U.S. patent application number 13/966508 was filed with the patent office on 2013-12-12 for systems and methods for cash based accounting in a general ledger.
This patent application is currently assigned to SAP AG. The applicant listed for this patent is Michel LOEHDEN, Ruediger Raubeck, Vladimir Sept. Invention is credited to Michel LOEHDEN, Ruediger Raubeck, Vladimir Sept.
Application Number | 20130332325 13/966508 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 41118572 |
Filed Date | 2013-12-12 |
United States Patent
Application |
20130332325 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
LOEHDEN; Michel ; et
al. |
December 12, 2013 |
SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CASH BASED ACCOUNTING IN A GENERAL
LEDGER
Abstract
Systems and methods are disclosed for facilitating cash based
accounting. In one exemplary embodiment, there is provided a method
that includes, for example, providing a cash ledger. The cash
ledger may contain at least one line item and a clearing account.
The method may include posting a payment, which contains at least
one line item, to a bank account and clearing a business partner
account by posting the payment against the business partner
account. The method may also include determining a revenue account
from the cleared business partner account and clearing the at least
one line item in the payment.
Inventors: |
LOEHDEN; Michel; (Rimbach,
DE) ; Raubeck; Ruediger; (Ettlingen, DE) ;
Sept; Vladimir; (Sinsheim-Weiler, DE) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
LOEHDEN; Michel
Raubeck; Ruediger
Sept; Vladimir |
Rimbach
Ettlingen
Sinsheim-Weiler |
|
DE
DE
DE |
|
|
Assignee: |
SAP AG
Walldorf
DE
|
Family ID: |
41118572 |
Appl. No.: |
13/966508 |
Filed: |
August 14, 2013 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
12078338 |
Mar 28, 2008 |
8543476 |
|
|
13966508 |
|
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
705/30 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 40/02 20130101;
G06Q 40/128 20131203; G06Q 40/10 20130101; G06Q 40/12 20131203 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/30 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 40/00 20060101
G06Q040/00 |
Claims
1.-18. (canceled)
19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing
computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by a
processor, cause the processor to perform a method for cash-based
accounting for an entity, the method comprising: recording an
incoming payment on a bank statement as a debit of a specific
amount for an unknown account; associating a dummy identifier with
the incoming payment; generating a business partner invoice for the
specific amount, the business partner invoice having an account
identifier; receiving, from a business partner, a cash payment of
the specific amount corresponding to the business partner invoice;
balancing a bank clearing sheet based on the debit of the specific
amount corresponding to the dummy identifier and a credit of the
specific amount corresponding to the account identifier; and
inserting, in a clearing account, the debit of the specific amount
corresponding to the dummy identifier as a credit and the credit of
the specific amount corresponding to the account identifier as a
debit.
20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19,
wherein the method further comprises: inserting the credit of the
specific amount on the bank clearing sheet corresponding to the
debit of the specific amount on the bank statement.
21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19,
wherein the method further comprises: inserting the debit of the
specific amount in a receivable account indicating the cash payment
owned by the business partner; and inserting the credit of the
specific amount in a revenue account indicating the cash payment
expected from the business partner.
22. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19,
wherein the method further comprises: associating the cash payment
with the account identifier; and inserting, according to the cash
payment, the credit of the specific amount in the receivable
account and the debit of the specific amount in the bank clearing
sheet.
23. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19,
wherein the method further comprises clearing the cash payment
based on the clearing account.
24. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19,
wherein the method further comprises replacing the clearing account
with a bank account by a retrospective projection mechanism.
25. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 24,
wherein the bank account associating the cash payment with the
account identifier.
26. A method for cash-based accounting for an entity, comprising:
recording an incoming payment on a bank statement as a debit of a
specific amount for an unknown account; associating a dummy
identifier with the incoming payment; generating a business partner
invoice for the specific amount, the business partner invoice
having an account identifier; receiving, from a business partner, a
cash payment of the specific amount corresponding to the business
partner invoice; balancing a bank clearing sheet based on the debit
of the specific amount corresponding to the dummy identifier and a
credit of the specific amount corresponding to the account
identifier; and inserting, in a clearing account, the debit of the
specific amount corresponding to the dummy identifier as a credit
and the credit of the specific amount corresponding to the account
identifier as a debit.
27. The method of claim 26, further comprising inserting the credit
of the specific amount on the bank clearing sheet corresponding to
the debit of the specific amount on the bank statement.
28. The method of claim 26, further comprising: inserting the debit
of the specific amount in a receivable account indicating the cash
payment owned by the business partner; and inserting the credit of
the specific amount in a revenue account indicating the cash
payment expected from the business partner.
29. The method of claim 26, further comprising: associating the
cash payment with the account identifier; and inserting, according
to the cash payment, the credit of the specific amount in the
receivable account and the debit of the specific amount in the bank
clearing sheet.
30. The method of claim 26, further comprising clearing the cash
payment based on the clearing account.
31. The method of claim 26, further comprising replacing the
clearing account with a bank account by a retrospective projection
mechanism.
32. The method of claim 31, wherein the bank account associating
the cash payment with the account identifier.
33. A system for cash-based accounting for an entity, comprising: a
memory configured to store instructions and accounting data; and a
processor configured to execute the instructions for processing the
accounting data, the instructions causing the processor to: record
an incoming payment on a bank statement as a debit of a specific
amount for an unknown account; associate a dummy identifier with
the incoming payment; generate a business partner invoice for the
specific amount, the business partner invoice having an account
identifier; receive, from a business partner, a cash payment of the
specific amount corresponding to the business partner invoice;
balance a bank clearing sheet based on the debit of the specific
amount corresponding to the dummy identifier and a credit of the
specific amount corresponding to the account identifier; and insert
in a clearing account, the debit of the specific amount
corresponding to the dummy identifier as a credit and the credit of
the specific amount corresponding to the account identifier as a
debit.
34. The system of claim 33, wherein the instructions further cause
the processor to: insert the debit of the specific amount in a
receivable account indicating the cash payment owned by the
business partner; and insert the credit of the specific amount in a
revenue account indicating the cash payment expected from the
business partner.
35. The system of claim 33, wherein the instructions further cause
the processor to: associate the cash payment with the account
identifier; and insert, according to the cash payment, the credit
of the specific amount in the receivable account and the debit of
the specific amount in the bank clearing sheet.
36. The system of claim 33, wherein the instructions further cause
the processor to clear the cash payment based on the clearing
account.
37. The system of claim 33, wherein the instructions further cause
the processor to replace the clearing account with a bank account
by a retrospective projection mechanism.
38. The system of claim 37, wherein the bank account associating
the cash payment with the account identifier.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present invention generally relates to the field of data
processing and to financial systems and methods for balancing
payments. More particularly, and without limitation, the invention
relates to computer systems and methods for providing a cash ledger
for a retrospective projection of payments along a process
chain.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
[0002] Cash accounting is required by most public and private
sector organizations. Furthermore, most organizations have to
report a full set of financial statements.
[0003] Today, many corporate groups and other organizations must
comply with a plurality of statutory accounting principles when
preparing and publishing their annual financial statements. For
example, a German group listed on a U.S. stock exchange must submit
a financial statement under US-GAAP and/or IAS as well as under
HGB. It is possible that further financial statements are
necessary, for example, for subsidiaries in Asian countries,
according to local rules.
[0004] In addition to these financial statements prescribed by law,
the preparation of financial statements for various organizational
units of an enterprise that are as informative as possible are
required for internal uses. For example, such financial statements
provide management with as comprehensive a picture as possible on
the development of individual projects or company segments or
product groups. The organizational units of an enterprise may be
cost centers, profit centers, or segments or lines of business. In
the media industry, such an organizational unit may, for example,
involve a single title or, in the insurance industry, a single type
or line of insurance business.
[0005] All company reports of a corporate entity are based on
business transactions, each of which is to be recorded by a
document. For example, a business transaction may be recorded by an
incoming supplier invoice or the withdrawal of goods from the
stores for production purposes. Large corporate entities incur
thousands or hundreds of thousands of transactions each day. For
that reason, accounting for a large corporate entity can be
accomplished only with the use of data processing systems if
related efforts are to be justifiable.
[0006] In view of the foregoing, corporate entities and other
organizations require improved data processing systems and methods
that provide a summarized reporting of their cash flow, so that
they can view money paid and money received. Such systems and
methods must be capable of providing relevant balance and other
accounting information, even for entities that incur a large number
of daily transactions. Therefore, there is thus a need to provide
an improved accounting tool to facilitate a retrospective
projection of information along a process chain.
SUMMARY
[0007] Embodiments of the present invention encompass methods,
apparatus, and computer program products for cash based accounting.
Embodiments of the invention may facilitate, for example, a
retrospective projection of information along a process chain.
[0008] In one exemplary embodiment, there is provided a
computer-readable medium containing instructions to configure a
processor to perform a method for facilitating cash based
accounting. The method may include, for example, providing a cash
ledger. The cash ledger may contain at least one line item and a
clearing account. The method may include posting a payment, which
contains at least one line item, to a bank account and clearing a
business partner account by posting the payment against the
business partner account. The method may also include determining a
revenue account from the cleared business partner account and
clearing the at least one line item in the payment.
[0009] In another exemplary embodiment, there is provided a
computerized system for facilitating cash based accounting. The
system comprises, for example, a processor and a memory, wherein
the processor and the memory are configured to perform a method.
The method may include, for example, providing a cash ledger. The
cash ledger may contain at least one line item and a clearing
account. The method may include posting a payment, which contains
at least one line item, to a bank account and clearing a business
partner account by posting the payment against the business partner
account. The method may also include determining a revenue account
from the cleared business partner account and clearing the at least
one line item in the payment.
[0010] In another exemplary embodiment, there is provided a method
for facilitating cash based accounting. The method may include, for
example, providing a cash ledger. The cash ledger may contain at
least one line item and a clearing account. The method may include
posting a payment, which contains at least one line item, to a bank
account and clearing a business partner account by posting the
payment against the business partner account. The method may also
include determining a revenue account from the cleared business
partner account and clearing the at least one line item in the
payment.
[0011] It is to be understood that both the foregoing general
description and the following detailed description are exemplary
and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention, as
described. Further features and/or variations may be provided in
addition to those set forth herein. For example, the present
invention may be directed to various combinations and
subcombinations of the disclosed features and/or combinations and
subcombinations of several further features disclosed below in the
detailed description.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0012] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and
constitute a part of this specification, show certain aspects of
implementations consistent with the present invention and, together
with the description, help explain some of the principles
associated with the invention. In the drawings,
[0013] FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary system
environment, consistent with certain aspects related to the present
invention;
[0014] FIG. 2 depicts another block diagram of an exemplary
Enterprise Resource Planning ("ERP") system, consistent with
certain aspects related to the present invention;
[0015] FIG. 3 depicts an exemplary screenshot of a payment on
account, consistent with certain aspects related to the present
invention; and
[0016] FIG. 4 depicts an exemplary flow diagram that illustrates
clearing a payment, consistent with certain aspects related to the
present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0017] The following detailed description refers to the
accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference
numbers are used in the drawings and the following description to
refer to the same or similar parts. While several exemplary
embodiments and features of the invention are described herein,
modifications, adaptations and other implementations are possible,
without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For
example, substitutions, additions or modifications may be made to
the components illustrated in the drawings, and the exemplary
methods described herein may be modified by substituting,
reordering or adding steps to the disclosed methods. Accordingly,
the following detailed description does not limit the invention.
Instead, the proper scope of the invention is defined by the
appended claims.
[0018] FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary system
environment 100, consistent with certain aspects related to the
present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, system 100 includes a
client system 110 connected to a server system 140 by a network
130. The client system includes a user interface 120, and the
server system 140 includes an ERP system 150. Although the
description of system 100 is made in the context of a client-server
environment, other system environments and arrangements can be used
instead. Further, although reference is made to ERP systems 150 in
describing embodiments of the invention, other types of business or
financial system applications may be employed alone or in any
suitable combination.
[0019] The client system 110 may include one or more processors,
such as a computer, to interface with server system 140. Server 140
may include one or more processors, such as computers. User
interface 120 may provide an interface to allow a user to interact
with other applications, such as allowing the user to instantiate
applications on server system 140. User interface 120 may be
implemented as a graphical user interface for receiving information
from ERP system 150. By way of an example, a Web browser may be
used as user interface 120. As used herein, the term "instantiate"
means, in an object oriented programming environment, an object of
a particular class, and, more generally, includes deploying,
customizing, running and/or executing an application.
[0020] A computer suitable for use as a client or a server
includes, among other things, a processor for executing
instructions and one or more memory devices for storing computer
program instructions and data. The computer may also receive data
from and/or transfer data to one or more mass storage devices for
storing data, e.g., magnetic, magneto optical disks, or optical
disks. Furthermore, the computer may be capable of interfacing to a
network, such as network 130.
[0021] Network 130 may include, alone or in any suitable
combination, a telephony-based network, a local area network (LAN),
a wide area network (WAN), a dedicated intranet, a wireless LAN,
the Internet, a wireless network, a bus, and/or any other any
communication mechanisms. Further, any suitable combination of
wired and/or wireless components and systems may be used to provide
a communication mechanism. Moreover, network 130 may be embodied
using bi-directional or unidirectional communication links.
Further, network 130 may utilize one or more protocols such as
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), Hyper
Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP), SOAP (Simple Object Access
Protocol), and Remote Procedure Call (RPC).
[0022] FIG. 2 illustrates a detailed exemplary embodiment of ERP
system 150. As shown in FIG. 2, ERP system 150 may include a
computing infrastructure 210, an accounting interface 220, and one
or more modules 230.
[0023] Computing infrastructure 210 may include one or more servers
and storage devices. The servers and storage devices may be
collocated with each other or may be distributed across multiple
locations.
[0024] Accounting interface 220 may reside on computing
infrastructure 210 and provide the foundation for collecting
accounting information. Such information may include accounts
payable and accounts receivable. Accounting interface 220 may
enable an organization to utilize the large amount of data amassed
and needed to conduct operations by providing a centralized source
for collecting, interpreting, consolidating, and redistributing
data that arrives from a variety of systems. Accounting interface
220 may ensure that all accounts are balanced according to
preconfigured rules. There are several ways that accounts may be
balanced. They may be balanced by segment (such as a branch of an
organization, including, for example, licensing, consulting, and
training), profit center (such as a regional office or group within
the office), business area, and fund, for example.
[0025] Module 230 may comprise one or more software packages that
are dedicated to specific operation tasks. For example, module 230
may include general ledger 231, cash ledger 232, and reporting
233.
[0026] General ledger 231 may provide the basis for external
reporting of information. General ledger 231 may keep track of the
income, balance sheets, and transactions that affect an income
statement. General ledger 231 may provide balance sheets, income
statements, and cash flow so that users can view how money is
received and spent.
[0027] General ledger 231 and cash ledger 232 may receive all of
the information from accounting interface 220. Cash ledger 232 may
be a complete, balanced set of accounts required by and maintained
for cash basis accounting. Normally, all cash relevant business
processes are recorded, or posted, in cash ledger 232. The postings
may contain the cash account and the revenue/expense account. In
addition, cash transfers from one revenue/expense account to
another revenue/expense account (e.g., a new invoice reference for
the partial payment or clearing of a payment on an account with an
invoice) may be updated in cash ledger 232. Cash ledger 232 may
realize both revenue and expense at the time cash is paid or
received. Most of the postings to cash ledger 232 may be cash
against revenue/expense postings.
[0028] Cash ledger 232 may be also be viewed as part of general
ledger 231. Cash ledger 232 may be a non-leading ledger in the
general ledger environment. To enable the reporting of cash
information using account assignments, a new dimension within cash
ledger 232 may be defined. This dimension is referred to herein as
a revenue/expense account (RE_ACCOUNT). The RE_ACCOUNT may be
populated with the values of the revenue accounts and expense
accounts.
[0029] In addition to the RE_ACCOUNT, an additional dimension may
be defined to memorize bank account information along a process
chain. This dimension is referred to herein as a cash account
(CASH_ACCOUNT). CASH_ACCOUNT may be populated with bank account
information that may be contained in an original payment
document.
[0030] Reporting 233 may obtain the balanced accounts from general
ledger 231 and cash ledger 232 and report those results to the
user. A user may obtain and view the results at user interface
120.
[0031] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary screenshot 300 of a payment
on an account contained within a cash ledger document. The tables
310, 320, 330, 340 shown in FIG. 3 may be displayed separately or
in any combination on user interface 120. Certain information
within each of the tables may only be available depending on the
status of the progress of the process chain. The name of the
account within general ledger 231 may be shown in the "GL account"
column. Further, in certain embodiments, the "Substitution for cash
ledger" column is not displayed. In the embodiment of FIG. 3, the
"Substitution for cash ledger" column is inserted to illustrate the
logical replacement of the content of the "GL account" column by
that of other columns, such as the "CASH_ACCOUNT" column which is
explained below.
[0032] The value of the payment depicted in the bank statement may
be shown in the "Amount" column. The "CASH_ACCOUNT" column may
represent a physical column to store "GL account" information which
is to be inherited along clearing chains. In certain embodiments,
the "CASH_ACCOUNT" column may remain hidden to the user and not be
offered on the user interface.
[0033] The variable corresponding to the RE_ACCOUNT may be shown in
the "RE_ACCOUNT" column. In addition, a variable or identifier
corresponding to the segment, profit center, business area, and/or
fund associated with the payment may be depicted in the
"Segment/Profit Center/Business Area/Fund" column.
[0034] In box 310, information concerning a bank statement is
provided which is related to a payment on account. In this example,
the payment is EUR 10. This is an exemplary embodiment, and many
different payment values may be received and cleared as shown in
FIG. 3. In this example, no invoice reference is available,
therefore the payment cannot be directly assigned to the
corresponding account (e.g., segment, profit center, business area,
or fund). Because the corresponding account is not known at this
time, a variable "Dummy" is placed within the "Segment/Profit
Center/Business Area/Fund" column.
[0035] Even though the corresponding "Segment/Profit
Center/Business Area/Fund" account is unknown, the payment may be
updated within cash ledger 232. Therefore, variable "Bank," which
may indicate the specific bank account that received the payment,
is placed within the column CASH_ACCOUNT. In addition, variable
"Advance" is placed within the column RE_ACCOUNT. Variable
"Advance," which may represent a default value for the RE_ACCOUNT,
is not specified at this time.
[0036] In the example of FIG. 3, the payment amount of EUR 10 in
box 310 may be viewed as a debit, therefore a debit of EUR 10 is
associated with the GL account "Bank" and cash ledger account
"Bank," This results in a balance amounting to EUR 10 on the credit
side of the GL account "Bank clearing" and cash ledger account
"Advance." Because a payment of EUR 10 is posted to the bank
account "Bank," the cash ledger is updated.
[0037] Box 320 depicts an invoice that may be generated and sent to
a business partner. This invoice may correspond to payment that a
business partner owes to a particular account (e.g., segment,
profit center, business area, or fund) based on goods or services
that the business partner received. In box 320, no payment is
received, therefore cash ledger 232 is not updated at this
time.
[0038] In box 320, the invoice may be associated with a particular
business partner as shown with the GL account "Business Partner."
In this example, the invoice is for EUR 10 and may be viewed as a
debit from "Business Partner" and a corresponding credit to the
associated GL account "Revenue/Expense." The invoice may contain
the RE_ACCOUNT, therefore the RE_ACCOUNT column is updated to
reflect this information. In this example, the RE_ACCOUNT is
"Revenue/Expense." In addition, the appropriate account (e.g.,
segment, profit center, business area, or fund) that is sending the
invoice for payment is known. Therefore, the "Segment/Profit
Center/Business Area/Fund" column may reflect the appropriate
account, which is account "A."
[0039] In box 330, a payment on an account may be received from the
business partner. The payment may be viewed as a credit of EUR 10
to the GL account "Business Partner" and a corresponding debit of
EUR 10 to the GL account "Bank Clearing," Consistent with box 320,
the RE_ACCOUNT and "Segment/Profit Center/Business Area/Fund" may
be known, and this information may be inherited from step 320.
Therefore, the RE_ACCOUNT is "Revenue/Expense" and the
"Segment/Profit Center/Business Area/Fund" is "A."
[0040] In box 340, the payment on an account is cleared. In the
first row, the information from the GL account "Bank Clearing" in
box 310 may be inherited. However, the amount may be viewed as a
debit of EUR 10 to balance the credit of EUR 10 associated with the
"Bank Clearing" box step 310. In the second row, the information
from the GL account "Bank Clearing" in box 330 may also be
inherited. However, the amount may be viewed as a credit of EUR 10
to balance the debit of EUR 10 associated with the "Bank Clearing"
from box 330. At this time, the EUR 10 payment may be cleared by
the GL account "Bank Clearing," and the original EUR 10 payment
reflected on the bank statement is associated with the RE_ACCOUNT
"revenue/expense" and "Segment/Profit Center/Business Area/Fund"
"A."
[0041] In the third row, the information from the GL account "Bank"
in box 310 may be inherited. However, the amount may be viewed as a
credit of EUR 10 to balance the debit of EUR 10 associated with the
"Bank" from box 310. In addition, a pre-defined clearing GL account
is used to store clearing items, which are created automatically to
ensure a document which is overall balanced by entity (i.e.
Segment, Profit Center, Business Area or Fund). In this example,
the GL account is named "Zero-Balance Clearing Account."
[0042] In the fourth row, the information from the GL account
"Revenue/Expense" in box 320 may be inherited. However, the amount
may be viewed as a debit of EUR 10 to balance the credit of EUR 10
associated with the "Revenue/Expense" from box 320. In addition, a
different GL account may be may be used. In this example, the GL
account is also "Zero-Balance Clearing Account." The "Substitution
for cash ledger" column illustrates that the values within the GL
account column should be substituted. Specifically, the
"Zero-Balance Clearing Account" value is substituted with the
"bank" value. The RE_ACCOUNT is "revenue/expense." At this time,
the payment of EUR 10 has been cleared by GL account "Bank
Clearing," which may result in a balance in cash ledger account
"Bank."
[0043] FIG. 4 depicts an exemplary flow diagram 400 that
illustrates clearing a payment on an account. In step 410, an
incoming payment on an account of EUR 10 is reflected on the bank
statement as a debit of EUR 10. At this time, the corresponding
account (e.g., segment, profit center, business area, or fund) is
not known, therefore a variable "Dummy" is associated with the
payment on account. Because the payment must balance, a
corresponding credit of EUR 10 may be reflected as a credit on the
bank clearing. The credit of EUR 10 may also inherit the variable
"Dummy."
[0044] In step 420, a business partner invoice may be generated for
EUR 10. At this time, the corresponding account is known, and be
referred to as "A." This may result in a debit of EUR 10 in a
receivables account because the invoice has not been paid. This may
also result in a credit of EUR 10 in a revenue account because
payment is expected.
[0045] In step 430, a payment of EUR 10 corresponding to the
invoice in step 320 may be received. Because the payment
corresponds to the invoice, the corresponding account "A" may be
inherited from the invoice. When payment is received, a credit of
EUR 10 may be reflected in the receivables account. Because the EUR
10 payment must balance, a debit of EUR 10 may be reflected in the
bank clearing.
[0046] At this time, the bank clearing is balanced. The bank
clearing may reflect a debit of EUR 10 corresponding to account
"Dummy" and a credit of EUR 10 corresponding to account "A" as
shown in step 440.
[0047] Also in step 440, a clearing account may reflect the debit
of EUR 10 corresponding to account "Dummy" as a credit and the
credit of EUR 10 corresponding to account "A" as a debit. The debit
side and credit side of the clearing are balanced, therefore the
payment may be cleared. The clearing account, however, is replaced
by the bank account (automatically or "on the fly") by the
retrospective projection mechanism explained in FIG. 3. Because the
payment must balance, the EUR 10 payment corresponding to account
"Dummy" may now be viewed as a credit on the bank account. The
payment is now cleared, and the bank account may reflect the EUR 10
payment as corresponding to account "A."
[0048] The foregoing description has been presented for purposes of
illustration. It is not exhaustive and does not limit the invention
to the precise forms or embodiments disclosed. Modifications and
adaptations of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in
the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the
disclosed embodiments of the invention. For example, the described
implementations include software, but systems and methods
consistent with the present invention may be implemented as a
combination of hardware and software or in hardware alone. Examples
of hardware include computing or processing systems, including
personal computers, servers, laptops, mainframes, micro-processors
and the like. Additionally, although aspects of the invention are
described for being stared in memory, one skilled in the art will
appreciate that these aspects can also be stored on other types of
computer-readable media, such as secondary storage devices, for
example, hard disks, floppy disks, or CD-ROM, the Internet or other
propagation medium, or other forms of RAM or ROM.
[0049] Computer programs based on the written description and
methods of this invention are within the skill of an experienced
developer. The various programs or program modules can be created
using any of the techniques known to one skilled in the art or can
be designed in connection with existing software. For example,
program sections or program modules can be designed in or by means
of Java, C++, HTML, XML, or HTML with included Java applets or in
SAP R/3 or ABAP. One or more of such software sections or modules
can be integrated into a computer system or existing e-mail or
browser software.
[0050] Moreover, while illustrative embodiments of the invention
have been described herein, the scope of the invention includes any
and all embodiments having equivalent elements, modifications,
omissions, combinations (e.g., of aspects across various
embodiments), adaptations and/or alterations as would be
appreciated by those in the art based on the present disclosure.
The limitations in the claims are to be interpreted broadly based
on the language employed in the claims and not limited to examples
described in the present specification or during the prosecution of
the application, which examples are to be construed as
non--exclusive. Further, the steps of the disclosed methods may be
modified in any manner, including by reordering steps and/or
inserting or deleting steps, without departing from the principles
of the invention. It is intended, therefore, that the specification
and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and
spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims and
their full scope of equivalents.
* * * * *