Allocating Supplier Invoices

The Allocation Status attribute of an invoice status code determines whether postings occur and if they affect transient or official layers. Invoice status codes have one of these allocation statuses:

No allocation to GL accounts is possible and no matching postings are created when you save the invoice. However, SI postings are created, unless the invoice status code has the status Initial.

You can allocate to GL accounts, and postings to the transient layer are created when you save the invoice. In financial matching, these postings are to the Unmatched Invoices and to the relevant expense accounts used to create the matching posting.

You allocate to GL accounts and create postings to the official layer when the invoice is saved. Postings to the official layer are to the Unmatched Invoices account and, by default, to the Purchases account you defined for this supplier. However, you can you another GL account other than the Purchases account.

You use this for financial matching and then choose the daybook you want to use to determine whether the posting is to the transient or the official layer.

You process the invoice through allocation by changing the invoice status code to one with the appropriate allocation status (Supplier Invoice Allocation Flow).

You can save an invoice as draft when your work is interrupted and you want to return to the invoice at a later time. Draft invoices do not generate postings when saved, and so do not affect the AP sub-ledger or general ledger.

In a typical scenario, an invoice is registered as an initial invoice by an accounts clerk or a mail clerk as soon as it is received. Initial invoices do not generate postings. Registering an invoice as initial prevents the document from being lost internally between receipt and accounts processing. The allocation amounts are then reviewed by the accountant.

Following review, the accountant may decide to update the allocation details, such as the amounts or accounts to which the amounts are to be posted. You can now open the initial invoice. When the invoice is saved with a non-initial status code and with a status of Transient Allocation, the system generates matching postings to the transient layer only. However, supplier invoice postings are also generated to the official layer.

When the allocation is approved, you can use Supplier Invoice Allocate (28.1.1.7) to save the invoice with a status code with Allocation selected. When you save the invoice in Supplier Invoice Allocate, postings are made to the official layer and you begin the payment process.

When you save a receiver matching with a status of Finished, the Receiver Matching process automatically moves the invoice from a status of No Allocation (before matching) to Allocation (after matching) using linked status codes. This is described in Receiver Matching.