Feb 14, 20233 min read

Types of Goods Movement

Goods Movement

Goods Movement

Any shifting or placing of materials from one place to another in SAP is called as goods movement. In SAP goods movement is captured as movement type.

Standard SAP Movement Types

Goods Receipt

A goods receipt (GR) is a goods movement with which the receipt of goods from a vendor or production is posted. A goods receipt leads to an increase in stock.

Goods Issue

A goods issue is a good movement with which a material withdrawal or material issue, a material consumption, or a shipment of goods to a customer is posted. A goods issue leads to a reduction in warehouse stock.

Stock transfer

A stock transfer is the removal of material from one storage location and its transfer to another storage location. Stock transfer can occur either with in the same plant or between two plants.

Transfer Posting

A transfer posting is a general term for stock transfer and changes in stock type or stock category of material. It is irrelevant whether the posting occurs with a physical movement or not for example transfer posting are

Transfer posting from material to material
Release from quality inspection stock
Transfer of consignment material into company’s own stock

The Document Concept

According to document principle, a document must be generated and stored in the system for every transaction/event that causes a change in stock.

Material Document

In a inventory management system, when a goods movement is posted, a material document is generated that serves as proof of movement and as source of information for any applications that follow.

A material document consists of header and at least one item. The header contains general data about the movement example date of movement. Each item describes one movement.

Accounting Document

If the movement relevant for financial accounting (if it leads to an update G/L accounts), an accounting document is created parallel to material document.

In some cases, several accounting document are created for a single material document. The case is if you have two material document items with different plants that belongs to different company codes.

The G/L accounts involved in a goods movement are updated through an automatic account assignment.

For goods receipt for purchase orders, goods movements for stock transport orders and consignment withdrawals, business partners may have different local currencies. Therefore as well as the local currency, the accounting document must also contain another currency for processing and postings.

Change to a Document

Once you have posted a goods movement, you can no longer change the document. You can only enter additional information in the document, such as reference to original document. If you want to reverse the movement or change the quantity of material moved, you must enter a new document.

Document Number

A material document is identified by a document number and the material document year. An accounting document is identified by the company code, the document number and fiscal year.

Usually the material document number and the accounting document number are different.

The company code to which the accounting document posted is derived from the valuation area defined for a plant.

Transaction Type and Document Types for goods Movement

For each transaction type a number range is defined for numbers to be assigned to the material document. For each document type, a number range is defined for number to be assigned to the accounting

Results of Goods Movement in the System

When you enter a goods movement following chain of events start in system
A material document is generated, which is used as proof of the movement and as source of information for any other applications involved.
If the movement relevant for financial accounting, one or more accounting document get generated.
The stock quantities of material are updated.
The stock values in the material master record are updated, as are the stock and consumption accounts.
Depending on movement type, additional updates are carried out in participating applications. All updates are based on the information contained in material document and the financial accounting document. For example, goods issue for a cost center, the consumption values of the items are also updated.