by the operator added to the number.

You can select the type of check to be used in the financial company in the Finance Company Parameters (tfgld0503m000) session. Various verification algorithms are available.

You can define the bank reference number components and their position in the bank reference number in the Bank Reference Positions by Country (cisli1130m000) session.

To generate a bank reference number, LN concatenates the selected components in the order that you specified. If the concatenated string is longer than the maximum length of the bank reference number to be generated, the invoice-to business partner code is truncated as necessary.

To set up bank reference numbers

You must set up bank reference numbers in every financial company in the countries for which you need to use bank reference numbers.

To set up bank reference numbers, use the following sequence of sessions:

1. Finance Company Parameters (tfgld0503m000): In the Bank Reference Check field, select the type of bank reference number check that is used by the banks in the financial company's home country or select No Check.
2. Bank Reference Positions by Country (cisli1130m000): Define how the bank reference number is composed on the sales invoices.
3. Business Partners (tccom4500m000): Ensure that the business partner's code contains digits only.