In the integrated procure-to-pay process within SAP S/4HANA, both the goods receipt and invoice verification steps trigger financial accounting postings that affect the balance sheet. Upon goods receipt, the system generates an accounting document that debits the inventory account (an asset) and credits the Goods Receipt/Invoice Receipt (GR/IR) clearing account. During invoice verification, another accounting document is created, which debits the GR/IR clearing account and credits the vendor accounts payable account (a liability). Both inventory and accounts payable are balance sheet accounts, making these processes directly relevant.

B. Material requirement planning: This is a logistical planning step. It generates purchase requisitions but does not create any financial accounting documents or impact the general ledger.

D. Purchase order creation: A purchase order is a commitment to procure goods or services. It does not generate a financial accounting document at the time of its creation.

1. SAP S/4HANA Cloud Documentation

SAP Help Portal: In the documentation for the Procure-to-Pay process

the process flow diagrams and descriptions for scope items like "Procurement of Direct Materials (J45)" explicitly show that accounting documents are generated at the "Post Goods Receipt" and "Create Supplier Invoice" steps. The postings described are Dr. Inventory / Cr. GR/IR for goods receipt and Dr. GR/IR / Cr. Payables for invoice receipt

all of which are balance sheet accounts.

2. SAP Learning Hub

Course S4F01 (Financial Accounting in SAP S/4HANA): Unit 7

"Integration

" details the automatic postings between Materials Management (MM) and Financial Accounting (FI). It specifies that the goods receipt for a purchase order and the invoice receipt are the key events that create FI documents impacting balance sheet accounts (Inventory

GR/IR

and Vendor Payables).

3. SAP S/4HANA Cloud

public edition 2402 Documentation: The test script for scope item J45

section 4.4 "Post Goods Receipt for Purchase Order" and section 4.5 "Create Supplier Invoice

" confirms the creation of material and corresponding financial documents that update inventory and payables.