PROCURE TO PAY · SETTLE
How does SAP select, pay, and clear supplier liabilities?
The payment process selects due and permitted supplier items, applies bank and payment-method rules, routes the proposal for review, creates payment media, and clears the liability.
PROCESS ROLE
Payment converts an approved liability into controlled cash movement
Due date, payment terms, discount, payment method, currency, payment block, supplier bank data, house bank, ranking order, available funds, approval, and payment media all contribute to the settlement decision.
OPERATIONAL FLOW
What happens in SAP
Read the sequence as one connected business event, not as isolated transactions.
Select due liabilities
The payment run evaluates company code, supplier, due date, payment method, currency, blocks, discounts, and run parameters.
Resolve proposal exceptions
Missing bank data, invalid methods, blocks, amount limits, duplicate runs, and sanctions or approval exceptions are investigated.
Post and create bank media
The approved run posts payment documents, creates the designed clearing or outgoing-payment entries, and produces bank instructions.
Confirm settlement
Supplier items clear, bank status and statements are monitored, rejected payments are repaired, and clearing accounts reconcile.
DESIGN & CONTROL
What shapes the result
These controls work together; a locally correct setting can still produce the wrong end-to-end outcome.
Due-item eligibility
Payment terms, baseline date, method, block, special G/L status, currency, minimum amounts, and discount rules determine selection.
Bank and media governance
House banks, account IDs, ranking, value dates, payment formats, signatories, file security, and bank communication protect the channel.
Maker-checker and reconciliation
Proposal review, payment approval, segregation of duties, payment-batch status, bank statement processing, and clearing ownership protect cash.
DIAGNOSTIC EVIDENCE
Prove selection, authorization, transmission, and clearing
A payment document alone does not prove that the bank accepted the instruction or that the clearing account reconciled.
Run parameters, selected and excluded items, exception reason, discount decision, payment method, and bank determination.
Review decision, approvers, payment batch, format, file or API status, bank acknowledgement, and rejection detail.
Supplier clearing document, bank clearing entry, value date, statement match, residual item, reversal, and reconciliation status.
PROJECT MOMENT
The approved invoice reaches its due date
The proposal selects the unblocked supplier item, applies the negotiated discount, derives the approved bank channel, passes maker-checker review, and clears the payable when payment is posted.
- Only eligible items are selected
- Bank choice is explainable
- Approval is segregated
- Clearing reconciles
See how demand, sourcing, commitment, receipt alternatives, invoice matching, accounting entries, payment, and clearing connect.