Enabling Automatic Processing of Bank Statements

Outcome

Bank statements, entered manually or received as bank files, will be processed correctly according to your definitions. This includes, for example, how the statements are validated and how invoices are allocated to the statement lines.

You can process bank statements. See Automatic Processing of Bank Statements.

Before you start

• The financial system in M3 must be configured.
• Business messages processing the received bank files must be defined.

Follow These Steps

1. Define Bank Account Information

   Define information for the bank accounts that the bank statements refer to.

   This includes defining:

   • Basic data about your company's bank account(s) in 'Bank Account. Open' (CRS692).
   • Data specific to the processing of bank statements for your company's bank account(s), such as the FAM function details which record to use and how vouchers will be created. This is done in 'Bank Account Identifier. Open' (ABS900).

2. Define Payment Variances

   If necessary, you can define which variances will automatically be accepted when there is a difference between the net amount on the invoice(s) allocated to a statement line and the net amount on the line itself.

   You do this by specifying a maximum variance in an amount and/or percentage. You also specify when the variance will apply; it may be when the variance refers to cash discount or overpayment and when it refers to an accounts receivable or accounts payable transaction. You can also define different variances for different cash discount terms. The variances are defined in 'Payment Variance Control. Open' (ABS920).

   Note that the cash discount terms defined in 'Cash Discount Term. Open' (CRS077) and the tolerance days defined there, also affect the expected payments for invoices with cash discounts.

3. Define how to Retrieve Information from the Additional Information File—by Structuring the File

   When bank statements are received, an additional information file might be connected to a statement line. When later performing the automatic allocation, information can automatically be retrieved from the additional information, usually in order to allocate invoices to the statement line. The information can be an invoice number or an additional information category number such as a grouped invoice number.

   For this to work, you need to define how the additional information should be structured and how the number search should be performed. You do this in 'Additional Information. Structure' (ABS930).

4. Define How to Retrieve Information from the Additional Information File—Using Text Identifiers

   You can also use additional information to automatically:

   • Retrieve the payer/payee, that is, the customer/supplier. This is useful if you want to create an on-account payment, since there is no invoice that can be allocated to the statement line, for example.
   • Identify what accounting string should be created for a voucher. This is useful if you, for example, need to know the registration number in order to post a voucher that refers to the leasing of a car.

   For this to work, you need to define a text string and what to do if the string is found in the additional information file. You do this in 'Text Identifier. Open' (ABS940).

5. Defining How to Process Automatic Allocation of Invoices

   Define scenarios that control how to process the automatic allocation of invoices to statement lines. A scenario can control how to:

   • Search for an invoice to allocate to a statement line
   • Create an on-account payment that refers to a statement line
   • Create a voucher for a statement line.

   You define scenario(s) for every type of bank transaction that a statement line refers to. If needed, you can also prioritize the scenarios defined for a transaction. For example, a scenario that searches for an invoice can apply first, and if it does not succeed, a scenario that creates an on-account payment is applied. Using this function, you maximize the part of the allocation that can be done automatically and minimize your own work effort.

   You define scenarios in 'Scenario Number. Open' (ABS911) and prioritize them in 'Scenario Number. Prioritize' (ABS911).

6. Verify the Settings

   Once the basic settings and the scenarios are defined, it is essential that you test your settings thoroughly. You do this either by receiving test bank files or by entering bank statements manually, and then following the automatic process flow, as described in Automatic Processing of Bank Statements.

   When doing this, keep the following questions in mind:

   • Does the bank statement pass the validation test? If not, why? Errors during validation are displayed in 'Bank Statement. Display Error' (ABS103). For each error, study the explanation and make the necessary adjustments.
   • What is the performance of the automatic allocation functionality? Are there certain types of bank statement lines that do not get invoices allocated to them? If so, check the scenario(s) defined for these types of lines in (ABS911).
   • Are the definitions that control how the additional information files are structured in order to retrieve information correct? Study 'Additional Information. Scanning Log' (ABS104) to check whether information from the file are retrieved correctly.