Vendor Settlement
A vendor owes you a debit note or holds your advance, and you owe it invoices. Vendor Settlement nets the two in one document, so both drop out of the open items. No money moves. Saving posts it.
What it is for
An advance paid on the Payment or a debit note sits on the vendor's account until something uses it. A payment can use it while paying, but when no money is due you settle here instead.
The rule people get wrong: invoice lines are cleared with a positive amount, debit note and advance lines with a negative amount. The Auto Settle button fills both sides for you.
Every field in plain words
Basic Data
| Field | What it means | What to put |
|---|---|---|
| Settlement | The document number | Given on save |
| Posting Date | The date it posts | Also the exchange date |
| Transaction Journal | The journal it posts under | A payment-type journal |
| Vendor, Name | The vendor | Picking it fills the grid when the document is created |
| Currency | The currency of the items | Starts in the company currency. Only items in this currency are listed |
Clearings grid
| Column | What it means | What to put |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction | The invoice, debit note or advance | Filled |
| Origin | Invoice, Memo, Advance or Prepayment | Filled |
| Schedule | The instalment | Filled |
| Origin Amount, Settled Amount | The original amount and what other documents already settled | Read only |
| Transaction Clearing Amount | What this settlement clears | Positive on invoices, negative on debit notes and advances, never more than the balance. Zero leaves the line out |
The grid is filled only when the vendor has both an invoice and something to net against it. Lines left at zero are dropped on save.
How to configure it
Nothing beyond the journal. The settlement is always saved as posted.
Scenarios
- A contractor was paid an advance of 100,000, then billed 250,000. Open Vendor Settlement, pick the contractor. The invoice and the advance appear. Press Auto Settle: 100,000 of the invoice is netted. The remaining 150,000 is paid on a Payment.
- A supplier accepted a debit note for short supply. Settle the debit note against the next invoice here, so the payment run only shows the net.
What it is connected to
- Vendor Invoice, Vendor Invoice Memo and Payment: the items it nets.
- What posts in Payables.
If something looks wrong
- The grid stays empty. The vendor has no open invoice, or nothing open to net against it, in this currency.
- "Need at least one Invoice and one Memo/Advance with an available balance to net" Auto Settle found only one side.
- "Line ID: ... - Transaction Cleared Amount must be negative for ... lines" A debit note or advance line was typed positive.
- "Line ID: ... - Transaction Cleared Amount cannot exceed the outstanding Balance Amount (...)" Someone else cleared part of it since. Lower the amount.
- "Add at least one Invoice, Memo or Advance line to settle" Every line is zero.
- "Line ID: ... - Vendor does not match Transaction ..." The item belongs to another vendor.