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There have been several postings on the ERP Financials forums in the past related to the functionality and customizing of the Negative Postings or XNEGP setting in OBY6. I decided to write up a brief document explaining the SAP functionality around this topic.

DEFINITION

As per SAP documentation - Negative postings allowed:(OBY6) Indicator that the transaction figures on the original side of the account are reset again rather than being increased on the other side of the account when documents are reversed. If you have set this indicator, then the account balance of the account in question is represented as though the document had never been posted after the document is reversed. Otherwise the transaction figures of the account would be increased by the same amount on the debit and on the credit side due to the document and the reversal document. A precondition for negative postings is, however, that document types which allow line items to be flagged individually as negative postings have been defined. You have to define this in Customizing for document types. You must also permit the negative postings per company code and have defined reasons for reversal. You also make these settings in Financial Accounting Customizing.

PRECONDITIONS

The derivation/entry of XNEGP depends on the fact, if

a) a posting transaction is used
b) a reversal is done.

In case a) the settings of XNEGP in company code and document type play a role. As soon as XNEGP is defined in both categories, it can be entered in the single lines of the document.

In case b) you cannot  influence the document type. It depends on the document which has to be reversed. Therefore in case b) the settings of the reversal reason and the company code, BUT NOT of the document type play a role (often the document type is not even known by the user who reverses the document). If XNEGP of company code and of reversal reason is set, XNEGP is inverted in the reversal document. That means, was XNEGP = 'X' in the reversed document it becomes space in the reversal document. Was XNEGP = space in the reversed document, it becomes 'X' in the reversal document.

Conclusion:

a) for postings the XNEGP of company code and document type are  relevant
b) for reversals the XNEGP of company code and reversal reason are relevant.

DEPENDENCIES

Just to clarify a bit further, three conditions must be set up for negative postings:

- Negative postings permitted in global parameters. (OBY6)

- Reason for reversal must be defined for negative posting.

- Document type must be activated for negative posting. (OBA7)

The Question is that in some cases the first two conditions are met but the 'document type' is not activated for negative postings. Despite this the reversal documents are posted with indicator XNEGP -  Why ?  - There are few dependencies that need to be considered that are not contradictory to what has been explained in this document so far. These dependencies are:

1-   XNEGP in the company code (data element XNEGP_ACT):

"... Requirements:  A precondition for negative postings is, however, that document types which allow line items to be flagged individually as negative postings have been defined. You have to define this in Customizing for document types.  You must also permit the negative postings per company code and have defined reasons for reversal. You also make these settings in Financial Accounting Customizing. ..."

There is  not a conjunction (AND-relation). The requirements can be regarded in parallel. That means, document type is specific for postings. Reversal reasons are crucial for reversals.

2- XNEGP in the reversal reason (data element XNEGP_041C): 

"... Dependencies : Negative postings must also be allowed for the company code of the document to be reversed. If a company code does not generally use any negative postings, the indicator set here is ignored. ..."

As you can see in this case, the document type is not even mentioned. Only the company code is crucial in addition to the reversal reason.

3- XNEGP in the document type (data element XNEGP_BLA):

"... Dependencies - The company code in the document you are reversing must allow negative postings. If you are using a document type for a company code that does not allow negative postings, the system ignores this setting here...."

In connection with the document type the reversal reason is not even brought up. Only the company code is crucial in addition to the document type! .

Conclusion

The derivation of the XNEGP depends on the fact , if you post a document or if you reverse a document. In case of postings, company code and document type settings are relevant. In case of reversals, company code and reversal reason settings are relevant. The main requirement is the setting of the company code. Besides the kind of posting (posting or reversal) plays the significant role.

The reason for this differentiation is the fact that on the one hand in most cases the reversal document type is not even known in FB08. On the other hand it can't be influenced in FB08. Thus the use of the document type settings wouldn't make sense in FB08. Therefore the reversal reason code has to be the decisive criterion.

LOGIC OF NEGATIVE POSTINGS IN NEW G/L

In some cases the debit/credit indicator in the general ledger view (FAGLFLEXA) does not correspond to the value in the entry view (BSEG) and the values do not correspond to the posting  key or plus/minus sign. This is not an error but in most cases can be explained by the system logic when you have activated new General Ledger Accounting and Negative Postings are allowed (as explained above).

In contrast to classic General Ledger Accounting (BSEG-XNEGP), there is no field  for negative postings in a new G/L table group by default. If the indicator XNEGP is set for a line in the entry view, the debit/credit indicator  for this line in the general ledger view is reversed directly when the line  items are updated and is updated in the same way as the balances. The posting  key and the amount posted are not affected by this logic.

Example:

A credit line for which a negative posting has been made and that has posting key 50 is updated as a debit line with posting key 50 and a negative amount in

the line item table of the new general ledger.

In Entry view : Table (BSEG):

Acct       Debit/credit       Posting key               Amount     Neg. posting

10000    H                      50                              - 100          X

20000    S                      40                              +100

This will be translated as follows in New G/L: (FAGLFLEXA)

Acct       Debit/credit        Postingkey                Amount

10000    S                        50                              100

20000    S                        40                            +100

For more details about the effect of XNEGP postings on credit and debit indicators in BSEG and  New G/L please read the following SAP wiki article Effect of Negative Postings on Dr Cr postings between BSEG and FAGLFLEXA