SAP B1 blog

Purpose of Balance Confirmation

There may be discrepancies with the respective Business partner need to be clarified. It may also be necessary to post individual value adjustments. With the confirmation of balances, the issuing debtor or creditor recognizes the balance at a certain point in time, so that subsequent complaints in this regard are meaningless.

The different shapes

– Balance Confirmation

In the balance confirmation, the business partner is informed in detail of the amounts to be confirmed. You ask for the corresponding reconfirmation, regardless of whether there should be differences or not.

– balance notification

When the balance is reported, the business partner is also informed in detail about the amounts that he has to confirm. However, feedback is only required if it does not match the reported balance.

– Balance request

With the balance request, you ask your business partner to transmit the balance of the account according to their accounting.

Legal background

With reference to what is known as commercial practice, confirmations of balances are a promise of debt or an acknowledgment of debt. That sees that too BGB in § 782 so. Even without a response, a balance so communicated will be recognized by civil courts.

requirements of the auditors

Under the special circumstances, the tax consultant or auditor specifies to the debtors and creditors whether confirmation of balances must be requested. In practice, this is done according to special selection criteria (random samples, maximum values, anomalies) using the jointly agreed balance lists.

Are balance confirmations a must?

In principle, there is no obligation to obtain third-party confirmations. You have to answer the question of whether to obtain the balance confirmations based on professional judgment. Above all, it should be ensured that a possible check can be carried out without any risks even without a confirmation of the balance.

discrepancies in the balances

Reasons for a discrepancy in the balances and any associated incorrect information can have their origin on both sides of the business relationship. For example, postings may have been made for different periods. The claim was settled before the balance confirmation was created. One return was not or incorrectly posted. As always, there are many potential sources of error.

Balance confirmation on the key date in SAP Business One

In SAP Business One, a few steps are necessary to create balance confirmations according to specific requirements. With the Versino Financial Suite this is taken over and automated by an assistant. Criteria such as the key date and customer, but also customer groups and/or responsible sales employees can be specified and then generated via corresponding letters.