Match and approve purchase invoices

To match purchase invoices is one step in the purchase invoice procedure.

After the invoice is fully matched, you can approve the invoice.

Note

In a multicompany structure, you can set up multicompany purchase invoice matching.

You can match Invoice Related to Purchase Orders to either:

  • Receipts of the ordered goods
  • Purchase orders

You can match Invoice Related to Landed Costs to landed cost receipt lines.

You can match Invoice Related to Freight Orders to freight orders.

You can process purchase invoices in two ways:

  • Process individual purchase invoices manually
  • Match and approve ranges of purchase invoices in a background job.
Note
  • If a receipt schedule is linked to the terms of payment of the invoice, you perform the described actions on the receipt schedule lines rather than on the invoice.
  • A purchase invoice can be used either in the match to receipts procedure or in the match to orders procedure. For example, if during automatic matching you have partially matched a purchase invoice to receipts, you cannot manually match the remaining invoice amount with a purchase order line.
  • In addition, purchase order lines can be used either in the match to receipts procedure or in the match to orders procedure. As a result, if you want to match a purchase invoice to multiple order lines, you must use the same matching procedure for all the order lines.
  • To avoid problems, you can use the same matching procedure in all cases.

  • If you use payment agreements, LN can only match invoice lines with purchase order lines that have the same payment agreement.

To match purchase invoices

You can match individual purchase invoices and freight invoices in the following ways:

  • Automatically

    LN automatically matches registered purchase invoices with the specified purchase order, packing slip, or load or shipment. If the invoice can only be partially matched, you can manually match the remaining unassigned amount.

  • Manually

    You can manually match invoices if you do not know the related order number, packing slip, or load or shipment, or if you want to match the invoice with multiple orders.

  • In a job

    You can match and approve a range of Registered invoices in a background job.

To approve purchase invoices

If the unassigned amount of an invoice is zero or within the tolerances, the invoice is fully matched and you can approve the invoice.

To approve the invoice, select the invoice and on the appropriate menu, click Approve in one of these sessions:

  • Purchase Invoice Entry (tfacp2600m000)
  • Match/Approve Purchase Invoices (tfacp2107m000)

When the invoice is approved successfully, the invoice receives the status Approved and LN creates several entries in the General Ledger. If the invoice is blocked, LN asks whether the hold reason can be removed.

To approve invoices for payment

In addition to approving the invoices for processing, you can separately approve purchase invoices and costs invoices for payment. In the ACP Parameters (tfacp0100m000) session, you can select the types of invoices for which payment approval is required.

If payment approval is required, an authorized user must approve the purchase invoice in the Authorize Purchase Invoices (tfacp1142m000) session. Only invoices that are approved for payment can be selected in the Select Invoices for Payment (tfcmg1220m000) session of the Cash Management module.

For more information, refer to Payment authorization in Accounts Payable.

To approve price differences and additional costs

When you try to approve an invoice, LN checks if there is any difference between the order amount and the invoice amount. Before you can complete the approval, you must process the differences:

  • Price differences caused by a changed price per unit or by a difference between the currency exchange rates on the order date and the invoice date. If the price difference exceeds the tolerance margins, an authorized employee must approve the price difference before you can approve the invoice.

  • Additional costs, such as freight costs, that were not included in the order. To create an additional costs transaction, click Add Costs on the appropriate menu of the Match/Approve Purchase Invoices (tfacp2107m000) session. The Matched Purchase Invoice/Statement Line Transactions (tfacp1133s000) is started, with which you can create a transaction for these additional costs.

    If the price difference exceeds the tolerance margins, an authorized employee must approve the price difference before you can approve the invoice.

For more information, refer to Authorization of price differences and additional costs.

To update the item's purchase price

After approval, the latest purchase price and the average purchase price for the matched receipt lines or the matched order lines are updated in for the ordered item in the Items - Purchase (tdipu0101m000) session.

To prevent the item's purchase price from being updated:

  1. Select the order line record in the Match Purchase Order Lines (tfacp2541m000) session.
  2. Choose Match Order Line with Modified Data on the appropriate menu. The Match Order Line Partially or with Price Difference (tfacp2150s000) session is started.
  3. Clear the Update Average/Last Purchase Price check box. The item's purchase price data is not updated. When the last invoice that concerns the receipt line is received, you can select the Update Average/Last Purchase Price check box. The item data is updated and price differences are calculated.
To correct purchase invoices

You can use the following methods to make corrections to finalized and non-finalized purchase invoices:

  • Credit notes

    Use a credit note to correct the invoice amount. A credit note can be related to a single invoice or to several invoices.

    For more information, refer to Credit notes.

  • Purchase invoice corrections

    You must create an invoice correction to correct invoice details other than the invoice amount, for example, the pay-to business partner, the document date, or the exchange rate.

    For more information, refer to Purchase invoice corrections.

To display the error log

To display the error messages that result from the matching and approval process, start the Error Log (tfacp2580m000) session. If you first select an invoice in the Match/Approve Purchase Invoices (tfacp2107m000) session, LN only displays the error messages related to the selected invoice.

The error log contains all the error messages that result from matching and approval in these sessions:

  • Purchase Invoice Entry (tfacp2600m000) if you use these commands on the appropriate menu:

    • Approve
    • Unapprove
    • Matching
  • Match/Approve Purchase Invoices by Range (tfacp2280m000)
  • Match/Approve Purchase Invoices (tfacp2107m000)

The error log only contains error messages. LN prints the confirmation messages of the Match/Approve Purchase Invoices by Range (tfacp2280m000) session, for example, about successfully matched invoices, on a process report.

The error log contains only errors that are not yet resolved. If you run the Match/Approve Purchase Invoices by Range (tfacp2280m000) session, for the transactions within the specified range LN adds new error messages and deletes the resolved errors from the error log.

You can use the Delete Error Log (tfacp2280m001) session to manually delete messages from the error log. You only need to delete the error messages that LN cannot remove automatically. For example, you can use the Delete Error Log (tfacp2280m001) session to delete error messages that result from the unsuccessful unapproval of an invoice.

Note

The following processes automatically delete error messages from the error log:

  • If you resolve errors and then repeat the matching and approval, LN deletes the resolved error messages.
  • If you archive and/or delete purchase invoices, LN archives and/or deletes the related error messages.

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