The basic operation of a lockbox system is fundamental to large businesses
but is almost transparent to those without some knowledge of corporate treasury
operations. The objective of a lockbox operation is to have the customer remit
a payment check to a local post office box to minimize mail transit time. The
checks are processed by the bank on a daily basis and the funds collected are
usable by the receiving business much quicker than with the traditional process.
The illustration below shows the basic operation of the lockbox and how SAP
fits in.
The bank sends XYZ, Inc. a detail data file of the checks posted to its
account along with a daily total. The data is transmitted using BAI or BAI2
format. The SAP lockbox program translates the file and posts to a GL cash
account, creates payment advices that are matched against accounts receivable
open items and clears those items.
There are 3 general steps in the proessing:
Receive a file of check data from the bank. Some banks allow dial in and
download.
Execute the Lockbox Import Program
Post the G/L transaction reflecting the receipt of cash
Creates a payment advice. Open items are automatically cleared/
Access the lockbox post-process transaction to process any checks that
could not be fully applied by the Lockbox Import Program
The basic operation of a lockbox system is fundamental to large businesses but is almost transparent to those without some knowledge of corporate treasury operations. The objective of a lockbox operation is to have the customer remit a payment check to a local post office box to minimize mail transit time. The checks are processed by the bank on a daily basis and the funds collected are usable by the receiving business much quicker than with the traditional process. The illustration below shows the basic operation of the lockbox and how SAP fits in.
