Purchase invoice

The purchase invoice is part of the purchase process as illustrated in the Purchasing overview.

On this page you will find the description of the purchase invoice workflow. You can also find more detailed information on the following topics:

Purchase invoice workflow

This is an overview of the purchase invoice workflow.

A diagram showing the purchase invoice flow. A purchase invoice can be linked to a purchase receipt or created manually. The status of a newly created invoice is draft. Once variances are approved and matching is complete the invoice can be posted. Once the invoice is posted, its status changes to posted.

Let's describe this flow in more detail.

  • Create a purchase invoice

    When you create a purchase invoice, its status is Variance or No variance. After entering the header data and at least one line, you save the purchase invoice.

    A tax calculation automatically runs. If there is an error, the status changes to Tax calculation failed.

    When you correct the tax details, the purchase invoice changes back to Variance or No variance. Once variances are approved and matching is complete you can post the purchase invoice. The status changes to Variance approved.

  • Post a purchase invoice

    When you post an invoice and the financial system you are integrating with is waiting to respond, the purchase invoice status changes to Posting in progress.

  • When you post an invoice and there are stock posting errors, the status changes to Stock error. When you correct the stock details, you can try to post it again on the Notification history page.

  • When you post an invoice and the post fails, the purchase invoice status changes to Posting error. You can try to post it again on the Notification history page.

  • When you post an invoice and it successfully integrates with the relevant financial system, the purchase invoice status changes to Posted.

Create a purchase invoice

You can create a purchase invoice with one or several lines for one or several items. Go to the Purchase invoice page and select Create to generate a new purchase invoice and perform the following actions:

  • Enter the information related to the header such as the Financial site, Bill-by supplier, and the Total supplier amount excluding tax.
  • Create the lines: You can create direct purchase invoice lines. You can also create purchase invoice lines by selecting purchase receipt lines.

Add the header details

Select Create. Enter the following required fields to the header:

  1. If you have defined sequence numbers in the Sequence number page, the number generates automatically when you create the purchase invoice. If you did not define sequence numbers it generates automatically based on the default sequence number associated with the Purchase invoice page. You can also enter the number manually.
  2. Enter or select the Financial site.
  3. Enter or select the Bill-by supplier.
  4. Enter the Total supplier amount excl. tax. The supplier's default currency displays.
  5. Select Save. The purchase invoice status is Variance or No variance.

The following fields will generate automatically:

  • Invoice date
  • Supplier document date

They can be changed, but only to dates earlier than the current date.

You can save a purchase invoice without adding lines to it.

Send a purchase invoice for matching

Once the invoice is saved, select Send for matching to send an email to the buyer to notify them to match the supplier invoice against received items by searching against linked purchase receipts.

If a default buyer is set up, their email will be preselected. If not, you can select the buyer from a list.

Select Send.

You can then add lines to the invoice.

Add a PDF of a supplier invoice

To help you match your invoice, you can add a PDF attachment of the invoice from the supplier. Select Browse Files.

Add a line to your purchase invoice

You can create direct purchase invoice lines for non-stock items. You can also create purchase invoice lines from purchase receipt lines.

You can only post a purchase invoice once you have added lines to it.

Create a direct purchase invoice line

There are 2 ways to create a direct purchase invoice line.

Perform a quick entry

  1. Select Add line on the Lines grid.
  2. Enter the Item name, the Item description, Purchase unit and Quantity.
  3. Tabulate to validate the information. The main details of the purchase invoice line display in the grid.
  4. Save.

Open the line panel to enter and update any detailed information about the line such as the details about the item name, item description, quantities and pricing.

Add a line with all the detailed information

  1. Select Add line in panel. The Add new line panel opens.
  2. Enter or select the Item name, the Item description, Purchase unit and Quantity.
  3. On the Price tab:
    1. Check that the Gross price populated from the supplier is correct. You can update it.
    2. You can enter a Discount percentage and Charge percentage.
    3. You can check the tax details. Refer to View and manage tax details.
  4. On the Line notes tab, you can add internal notes. See Add notes.
  5. To validate your entry and display the line in the purchase invoice list of items, select Apply. To validate your entry and create a new line, select Apply and add new.
  6. Save.
You can only add non-stock items when adding a direct line.

Add lines by linking to a purchase receipt

To link a purchase invoice to a purchase receipt you need to perform the following actions.

Create a full invoice:

  1. Add a Financial site and Bill-by supplier that match a purchase receipt, then select Add lines from receipts.
  2. Search for the relevant receipt using any of the Purchase order, Supplier packing slip, and Item filters and select Search. It will only generate results from the Financial site that you selected, and receipts that have a status of Received, Partially invoiced, Partially returned, Returned or Closed.
  3. Select the relevant receipt and select the checkbox.
  4. If the Invoice unit price has changed since the time of purchase, you can amend it.
  5. Select Add. The purchase invoice status is Variance or No Variance.

Create a partial invoice:

  1. Add a Financial site and Bill-by supplier that match a purchase receipt, then select Add lines from receipts.
  2. Search for the relevant receipt using any of the Purchase order, Supplier packing slip, and Item filters and select Search. It will only generate results from the Financial site that you selected, and receipts that have a status of Pending, Closed, or Posting in progress.
  3. Select the relevant receipt and select the chevron to view the receipted items.
  4. Enter the quantity to invoice.
  5. Select Continue at the warning message.
  6. The Invoice unit price resets to zero. Update it to the correct price at the time of invoicing.
  7. Select the relevant receipt, then select Add.
  8. The purchase invoice status is Variance. This relates to either the quantity to invoice or the invoice unit price on the receipt, when compared with the Quantity or Gross price on the lines.
Variances display on the main document and on the Matching tab on the line. To post a partial invoice you have to accept variances, and you have to match the Total supplier amount excl. tax on the invoice to the Total excluding tax on the line.

Manage variances

The variance status displays on the main document and on the Matching tab on the line. It can either be Variance, Variance approved, or No variance. If the status is Variance the invoice cannot be posted.

The variance status relates to the difference between the receipt and the invoiced amount, or a difference in the receipt unit price and the invoice unit price.

The variance type displays. It can be price, quantity, or both.

The quantity you received and the quantity you ordered displays. If there is a variance, the numeric difference displays in red.

Check outstanding amounts to invoice

The receipt lines and order lines related to the invoice display on the Origin tab with their status and a link. The statuses update on the tab in real time. The available quantity to invoice from the purchase receipt displays, it will decrease as more lines are invoiced.

Accept a variance

To accept a variance on a line level: from the More actions button on the Lines grid, select Accept variance.

To accept a variance on the invoice level: select Accept all variances.

Assign the dimensions

You have two options to open the Dimensions window and assign dimensions: You can assign dimensions to a line or assign dimensions to several lines.

Manage dimensions

Purchase Invoice lines can inherit dimensions and attributes from the site, supplier, item, or all 3. For this, dimensions and attributes need to be set on the site, supplier, or item record, and default dimension rules need to be set on the company record, on the Dimensions tab. When you create a purchase invoice, the dimensions default on the lines to those defined for the site, supplier, item, or all 3.

If default dimension rules are not set for the company, you can add dimensions directly on the invoice lines. You can add and change dimensions on each line individually. Or you can add or change the dimensions for all lines.

To manage dimensions for individual lines:

  1. From the More actions icon on the line, select Dimensions.
  2. Select the dimensions you want for the line.
  3. Save.

To manage dimensions for all lines:

  1. From the More actions menu at record level, select Set dimensions.
  2. Select the necessary dimensions.
  3. Select Apply to all lines to apply the dimensions to all the existing and future lines or Apply to new lines only to apply the dimensions to future lines only.
The Dimensions dialog box at record level displays the dimensions set for the site, supplier, or both, if any, and if default dimension rules are set for the company. You can use this dialog box to apply dimensions to all lines, but changes are not saved in this dialog box. The dimensions on the lines, not the ones in this dialog box, are transferred to the subsequent document lines. A dimension from an item is inherited when the item is added to a line, not from the dimensions set at the record level.
Dimensions apply to lines that are Draft or Pending.

Add notes

You can add internal notes to a purchase invoice at the document or line level, or both.

Internal notes are notes you want to share with your colleagues. Customers never see these notes. These are for internal purposes only.

Add notes at document level

You can add notes at the document level from the Notes tab.

If Repeat the document notes on new documents. is switched on, the purchase invoice notes are repeated on the credit memo at the header level if you select Create credit memo on a purchase invoice that has been posted.

Add notes at line level

You can add notes for a line from the Line notes tab of the line detail panel.

If Repeat all the line notes on new documents. is switched on, the purchase invoice line notes are repeated on the corresponding credit memo lines if you select Create credit memo on a purchase invoice that has been posted.

Indicators Repeat the document notes on new documents. and Repeat all the line notes on new documents. are both located on the Notes tab at document level, not on the Line notes tab of the line detail panel.

Post a purchase invoice

You can post your invoice when the following conditions are met.

You need to:

  1. Enter the header information.
  2. Add at least one line item.
  3. Ensure the supplier amount excluding tax on the invoice header equals the sum of the total supplier amount excluding tax value on the lines.
  4. Ensure the variance status is set to No variance. Or if there are variances, set it to Variances approved.

Once the above conditions are met, select Post. The purchase invoice status is Posting in progress, and once the financial system you are integrating with responds, it is Posted.

When you post a purchase invoice, the standard cost is used for all stock movements and any variation from that amount is recorded as a non-absorbed cost and posted as a purchase variance on the Journal entry page.

Allocate landed costs

You can create a purchase invoice to capture the landed costs associated with a purchase receipt. For example, these costs could include insurance costs or freight costs.

You can also create a purchase invoice to capture the landed costs associated with a purchase order. This can happen when you receive a purchase invoice before you receive the goods. When the goods arrive and the associated receipts are posted, the landed costs transfer from the purchase order lines to the receipt lines according to the quantity received.

Create an invoice as you normally would and add at least one line that includes a landed cost item. Select Landed cost from the More actions icon on the line. You need to allocate the landed cost items on the line to the corresponding purchase receipts or orders.

Select Add lines from receipts or Add lines from orders where you can use matching criteria to search for and select the relevant purchase receipt or purchase order. You can either select all lines from the receipt or order, or a selection. The distribution of the allocated lines will be calculated based on the allocation rules you set up. To complete the allocation, select Save.

To select purchase order lines, the status of the purchase order needs to be Approved or Confirmed, and the status of the line cannot be Received or Closed.

You can manually amend the amounts distributed. If you need to reset to the allocated amount defined by the allocation rules, select Allocate landed cost.

All purchase order and receipt lines need to be allocated with a quantity higher than zero.

You cannot post an invoice where all amounts have not been allocated, even if you accept all variances. When you try to save in this situation, a warning icon is displayed that lets you know that the amounts are not allocated to the corresponding purchase invoice lines.

When you post the invoice, the system automatically:

  • Generates the respective landed cost accrual and purchase price variance journal entries.
  • Creates the records for value for landed cost adjustments in the stock journal.
  • Updates the item-site stock valuation.

If the purchase invoice is linked to a corresponding purchase receipt or purchase order, landed costs will be allocated on these documents also. See the Purchase receipt or Purchase order pages for more information.

When you close a purchase order line that is partially received, for example when goods are partially received and the remaining quantity will not be delivered, the remaining landed cost amount that is not transferred to the receipt is transferred to the existing associated receipt lines.

Troubleshoot an error status

The posting tab displays the status of the invoice. If the status is Posting error, a diagnosis is displayed.

A diagnosis displays an error status in more detail.

Retry the posting action

When you post a purchase invoice and the status is Stock error or Posting error, you can try to post the purchase invoice again using the retry icon on the Notification history page.

Create a credit memo

Once you have posted a purchase invoice, the option to select Create credit memo appears.

  1. Select a reason. The two main predefined reasons are a decrease or increase in quantity.
  2. Select a Supplier document date.
  3. Enter the Total amount excluding tax.
  4. Select OK.

Edit a purchase invoice

You can only modify a purchase invoice when it is in Variance, No Variance or Variance approved status. If you make a mistake on an invoice and then post it, you need to create a new purchase invoice.

Edit the invoice unit price

If the supplier changes the Invoice unit price after the purchase order or purchase receipt was created you are able to amend the price in the Gross price field on the line. Select Save. The variance status will update to Variance as the price on the receipt and on the invoice do not match. To post the invoice you will have to accept the variances.

Edit the quantity

You can edit the quantity on the line if you invoice the whole amount listed on the receipt by mistake, but only a partial amount was received.

Delete a purchase invoice

You can only delete a purchase invoice when it is in Variance, No Variance or Variance approved status. If you make a mistake on a posted invoice, you need to create a new purchase invoice.

Delete a line

To delete a line, select Delete from the More actions icon.

Delete the invoice

To delete an invoice select Delete.