PROCURE TO PAY · RECEIVE
How does SAP record that ordered value was received?
Goods receipt records material quantity and stock or consumption. Service entry and acceptance record performed service and approved value. Both provide evidence for invoice verification.
PROCESS ROLE
Receipt converts supplier performance into operational evidence
A PO reference carries expected material, quantity, location, account assignment, and tolerance. The posting updates purchasing history and, when valuated, inventory or expense, GR/IR, and the universal journal.
OPERATIONAL FLOW
What happens in SAP
Read the sequence as one connected business event, not as isolated transactions.
Select the open commitment
The receiver identifies the PO item, delivery, supplier, plant, storage location, or service line being fulfilled.
Confirm quantity and status
Delivered quantity, unit, batch, serial, quality status, damage, and acceptance evidence are checked before posting.
Record received value
A material document or accepted service entry updates purchasing history and creates the designed valuation and accounting impact.
Manage what remains
Partial receipt, returns, reversals, blocked or quality stock, delivery completion, and open quantity remain explicit.
DESIGN & CONTROL
What shapes the result
These controls work together; a locally correct setting can still produce the wrong end-to-end outcome.
Movement and stock integrity
Movement type, stock type, storage location, batch, serial, shelf-life, quality, and physical-receipt roles protect quantity and custody.
Tolerance and completion
Overdelivery, underdelivery, unlimited delivery, delivery completion, final entry, and reversal rules prevent silent commitment distortion.
Valuation and account determination
Valuation class, standard or moving-average price, account assignment, transaction key, account modifier, and posting period determine inventory, expense, and GR/IR impact. A non-valuated receipt updates quantity first and defers value until invoice.
DIAGNOSTIC EVIDENCE
Reconcile physical, purchasing, and accounting evidence
A completed warehouse task alone is not proof of a posted receipt. The material or service document and its follow-on records provide the audit trail.
PO item, movement, quantity, unit, plant, storage location, batch or serial, stock type, posting date, and receiver.
Open quantity, partial receipts, returns, reversals, delivery-completion status, service acceptance, and reference chain.
Material or service document, FI reference where valuated, inventory or expense debit, GR/IR credit, amount, currency, valuation basis, price difference, and Material Ledger trace.
PROJECT MOMENT
Nine motors arrive and one remains open
The warehouse posts nine units to unrestricted stock against the PO. Inventory and GR/IR update for nine, purchasing history shows the partial receipt, and the final unit remains visible for follow-up.
- Physical quantity agrees
- Open quantity remains visible
- Accounting balances
- Reversal path is understood
See how demand, sourcing, commitment, receipt alternatives, invoice matching, accounting entries, payment, and clearing connect.