Vendor Invoice

The Vendor Invoice is the bill a vendor sends you. One document per bill. It either picks up goods already received against a purchase order, or lists free lines charged to expense or other accounts. Saving it with Posting Status Posted puts the amount on the vendor's account, ready to be paid.

Where

Accounts Payable › Vendor Invoice › Vendor Invoice

Who uses it

The payables clerk, the accountant who checks and posts

When

When the vendor's bill arrives, after the goods are received

Needs first

A vendor in this company with a Payment Term and a Payment Method, a Transaction Journal for vendor invoices, and for goods a posted receipt

What it is for

The invoice turns what you owe into a balance on the vendor. The Transaction Journal you pick decides which of two kinds of invoice it is, and the screen changes with it:

• Against a receipt (the journal's Journal Indicator is P). The lines come from goods already received against a purchase order. You cannot type an account on a line: the accounts come from the receipt and the posting setup. You cannot invoice more than was received and not yet invoiced.
• Free text (Journal Indicator F). You type each line yourself and pick the Account it is charged to: a utility bill, rent, a service. The lines can also name an item or a purchase category when the company asks for it (see Account Payable Setting).

The rule people get wrong: the Posting Status decides whether anything posts. Park saves the invoice without posting it. Posted posts it. A posted invoice cannot be changed or deleted; to undo it, use Reverse on the toolbar.

Every field in plain words

General

Field	What it means	What to put
Invoice	The invoice's own number	Given by the number range of the journal when you save
Transaction Journal	The journal the invoice belongs to	A vendor-invoice journal valid on the posting date. It decides against-receipt or free text, the number range and the posting statuses you may pick. Locked once the document is created
Posting Date	The date the invoice posts on	Fills the Exchange Date and Invoice Date, and finds the Financial Year and Period. If the journal does not allow back dates, it cannot be changed in edit
Posting Status	Park or Posted	The statuses come from the journal. Park keeps it unposted
Reference	Your own reference	Free text
Journal, Journal Indicator	The kind of journal	Filled from the Transaction Journal
Financial Year, Financial Period	The period it posts in	Filled from the Posting Date
Notes	Text for the whole invoice	Free text

Vendor Information

Field	What it means	What to put
Vendor	Who billed you	A vendor released in this company. Locked once the document is created. Changing it clears the purchase order and shipment picked below
Name, Vendor Group	The vendor's name and group	Filled from the vendor
Vendor Tax Zone	The vendor's tax zone	New free-text lines take it as their Tax Zone
Currency, Exchange Date, Exchange Rate	The invoice currency and its rate	Starts in the company currency at rate 1. Another currency fills the rate from the exchange-rate table for the Exchange Date. For a foreign vendor on an against-receipt invoice these three are locked
Payment Term	When the money falls due	Drives the Due Date and the instalments a payment will clear. Required
Payment Method	How you will pay	Required
Tax Exempt Number, Party Bank	Stored on the invoice	Recorded only. Nothing reads them
Invoice Date	The date on the vendor's bill	Must not be after the Baseline Date. Changing it moves the Baseline Date with it
Baseline Date	The date the Payment Term counts from	Usually the Invoice Date
Due Date	When it is due	Baseline Date plus the days of the Payment Term's first line. Read only
Vendor Invoice No	The vendor's own bill number	Required. The same number twice for the same vendor is refused

Internal Reference and purchase structure

Field	What it means	What to put
Purchase Order	The purchase order this invoice picks receipts from	Open only on an against-receipt invoice. Required when the journal does not allow several purchase orders on one invoice
Inbound Shipment	The import shipment the goods came on	Shown and required only for a foreign vendor on an against-receipt invoice
Purchase Organization, Purchase Group, Responsible	Who bought it	For reports
Posting Profile	The posting profile for this invoice	Leave empty to use the company default. See If something looks wrong
Stop Payment	A tick meant to hold the invoice back from payment	Recorded only. Payments still list the invoice today
Budget Control Applied, Budget Limit Verified, Budget Limit Override	The budget check flags	Read only. See budget below
Responsibility Central, Purchase Responsible	Responsibility for reports	Optional

Reverse Information

Shown on an existing invoice. Reverse Date, Reverse Reason and Remarks are filled when you press Reverse; Reverse Voucher No is the voucher the reversal made.

Header, Footer

Free text printed on the invoice.

Invoice Lines grid

Column	What it means	What to put
Line #	The line number	Given
Purchase, Purchase No, Name	What was bought: item, purchase category	On an against-receipt invoice, Purchase No opens the received lines not yet invoiced. On a free-text invoice they show only when the company asks for items on free-text invoices
Unit, Quantity	The purchase unit and quantity	Quantity cannot be zero. Against a receipt it cannot exceed what was received and not yet invoiced
Price	The gross unit price	Cannot be zero or negative, except on a free-of-charge line where it must be zero. On an against-receipt invoice it is editable only when Is Price Can Enable is ticked in the setting
Gross Amount	Quantity times price	Worked out
Discount %, Discount Amount, Net Price, Net Amount	The line discount	Shown only when the setting asks for a discount on lines. Type a percent or an amount; the other is worked out
Purchase Order, Transaction No	The order and receipt the line came from	Against a receipt only
Tax Zone, Tax Group	The tax that applies to the line	The tax lines are worked out from them on the posting date. Tax Zone is editable only when the setting asks for a tax zone on lines
Line Text	Text for the line	Free text
Account, Name	The account the line is charged to	Free-text invoices only
Budget Limit Verified	The line passed the budget check	Read only

Other columns (item variant, lot, catch weight, landed price, project, asset) are configured but hidden. A consultant can show them for a company in the setting.

Cost elements

Toolbar buttons open two cost element windows: one for the whole invoice and one per line. A cost element is an extra cost on the bill (freight, duty, insurance) with its Allocation Base, Allocation Value, Currency, Tax Zone, Tax Group, Debit Account and Credit Account. Cost elements that touch the item ledger must be spread over the lines with the apply button before you can save. See Cost Element.

Available budget

A free-text invoice shows the budget available for each line's account and dimensions. A check button tests the lines against it.

How to configure it

• Which kind of invoice. Make one Transaction Journal per kind. A journal with indicator P makes against-receipt invoices; F makes free-text invoices. The journal also carries the number range, the posting statuses and whether one invoice may cover several purchase orders.
• Columns per company. In Account Payable Setting: Discount on lines, Tax Zone on lines, Sequence on lines, Item on free-text invoices, and whether the price may be changed on an against-receipt invoice. Its Field Values grid makes any field mandatory, hidden or disabled for this company.
• Invoice by itself on receipt. Tick Auto Invoice on Receiving in the setting and name the Transaction Journal. See How do I get the invoice made automatically when goods are received?.

Scenarios

• A trader buys stock on credit and receives it into the warehouse. The storekeeper posts the receipt. When the bill arrives, the clerk opens Vendor Invoice with the against-receipt journal, picks the vendor and the purchase order, picks the received lines, types the vendor's bill number, checks the prices and saves as Posted.
• An office pays monthly rent and electricity. Use the free-text journal. One line per charge, with the expense Account and the Tax Group if tax was charged.
• An importer pays freight and customs on top of the goods. The invoice for the goods brings the purchase order's cost elements. Add or correct them in the cost element window, apply them to the lines, save. The item cost is revalued with the extra cost.
• A company bills in a foreign currency. Pick the currency; the rate fills from the exchange-rate table for the Exchange Date. The vendor's balance is kept in that currency and in the company currency.

What it is connected to

• Release Vendor In Legal Entity gives the payment term, payment method and withholding tax.
• Payment Term splits the invoice into due instalments.
• Payment and Payment Request clear the invoice.
• Vendor Invoice Memo is the debit note that reduces what you owe.
• Batch Posting posts parked invoices in one go.
• Vendor Settlement nets the invoice against debit notes and advances.
• The Purchase Order and Incoming Shipment are in Purchasing, the receipt (Item Receipt for Purchase Order) in Inventory; the item revaluation lands in Inventory (Item Revaluation).
• Procure to pay - the purchase process this invoice is a step of.
• What posts in Payables.

If something looks wrong

• "Same Vendor Invoice: ... already exists against vendor: ..." The vendor's bill number is already on another invoice of this vendor that is not reversed or rejected. Check you are not entering it twice.
• "Invoice Date: ... cannot be greater than Baseline Date: ..." Set the Baseline Date on or after the Invoice Date.
• "Invoice Lines - Line ID: ... - Purchase Quantity: ... cannot exceed Balance Quantity: ..." More is being invoiced than was received and not yet invoiced. Reduce the quantity, or receive the rest first.
• "Basic Data - Line ID: ... - is in Quality Inspection" The received goods are blocked by quality inspection. Finish the inspection first.
• "Invoice has been stopped for Purchase Order: ..." Invoicing is blocked on that purchase order.
• "Please apply header cost elements to line" A cost element on the invoice touches the item ledger. Press the apply button in the cost element window so it is spread over the lines.
• "Cost Revaluation journal is not defined in Account Payable Setting" An against-receipt invoice with extra costs or a price difference needs the Cost Revaluation Journal in Account Payable Setting.
• "Line ID: ... - Account ... exceeds budget funds available by ..." A free-text line goes over its budget. Ask for the budget to be raised or overridden.
• "Payment Term ... is not defined correctly. Schedule not calculated" The payment term gives a zero instalment. A Fixed due condition always does this today; use Percentage and Balance lines. See Payment Term.
• "Condition not defined in payment term" The payment term has no lines. Add them.
• "Posted Transactions cannot be changed." Reverse it and enter it again.
• "Invoice: ... cannot be reversed. Following Payments have been raised against it: ..." Reverse those payments first.
• "Invoice: ... cannot be reversed. Following Return Orders have been raised against it: ..." A purchase return order refers to it.
• "Reverse Date cannot be less than Payment Reverse date ..." Pick a reverse date on or after the reversal of the last payment.
• "Account is not configured in Posting Profile ... against Post Key ..." The posting profile has no account for the vendor's group. Fix the profile on Posting Profile. Leave Posting Profile empty on the invoice unless your consultant has set up a profile for it: the vendor account is looked up in Procurement posting profiles, while the field offers Payables profiles.