SAP S_ALR_87012178 — Customer Open Item Analysis by Balance of Overdue Items
This is the report behind the question every finance team asks: who owes us money, and how long have they owed it?
It takes every open customer item, works out how overdue each one is relative to a chosen date, and sorts them into buckets — not yet due, 1–30 days, 31–60, and so on. The output is the aged debt analysis used in credit control meetings and quoted in the accounts.
The name is a menu-path identifier rather than a memorable code, which is why people bookmark it. Underneath it is a variant of a standard AR analysis program, so if your organisation has its own version the columns may differ while the logic stays the same.
When you would actually use S_ALR_87012178
- Producing the aged debt report at month end.
- Preparing a credit control call list of the worst overdue accounts.
- Supporting a bad debt provision with evidence of how old the debt is.
- Spotting a single customer whose overdue balance has jumped.
What the screen looks like
Selection
| Customer | Name | Not due | 1-30 | 31-60 | 61-90 | 90+ | Total EUR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 200417 | Northwind Retail | 910.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 910.00 |
| 200902 | Baltic Foods | 0.00 | 4,200.00 | 1,850.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6,050.00 |
| 201188 | Alpine Systems | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 18,400.00 | 18,400.00 |
The fields, in plain English
The date the ageing is measured from. Items are open, and overdue, as at this date.
Watch out: For month-end reporting use the last day of the month, not today. Running with today's date will never reconcile to the reported receivables balance.
The bucket boundaries in days — commonly 30/60/90/120. Change them and every column in the output changes.
Watch out: If your report disagrees with someone else's, compare the buckets before the data. Different boundaries produce different-looking crises.
Ages items by their NET DUE DATE, taking payment terms into account, rather than by posting date. This is almost always what you want — an invoice on 60-day terms is not overdue after 31 days.
Blank reports the whole ledger. Enter a value or range to focus on one customer or a credit control group.
Step by step
- 1Enter the company code and leave the customer blank for a full ledger view.
- 2Set the key date to the reporting date, normally month end.
- 3Confirm the summarization levels match your organisation's convention.
- 4Execute, then sort by the oldest bucket to find the worst debt.
- 5Drill into a customer to see the individual open items.
- 6Export to spreadsheet for the credit control meeting if needed.
Errors you will hit, and what they mean
Total does not agree with the receivables balance
Why: Key date mismatch, or special G/L items such as down payments excluded from the selection.
Fix: Align the key date with the balance sheet date, then check whether special G/L transactions should be included.
Report runs very slowly
Why: Full ledger across all customers with no restriction.
Fix: Restrict by company code and, where possible, customer range. Schedule it in background for the full run.
Everything appears in "Not due"
Why: Due date analysis is off, so items are being aged from posting date with terms ignored, or payment terms are unusually long.
Fix: Switch on due date analysis and confirm the payment terms on the customer master.
Common questions
What is the vendor equivalent?
S_ALR_87012084, the vendor open item analysis. Same idea applied to what you owe rather than what you are owed.
Why does this differ from FBL5N?
FBL5N lists items; this report groups them into ageing buckets and totals by customer. Same underlying open items, different presentation.
Can I change the ageing buckets?
Yes, on the selection screen. Save a variant once your organisation agrees the convention so everyone reports the same way.
Transactions that go with S_ALR_87012178
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