Lesson 4 of 5
Coordinating with the finance close
9 min
GR/IR is where procurement and finance meet at month end, and it only works when both sides follow the same calendar. Receipts that are posted late, invoices stuck in blocks and PO prices that nobody updated all land on Dan's desk as unexplained balances. This lesson turns GR/IR into a planned set of close tasks with owners, cutoffs and evidence.
Two period controls
Logistics and finance have separate period controls, and both affect GR/IR. The materials management period is moved forward with MMPV; by configuration, postings to the previous MM period may be allowed for a while after month end. The financial posting periods are opened and closed per period variant (in OB52 or the corresponding Fiori app for managing posting periods). A goods receipt for September after 1 October needs both the MM previous period and the FI period for September open. When finance closes September, late receipts must post in October, and the GR/IR item straddles the period end.
- Day -3Receipt and invoice pushReceiving posts all physical receipts; AP enters all invoices received; purchasing reviews blocked invoices
- Day 0CutoffGoods physically received by end of day are posted with that posting date; anything later belongs to next period
- Day +1MM period and blocked invoicesMM period moved with MMPV; blocked invoices released or explained; previous-period postings limited to approved users
- Day +1GR/IR analysisGL accountant reviews the monitor and worklist; new items get status, processor and root cause
- Day +2Clearing and write-offAutomatic clearing run; approved account maintenance posted; regrouping and valuation as configured
- Day +3Review and signDan reviews aging, top items and write-offs; FI period closed
Owners for each task
| Task | Owner | Contoso evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Post all receipts with the correct posting date | Receiving / warehouse (plants 1710 and 1720) | No goods on the dock without a receipt at cutoff; list of late receipts |
| Enter all received invoices; resolve or explain blocked invoices | Accounts payable; purchasing for price and quantity blocks | Release Blocked Invoices list empty or explained |
| Chase missing invoices and correct PO prices | Purchasing group 001 | Items with status Request Correction of Invoice followed up |
| Analyze and assign GR/IR items | GL accountant | Worklist with status, processor and root cause for every item above threshold |
| Approve write-offs | Dan (finance process owner) | Signed list of MR11 items with reasons |
| Run clearing, regrouping and valuation | GL accountant | Job logs and resulting documents |
Who owns what in GR/IR period-end.
Blocked invoices deserve special attention. An invoice posted outside tolerance is blocked for payment, but it is posted, so it already debits GR/IR. If purchasing never resolves the block, the GR/IR item looks matched while the supplier stays unpaid. Releasing blocked invoices (MRBR, available as the Release Blocked Invoices app) is therefore part of the close, not only an AP task.
Measures that show whether the process is healthy
- Aging: value and count of open PO items by age band (0–30, 31–60, 61–90, over 90 days).
- Top items: the ten largest open items with owner and next step.
- Write-offs: value of account maintenance per month, by root cause and supplier.
- Repeat causes: how often the same supplier or purchasing group creates differences; GR/IR Process Insights helps here.
- Processing time: days from an item appearing to being resolved.
What would you do?
On Day +1 Dan finds a $38,000 debit on a Lakeside PO for rotors: invoiced in September, no goods receipt. Receiving says the truck arrived on 28 September but the clerk was on leave and nobody posted the receipt. What is the best action?
Public Edition note: in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, the same reconciliation apps and scheduled clearing jobs are used, while period and clearing configuration is done through the configuration options SAP exposes there. The coordination principles in this lesson are the same.
- Both MM periods (MMPV) and FI posting periods affect where late receipts and invoices land.
- Put GR/IR tasks in the close calendar with owners from receiving, AP, purchasing and finance.
- Blocked invoices are posted and affect GR/IR; releasing or explaining them is a close task.
- Measure aging, top items, write-offs and repeat causes to improve the process, not only the balance.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. Which transaction moves the materials management period forward?
2. Why is releasing blocked invoices part of the GR/IR close?
3. Who should approve GR/IR write-offs above the threshold?
4. Which measure best shows whether the GR/IR process is improving?