Enter Invoices

There are two stages to entering invoice transaction details: the header, which holds details such as the customer / supplier account code, date and reference, and the invoice detail line entries that make up the invoice. Invoice details are entered on a line-by-line basis allowing you to mix taxable and non-taxable items and use different nominal and analysis codes on up to 96 detail lines.

Invoice Header

The Invoice header holds the general details of the invoice. The following items are available for input within the header, depending on configuration and product level, some items may not be prompted on your system.

The Invoice Header asks for the ‘general’ detail of the invoice – the account to be posted to, the invoice date, etc.

Account Code

Enter the customer / supplier account the invoice is to be posted against. <F4-Select> is available to search for an account if required.Non-Compact users can also use the <F7-Option> key to create a new account at this point.

If the account is marked as ‘on-stop’ then you will be warned accordingly at this point, and not allowed to proceed. If the account is marked for deletion at year-end, then you will be warned but you can continue to post the invoice.

Document Total

Key in the total value of the invoice, including tax, and press <Enter>. The value is used as a check at the end of the process to ensure that the transaction detail entered is correct.

If the Foreign Currency application is in use then you are prompted for the document total after the transaction date has been confirmed. In addition, if the account selected is not using the base currency then instead of the above you are prompted:

Firstly, you enter the invoice total, including tax, in the currency of the account. The exchange rate is then defaulted based on the date entered and then the base currency value is displayed for confirmation / amendment. Finally you confirm whether the entered exchange rate is fixed, and is therefore omitted from revaluation.

Additional Transaction Items to be Recorded

Datafile Diamond and Premier users may define up to seven additional items to be entered per transaction. If the system has been configured to ask for the extra items then a window opens to allow you to enter the data for these. The details are written not only into the invoice transaction but any analysis lines that follow.

Date

The input moves to the transaction date at the top right-hand side of the screen. You can accept the date by pressing <Enter>, or amend as required. When you enter your first transaction of the ‘session’ then the system defaults to today’s date, for each subsequent invoice the system remembers the last date used.Note that if today’s date is past the end of the current period. then the system may, depending on System Profile parameter settings, default the date to the last day of the current period.

If the date entered is not within the current period for the ledger, then the system will warn accordingly.

If the entered date is earlier than the start of the period then the date is rejected or, if ‘allow previous period posting’ is enabled within the ledger’s system profile settings, you are warned

Responding ‘No’ returns you to the date input to select another date. Selecting ‘Yes’ allows you to proceed with the transaction.However, although the transaction is written with this date and the credit terms and aged analysis reports are based on this date the Nominal Ledger and VAT reports treat the transaction as being within the current period.

If the entered date is within the next ledger period and the system allows forward transactions (set within the ledger system profiles) you are warned

Responding ‘No’ returns you to the date input to select another date. Selecting ‘Yes’ allows you to proceed with the transaction and it is marked as a ‘forward transaction’. This transaction would be excluded from reports until after the period end, unless you set the report to ‘include forward transactions’.

If the transaction is dated later than the next period, or if previous / forward posting is not allowed, then the system rejects the entered date and asks you to re-input an appropriate date.

Reference

Within the Sales Ledger this is the invoice number, and is normally an incremental number sequence that is automatically accepted. Within the Purchase Ledger you could elect to use this as a sequential ‘folio’ number to write on the supplier invoice to prove that you have entered it into the ledger, or alternatively you may enter the suppliers invoice number here.

Description

Enter the description for the invoice. This usually becomes the description that is printed for the transaction on the statement / remittance advice.

If you find you are using the same descriptions, again and again, then there are two options available to speed input. Pressing the <F11> key saves the description, and this is then available on a drop down list from the description for next time. Alternatively you can use the Recall Standard Text (<Shift>+<F1> etc.) to update pre-defined text (set within the Application Manager for Diamond and Premier users).

Credit Days / Due Date

The credit terms set for this customer / supplier is displayed. Enter or amend as required. The terms are usually in the form ‘Dnn’ or ‘Mnn’ where D indicates a specific number of days, and M represents monthly terms. The terms are applied to the invoice date to calculate the date payment is due.

The ‘nn’ value is the number of days until the invoice is due for payment.D30 represents 30 days, so if the invoice is dated 12^thJanuary 20xx then it is due on the 11^th February 20xx. D07 would represent 7 days and the invoice would be due 19^th January 20xx

M Monthly terms represent the date in a following month on which payment is due.For example, M10 (or M110) means that payment is due on the 10^thof the month. M210 would mean that payment is due on the 10^th of the month after next.

Settlement Terms

If you have requested settlement discounts within the ledger system profiles, then you asked for the following information at the bottom of the screen

Any defaults for the account are displayed and may be amended as required. The Settlement Discount% is the percentage that can be taken in discount if the invoice is paid within the set period. Days represents the terms under which the expiry date for the settlement discount is calculated and operates as per the credit terms above. The setting for ‘Calculate-Tax’ controls whether VAT is calculated on the value of the invoice less discount (set to Y), or the full value of the invoice (set to N).

User Item 1

Three user-definable items are available for configuration on transactions within the ledger system profiles (excluding Compact), and the first of these, User-1, can apply at the header level.You may use this as (say) an input for a sales person code for analysis purposes. Whether or not the user-1 item is prompted is controlled via the system profiles, and the title prompted is also defined there.

Invoice Details

The second stage analyses the details of the invoice across a number of headings, for purposes of correct allocation to nominal accounts, and for any sales/purchase or other analysis purpose that may be required.

You can enter up to 96 lines of analysis for each invoice, eight of which are displayed at any one time in the analysis area. You key the line entries of the invoice by typing the information into the appropriate columns and pressing <Enter> to each. The exact information which may be requested on each line can vary according to configuration settings. Some special editing keys that you can use during entry of detail lines are:

<ESCAPE> used on the first field on any analysis line returns you to the account code at the start of the invoice entry but retains details entered.

<ESCAPE> used on any other field on the line returns you to the first field on that line.

<END> on the Stock Code, if input, completes the invoice entry, otherwise <ENTER> on a blank analysis code (nominal code) will complete the invoice entry.

<UP-ARROW> in the first field moves the cursor up to the previous analysis line. Used within an analysis line moves you back to the previous field.

Clearing the first field of a line, except when it is the STOCK-CODE input, clears all the details of that line and moves the lines below up.

The following is the full set of values which could be entered depending on the options configured:

Stock (Product) Code

If the ledger is linked to the stock or product file (set within the ledger system profiles) then this option asks for the stock code relating to the analysis line. It can be left blank if required, or <F4-Select> is available if required.

If the stock code is entered a pop-up asks for the quantity issued/received and the unit-price/cost.Again these items are optional.If entered these items are used as the basis for the goods amount value although it can be overtyped, and depending on configuration can be used to update the stock file. Diamond and Premier users can default the cost price during purchase invoice entry, but otherwise the price has to be manually entered.

Analysis Code

The analysis code is used to breakdown sales/purchase on the turnover analysis report. By default this is defined as a ‘table’ data item allowing a range of analysis codes from 1-100 (although only the first 10 are defined and can be selected). The analysis code, depending on configuration, will default to the analysis code set against the customer / supplier record, <F4-Select> is available to help you select the correct analysis code.

To modify the descriptions used for each analysis code you can select ‘Tables on Desktop’ off the Tools pull-down on the main Datafile toolbar and select Sales/Purchase Transactions as appropriate. To modify the range of analysis codes requires a change to the database structure. See the System User and Configuration Guide manuals for more detail on this. The maximum range that can be defined is 1-9999.

Non-Compact users can use the system profiles to omit this option if no analysis is required.

Default Analysis and Nominal Codes

Nominal Code

If the ledger is linked to the nominal ledger, then you must enter here the nominal code that applies to this line of analysis. You are usually offered the default sales/purchase nominal code as set within the nominal ledger’s system profiles, but Diamond and Premier users can also set a default on the customer/supplier record.

You can use the <F4-Select> key to search for the correct nominal code to use, and once a valid nominal code is entered the account name is displayed at the bottom of the screen for you to verify. Not all nominal codes will be displayed when you press <F4-Select> the system restricts the display to the income and expenditure ranges for the sales and purchase ledger respectively, although depending on configuration, you may be able to manually enter a code outside this range.

General Code

If the ledger is not linked to the nominal ledger, then you have the option to enter a general analysis code (in the range 0 to 999) as an alternative. You could then use this to give a general analysis report, which you would later enter into a nominal ledger in a manual or other computerised system.

Non­-Compact users can use the system profiles to omit this option if it is not required.

Additional Transaction Items to be Recorded

Datafile Diamond and Premier users may define up to seven additional items to be entered per analysis line. If the system has been configured to ask for the extra items then these are prompted after input of the nominal / general code. Usually, a window opens to allow you to enter the data for these. However depending on the number and size of other detail items prompted, they may be prompted as part of the detail entry grid. The details are written to the analysis line transaction.

Goods Amount

Enter the net of tax amount for the analysis line here. Usually defaults to 0, but if entering stock detail the goods amount will default to the result of quantity x price, although it can be amended.

If the documentation you are entering the invoice detail from, records the amount inclusive of tax, then you can enter the amount followed by the tax code, i.e. 117.50S, and the system will back-calculate the net amount, and update the tax code and tax amount accordingly. If amounts are always recorded inclusive of tax, then Diamond and Premier users, can define an Application User Facilities parameter to allow entry of tax-inclusive value. Once you have entered the tax code in the next column, the tax-amount will be automatically calculated and deducted from the goods amount entered here.

Tax Code

The default tax code for this account, if any, is displayed. You can accept this or amend as required. <F4-Select> is available to list the available tax codes.

Tax Amount

The tax for this line is now calculated and can be accepted or amended as required. If calculating settlement discount then the tax amount is calculated on goods less discount, if you set the ‘calc-tax’ parameter to Y.

User Item 2

User Item 3

Three user-definable items are available for configuration on transactions within the ledger system profiles (excluding Compact), and the first of these, User-1, applies at the header level, User-2 and User-3 apply at the detail level. Whether or not the user item(s) are prompted is controlled via the system profiles and the title prompted is also defined there. As the last items that are prompted on the detail line, these items, particularly User-3, may not be prompted when using large stock and/or nominal code formats.

Links to Job Costing

The input of invoices within the sales and purchase ledgers can also be configured to update the job costing system – updating the amount invoiced to the job from the sales ledger and updating costs to the job from the purchase ledger. If the link to Job Costing is configured as part of the Job Costing System Profiles, then after confirmation of the final value on the analysis line a pop-up window is displayed asking for the job detail.

The sales ledger update asks for the Job Code to update. <F4-Select> is available if required and when selected, displays the job title and asks if this is the correct job – confirm as appropriate. Leaving the job code blank omits the job update for this analysis line.

The purchase ledger update again asks for the Job Code, but also asks for the Cost Code. Again <F4-Select> is available for both inputs if required.

Completing the Invoice

Once you have entered all the analysis lines, you can key <Enter> against a blank analysis code or nominal code (if either or these are the first detail item to be input), or if stock code press <END> to complete the transaction.

Settlement Discount

When completing the invoice, if any settlement discount has been calculated, you are asked to confirm the settlement discount value.

Defaulting to a value based on entered percentage rate and invoice detail lines this can be confirmed or amended as required.

Invoice Cost (Sales Ledger Only)

If you want to maintain invoice costs for management purposes, then you may be asked to input a cost value for the invoice to:

Enter here the cost value you wish to record against this invoice.

Document Totals

The analysis totals (goods amount plus tax) are displayed, and checked against the total you entered at the beginning. If these are equal, then menu options are displayed to allow update of the transactions, or to amend the transaction detail entered – select as required.

If the pre-entered total the analysis totals do not match, then the entered analysis totals are displayed and you are asked to go back and re-confirm the document total and analysis lines.

Document Total Confirmation

Scanning the Invoice (P/L Only)

During transaction entry, and after updating the purchase ledger (and job costing) files, then the system can offer to scan in the supplier invoice.

Scan Method – there are three configuration options for scanning, plus an option to omit the scan for this invoice, these are:

Scan Automatically – the scan is processed automatically, no preview of the scanned document is displayed and no further user interaction is required. This option may be disabled if your scanner does not support this option.

Scan with Preview – the scan is processed automatically, but not saved and a preview of the scanned document is displayed.This can then be rescanned if not clear, upside down (!), etc. before saving.

Scan with Preview and Manual Settings – on selection of this option the scan isn’t processed automatically but instead your scanner software and options are loaded for the scan. When the scan is complete it is returned to the preview display for acceptance, or re-scan.

Device – this option lists the available scanners installed on your pc for selection.

Options – various run-time options are available to configure the scan, these are:

Multiple pages – if the supplied invoice is two or more pages then selecting this option ensures that the automatic scanning processes prompt for additional pages after the first page is scanned.

Scan Mode – options available here will depend on your scanner; typical options include Colour, Greyscale and Black & White.

Scan Resolution – the DPI setting for the scan process.

Once the scan is complete you can enter another invoice as required. Purchase Credit entry proceeds in the same manner, the scan options occurring after update of files but before allocation options.

Scanning with Preview Mode – if scanning with preview mode then after the scan is processed the scanned invoice document is displayed.

If the scan display is correct, and no further pages are required, selecting the SAVE button saves the scanned document and exits back to transaction entry options. Selecting SCAN asks whether you wish to replace the current page or append a further page, select as required. Selecting EXIT abandons the scan, after prompting you to confirm this is what you required.

At the bottom left of the screen are options to zoom the scan display in and out. If the scanned document consists of multiple pages then at the bottom right of the screen are options to move between the pages.