Difference Between Open Item And Open Item Management 

What is the difference between open item and open item management?

Open item: open item is an item which has to be cleared with another line item.

Open item management: how you want to manage all the open item in particular GL A/C.

Open item management is the setting which allows the setting to maintain the open items for the particular GL account.

Use of open item : Processing open items involves choosing and then activating the open items. Processing is the last step before posting a clearing document.  When posting clearing documents, the system takes tolerances into account. Tolerances are acceptable payment differences.

When the line item(s) you enter and the open item(s) you process have been cleared, you can post a clearing document. 

For example, if you enter a vendor payment for $1000, you must choose and process vendor open items that equal $1000. If your system permits a 1% tolerance, then you can clear open items with a value from $990 to $1010.

When you process open items, you can:

- Activate or deactivate open items
- Activate or deactivate cash discount
- Maintain cash discount amounts
- Enter partial payments or residual items

Activate the open items to be cleared.

To process open items, on the screen for selecting open items, choose Goto --> Open items.

You can process open items using the following:

- Menus or function keys 
- Commands 
- Mouse 

To clear open items with commands or with the mouse, you select and process an item in one step. 

Use of open item management

Defining "Open Item Management" 

If you set the "Open item management" indicator in the master record for an account, the line items in this account is marked as open or cleared.

The balance of an account with open item management is equal to the balance of the open items. General ledger accounts are kept with open item management if you need to check whether there is an offsetting posting for a given business transaction.

You should use open item management for bank clearing accounts, clearing accounts for goods receipt/invoice receipt, and salary clearing accounts.  Bank accounts, however, do not use open item management.

If you subsequently define open item management for a G/L account, this entry only applies to the items which are posted afterwards. At the date of the change, the account must display a zero balance.

Also, when canceling this indicator, the balance must be zero. You therefore have to clear the remaining open items before making the change in the master record.

Open item 

Take an example of misc. purchases.

When you purchase from vendor you pass the following entry.

Dr. Material / Expenses A/c.
Cr. Vendor account (if it is credit purchase)

Now the vendor account is showing credit balance till you make payment to the vendor. This in SAP they call is open item.

While making payment

Dr. Vendor account
Cr. Cash / Bank account

If once you make the payment to vendor, while making the payment to the vendor, you need to link the payment with lying open item of above purchase. System automatically changes the status of above open item (red colour ball) to cleared item (green colour ball) in the vendor account.

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