When configuring number ranges for a financial document, what is critical for ensuring no overlaps occur?

Differentiating the assignment of ranges by document type is a critical strategy for preventing overlaps in number ranges assigned to financial documents. In SAP Financial Accounting, different types of documents such as invoices, credit memos, and payments often require unique identification to maintain clarity and accuracy in financial reporting and processing.

By assigning specific number ranges to individual document types, it effectively isolates the sequences that each type of document can use. This means that the same number could potentially be assigned to an invoice and a payment, but because they each belong to their designated number range, the system will prevent any conflicts or overlaps. This organization ensures that each document can be tracked distinctly, simplifying auditing and reporting activities.

On the other hand, while creating a unique external number range is important for identifying documents externally, it does not address the potential for internal overlaps unless differentiated by document type. Structuring internal number ranges is also beneficial but may not prevent overlap if not organized by document type. Using logical file paths is unrelated to the management of number ranges and document types in the SAP FI system.