AP open period

Hi Gurus

I am trying to understand the SAP AP closing and logic for posting to different accounting periods. Every month when we close the books, we go through a process to “close AP” as soon as possible after month end (usually the first Monday). We use that 1st day to post all invoices we receive from vendors that are dated prior to month end. That way we get as many invoices (expenses) as possible into the period being closed. At the end of the day on Monday we close AP in SAP. Then for the remainder of the week, we receive additional vendor invoices that are dated in the prior period (invoices received after month end that relate to goods and services of the prior month end). AP personnel post these invoices into the subsequent accounting period just like any other vendor invoice. Accounting goes through a process of manually accruing and posting a REVERSING entry for these invoices into the prior period (so that we get all the invoices that relate to the prior period into that period).

The question is this: Can’t we just keep AP open for as long as we want and post each invoice into the correct accounting period? For example, suppose on Wednesday following the close of the accounting period we get two vendor invoices. One of the invoices is dated in the prior period. The other invoice is dated in the subsequent period. Can we post both invoices to SAP so that the invoice dated in the prior period gets posted to the prior period and the invoice dated in the subsequent period gets posted to the subsequent period (in SAP GL)? That way we would not have to undertake the manual effort that we have been doing to manually accrue invoices.

Thanks in advance

Satya