SAP F.13 — Automatic Clearing
F.13 is the bulk version of F-03 and F-32. Rather than picking items by hand, it scans accounts, groups open items using configured criteria, and clears every group that already sums to zero.
Two things it is emphatically not. It is not bank reconciliation — that is a different process (FF67 / EBS). And it does not decide anything clever: if a group does not net to exactly zero, F.13 leaves it alone. It has no judgement, only arithmetic.
The behaviour is driven by configuration in OB74, where each account type and account range is given up to five grouping criteria — commonly the Assignment field (ZUONR) and Reference. Two items clear only if they match on every criterion AND balance to zero. This is why F.13 so often "does nothing": the items offset, but their assignment fields differ.
Always run it as a test run first. The real run clears in bulk and undoing it means resetting each clearing individually with FBRA.
When you would actually use F.13
- Month-end housekeeping on GR/IR, payroll and other clearing accounts with high volume.
- Clearing a large number of customer or vendor items that were posted with a matching reference.
- Routinely, as a scheduled job, to stop clearing accounts silting up.
What the screen looks like
General selections
Select accounts
Posting parameters
| Account | Group | Documents | Amount EUR | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 196000 | PAY-07-2026 | 2 | 0.00 | Will be cleared |
| 191100 | GR-88213 | 2 | 0.00 | Will be cleared |
| 191100 | GR-88240 | 2 | 12.50 | Not cleared — balance |
The fields, in plain English
When ticked, F.13 reports what it WOULD clear without changing anything. This is the most important checkbox on the screen.
Watch out: Untick it only after reading the proposal. A real run across a whole company code can create thousands of clearings, each needing FBRA individually to undo.
Which account types to include. Ticking all three on a large company code produces a very long-running job — run them separately.
BSEG-ZUONRThe field most commonly configured as a clearing criterion in OB74. Items are grouped by it, so items with a shared assignment can clear against each other.
Watch out: This is why F.13 often clears nothing. If offsetting items were posted with different assignment values, they are in different groups and will never match. Fix the posting convention, not the report.
The posting date given to the clearing documents. Must be in an open period.
Allows clearing when a group is off by a small amount within configured tolerance limits, posting the difference automatically.
Watch out: Only useful if tolerance groups are configured deliberately. Otherwise small differences are better investigated than absorbed.
Step by step
- 1Enter company code and restrict by posting date — do not run an unbounded selection.
- 2Tick only the account types you intend to clear this run.
- 3Set the clearing date in an open period.
- 4Leave Test run ticked and execute.
- 5Read the proposal. Check both what will clear and what will not, and why.
- 6Untick Test run and execute again to post the clearings.
- 7Spot-check a few accounts in FAGLL03 or FBL1N to confirm the result.
Errors you will hit, and what they mean
No clearing procedure carried out
Why: Nothing matched. Either no groups balanced to zero, or the clearing criteria in OB74 split offsetting items into different groups.
Fix: Check OB74 for the account range to see which criteria apply, then compare those fields on two items you expect to clear. Nine times out of ten the assignment fields differ.
Posting period not open for clearing date
Why: The clearing date is in a closed period.
Fix: Move it into an open period.
Job runs for hours
Why: Selection is too broad — all account types, all years, all accounts.
Fix: Restrict by posting date and account type, and schedule it as a background job rather than running it in the foreground.
Common questions
Is F.13 bank reconciliation?
No. This is a common and costly misconception. Bank reconciliation matches your bank statement to your ledger, through electronic bank statement processing or FF67. F.13 clears offsetting open items on any account using configured criteria. They are unrelated processes.
Why did F.13 clear nothing?
Almost always the clearing criteria in OB74. Items must match on every configured criterion AND net to zero. If offsetting postings carry different assignment values, F.13 never even considers them together.
How do I undo an F.13 run?
There is no mass undo. Each clearing document must be reset individually with FBRA. That is precisely why the test run exists.
What is the difference between F.13 and F.13E?
F.13E is the variant that lets you specify the clearing currency. For most straightforward single-currency clearing, F.13 is what you want.
Transactions that go with F.13
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