Posting purchase invoices

Summary

The following article explains how to post Purchase Invoices, Credits or Opening Balances in Platinum.

More Information

Go to " Purchase Ledger Purchase Ledger Postings".

Press <Enter> after entering each piece of information to be guided through the key fields you need to complete. Feel free to click on any fields which are skipped over if you need to complete additional pieces of information.

General Details

At "Doc. type", choose the type of document you want to post.
- Choose 'Invoice' if you want to post an invoice.
- Choose 'Credit' if you want to post a credit note.
- Choose 'Opening balance' if you want to post an opening balance. This is generally used only when setting up your Platinum system.

Please note that you may only post one opening balance per supplier. Any incorrect values should be corrected using the Adjustments option.

If you are Cash Accounting for V.A.T., please see this article before posting opening balances.

At "Supplier", enter the code or search for the supplier to whom the document applies.
Enter the "Document No", for the invoice or credit note.

This field will hold a maximum of 8 characters. If the number you have is longer than this, enter the last 8 characters only.

If you have chosen to post a credit note the system will match it to the invoice with the same document number else will prompt you to confirm you are posting an Unallocated Credit. Choose [Yes] to proceed or [No] to amend the Document Number you have entered.

At "Date", enter the date shown on the document from the supplier.

If the document date falls into a previous period or VAT period you may still enter the date as per the document. The system will include the item in your next period. However you may not enter a date prior to your current financial year.

At "Description", enter up to 15 characters to describe the document you are posting. This is what you will see when you view "Supplier History" and it is also carried through to the Nominal Ledger. What you enter here depends on what the document is for.
- If the document relates to units or whole goods, then the Stock Number(s) that you have allocated should be entered here in a consistent fashion, e.g. 'SN999999' would be sensible.
- If the document relates to other stock items, there should have been a purchase order created for them. The Purchase Order number should go here in a consistent fashion, e.g. 'PO999999' would be sensible.
- Overheads - if you are posting a document that relates to your overheads, e.g. rent, stationery, telephone, fuel and so forth, then it should be used to identify the nature of the transaction, e.g. 'Rent', 'Fuel' and so on.

At "Reference" you may enter an additional reference e.g the full document number if it exceeds 8 characters.

Payment

It is usual to leave this section blank and to mark the document as paid at a later date using the Payments progam.

If you are posting an invoice which has been paid on the same date it was issued, or posting a credit for which you received payment on the same date it was issued, you may enter the payment method and description here.

Enter the "Centre" the payment was made from/to, e.g. 'Z992 - Current Bank Account' or 'Z991 - Cash in Hand' or press <Ctrl+F1> to search for a centre.
Enter a suitable "Comment" e.g. 'BACS' or a cheque number.

To process payments at a later date, see this article and move onto the [Amounts] section.

Amounts

If you have chosen to post an invoice or a credit, enter the Nett amount(s) at the relevant V.A.T. rates. Rates 1-4 will show by default but you may click the drop down to select an alternative rate.

- Press <Enter> from the Nett field to calculate the V.A.T. automatically.

Alternatively, press <F3> or <F4> to calculate the V.A.T. on the Nett amount or Gross amount respectively.

Check that the V.A.T. shows the same figure as your invoice or credit note. Occasionally you will see a small difference due to rounding so amend the value to match the document you are posting.

If you have chosen to post an opening balance and are NOT on a cash accounting system, enter the total opening balance at "Totals".

If you are posting an invoice or credit from an EU based supplier, where the goods in question are zero rated in the UK, you may enter the nett value of the zero rated items into the "Zero Rated for UK" box. This is for information only and the field will appear only when your supplier has an EU country code and a VAT reg number. You may leave this blank if it does not apply.

If you are posting a document which has been issued in a different currency please see Dealing with currency accounting in Platinum? before attempting to post your document. You must post all documents in a single base currency, usually GBP, but may use the currency convertor facility to convert from a supplier currency to your base currency.

Advanced Details

If your supplier has noted payment terms on the document, enter the "Pay period" or "Pay date" here.

The due date can be calculated based on Supplier Payment Terms or entered as a specific date. To enter the actual date please ensure 'Payment & settlement periods as dates?' is set to 'Yes' in " Reports & Settings Maintenance Options System Administrator Platinum Settings".

If you are querying the document, you may choose to place it on hold using the "Hold doc?" option.

Leave "Expiry date" blank to put the document on hold indefinitely. See How do I take a customer\supplier invoice off hold? to remove the hold.
- If you choose to enter a date the hold will be removed automatically on this date.
Enter brief "Hold notes" e.g. 'Awaiting Credit' or 'Order Query'.

These pieces of information will be displayed in Purchase Ledger/Payments.

Settlement

If your supplier has noted settlement terms on the document:

Enter the number of "Days" in the settlement period or "Date" the period ends.
Enter the percentage settlment "Discount" specified on the document.

The settlement period can be entered in days or as a specific date. This field is configured in " Reports & Settings Maintenance Options System Administrator Platinum Settings". See 'Payment & settlement periods as dates?'.

This information will be displayed in Purchase Ledger Payments.

Amount Details

For invoices and credits, at "Centre", enter the Purchase Centre to which to allocate the document.

If you have automatic cost of sales turned on for Stock Control and are posting a purchase invoice/credit that relates to a Purchase Order, you should use the "Centre" for 'Stock Accruals', e.g. '400' to post the value of the document which relates to stock items. Any other element of the invoice e.g. carriage and costs of non-moving items, should be posted to the relevant centres - see this article.

If you have automatic cost of sales turned on for Unit Sales and are posting a purchase invoice/credit that relates to Units, you should use the "Centre" for 'Unit Accruals', e.g. '200'. Any other element of the invoice e.g. carriage and costs of non-moving items, should be posted to the relevant centres - see this article.

To allocate a document to multiple centres, e.g. Parts and Carriage, Units and Carriage, Gas and Electric, select the [Centres] tab and follow this article.

If you are running a multi-site operation, there will be a "Site" code field shown underneath the "Centre". If the document relates to a specific site, enter the site code here.

If the document needs to spread over a period of months, see this article for advice.

Highlighted in the "Amount details" section of the screen is the Purchase Ledger number. This is the unique transaction reference for this document. Write this number on the document as your reminder that it has been posted on the system, and so that you can find it easily.

Allocating Media

You may choose to allocate an image or document, e.g. a photo of a receipt or PDF copy of an invoice to the posting. This can be allocated directly to the posting or transferred from an image stored against the supplier.

Select the [Media] tab and either scan the image to attach, add a picture or add a document to the posting.
Alternatively any files attached to the supplier will be listed on the right of your screen.
- Select each of the files or images to move to the posting. The selected items will be highlighted.
- Click [Allocate].

Complete the Posting

Once the posting details are complete, press [Done] or <Esc> and <Accept> the document. The document will then be posted to your ledger.

You may be prompted to allocate the document to a unit expense, contract or outstanding orders. If so please see the links below.

Allocating Expenses to Units

If the posting relates to a unit expense, e.g. delivery or sub contracted work, see How do I log a purchase invoice as an expense against a unit?.

Allocating Costs to Contracts

If you have the Contract Costings module enabled you may be taken to an additional screen to log the document against a contract. See How do I add costs to a contract?.

Allocating Invoices to Orders

If you have outstanding Purchase Orders for the supplier, you may be taken to an additional screen to allocate the document to an order.

For Parts orders see Allocating a Parts Invoice.
For Unit orders see Allocating a Unit Invoice.

If the document does not relate to an order you may exit the order screen and confirm you are leaving the amount unallocated. It will still be posted to the Purchase Ledger.