Clearing GL open items in SAP

Why clear open items in SAP?

SAP uses open item management to manage balance sheet and sub ledger accounts. Clearing these accounts regularly and efficiently, has significant benefits for your organisation.

SAP Month End impact:

• Clearing open items allows for the actual reconciling items on the account to be revealed, allowing for a better understanding of the balance on your accounts
• Month end GL reconciliations can be completed faster at month end when accounts are cleared efficiently and regularly

System Performance impact:

• Reduced open item counts result in better system performance within SAP such as:
  • Improved reporting performance
  • Faster forex revaluations
  • Faster screen loads
• Cleared items can be archived in line with your archiving strategy
• SAP upgrades and data migrations are easier with less open items

How do I clear my open item in SAP?

SAP provides both automated and manual clearing options – however, both have the following significant limitations:

Automated clearing can only clear open items:

• Within the same account within the same Company Code
• Using one clearing criteria configured at a chart of account level
• If the references are exactly the same and in the same SAP field

Manual clearing is more flexible in what it can clear, but is:

• Very labour intensive
• Difficult to use with volumes
• Requires configurable selections and displays
• Has limited selection options that are difficult to use
• Has a system lock per account per company code being cleared

All these shortcomings are negated when using the BEST GL Clearing module, which can automatically match and clear open items on any account field, any account type and across numerous company codes. BEST GL Clearing combines the power of automation and programmatic tools with the full flexibility of manual clearing. It’s the best of both worlds in one. In a word – its BEST.