INVOICING - Invoicing & Commission Notes
What is INVOICING
a) INVOICING is used to produce Sales Invoices, Finals, Pre payments, Customs documents, Debit/Credit Notes, Reversals, Washout invoices, Circle and String invoices using the TRADE records. This procedure is sometimes customised for a Hivedome client whereas COMNOTE, INVPURCH, INVDIRECT are ITAS standard designs.
The accounting element is strictly controlled by ITAS and the 'piece of paper' is designed by the operating company using the DOCDES procedure and Word. This allows the operating company to have as many different invoice styles as required.
Hivedome will provide a sample template 'DOCDES' form for each mode of operation.
The TRADE counterparty can be replaced for the purpose of Accounting records and ‘piece-of-paper’ production by entry of a different CLI account.
The results from INVOICING are a piece of paper (and it's various copies), a copy is secured for posterity (DOCMAN) and (optionally) the accounting SI, PI, DN or CN documents are created, either authorized for ledger update or held in suspense (DOCENT).
The Pre Payment process needs to post accounting entry between a Debtor(Bank) and a Suspense account producing a ‘piece-of-paper’. The CASH process will check that the TRADE payment term are suitably nominated (PHYSCODES) and will ensure entry of the suspense account (S01 /nomination). The user ensures that the DOCDES form selected is correct and has the special rule [onacc_amount] included. The first real Invoice to be produced will reverse the suspense account entry and will post the full proceed value to it’s correct account e.g. WIP. Tech note, phys18 contains the detail of pre payment. There is a TRADE right-click report ‘Pre Payments not invoiced’ to list all outstanding pre-payments.
Trade invoicing handles different modes i.e. washouts, circles, strings, returned goods, debit notes, credit notes, reversals and final sales invoice. When creating a debit or credit note using the Trading procedures, the revised tonnage and pack units are used to update the contract, whereby the user will be asked how the adjustments are to be handled i.e. write-off or create unallocated sub record. The Final sales Invoice process is very specific in its operation. There are specific DOCDESRules setup for circles, washouts etc and they would need to be incorporated into the relevant template(s). The rules that can be set up in the DOCDES/templates are viewed in the DOCDES rules help.
The procedure INVOICING can also be used to create manual invoices, debit/credit notes with no direct relationship to their TRADE records; this is an alternative to DOCENT. The purpose of this procedure is to enable the creation of SIMPLE accounting documents i.e. some additional charges that need to be raised. The templates are also designed in DOCDES but they can not access the sophisticated TRADE rules. To ensure that the relevant templates are used, it is suggested that a separate Manual Invoicing folder is maintained with those templates and nominated appropriately in DOCDES.
b) COMNOTE can produce Debit and Credit Notes (DOCDES template), mark the TRADE records for which a note has been produced and create the accounting documents. TRADE records can be open or close status BUT their WIP assigned accounts must be Open status. Archived TRADE records can not be processed. You can produce more than one COMNOTE for an agent/contract. These are viewed in TRADE using the multi-records feature on the commissions grid. You can reverse specific accounting records and their associated TRADE details.
c) INVPURCH is used to produce Purchase invoices using the purchase TRADE records. A 'piece of paper' can optionally be produced using a 'DOCDES' template incorporating its’ standard features. This process can handle several provisional invoices (if based on weight) and any number of Final invoices (for weight, pricing, qualities). When less than the full weight is selected for a TRADE record, the suggested invoice value is strictly pro-rata of the contract value (usually Price x tons and discount/premium). When the full (remaining) weight is applied, the suggested invoice value is the difference between full contract value and total invoiced value to-date. There is also the feature to apply an on-account %, this results in adjusted invoice value and correct marking in the TRADE record for invoice markings. The TRADE counterparty can be replaced for the purpose of accounting records and ‘piece-of-paper’ production by entry of a different CLI account. The accounting records are created and TRADE is updated with the actualized amounts. TRADE records can be open or close status BUT their WIP assigned accounts must be Open status. Archived TRADE records can not be processed.
Special conditions can be activated by Hivedome to handle under/over estimates in both INVPURCH and INVDIRECT. A PLR account is nominated to receive the under/over amounts that the user specifies in the application. See the help? on actualization % and Invoice amount.
1.How are Sales returns handled?
Answer: If all of the delivery is rejected, use INVOICING/Reversal. This will create a credit note for the full value and update the Sale contract accordingly. If only some of the delivery is rejected, use INVOICING/credit note. When the grid is displayed with original invoiced tonnage, overtype with the delivered and accepted quantity, also indicate how the rejected tonnage is to be handled (both sale and stock) and proceed to produce accounting, update database and create the 'piece-of-paper'.
2. When does a ‘SR’ document get created?
Answer: If there are no accounting document to be created, the ‘piece-of-paper’ is named with an unique code prefixed with ‘SR’ e.g. a Reversal has been generated and the original SI has not been authorised/posted so no reversal accounting doc is produced. This is because ITAS does not use a SI, PI, DN, CN reference without its’ accounting document being produced.
3. How can I view the ‘piece-of-paper’ created by the Invoicing procedures?
Answer: The corporate document management procedure is CMAIL, where by selecting the ‘Invoices Folder’ you can view, copy, print, edit, ‘save as ‘ any selected document. The procedure TRADE/Invoice marking displays a grid of all relevant invoices, debit/credit notes and by double-click on a document reference in the grid you will be able to view the ‘piece-of-paper’. Hivedome market a more sophisticated Document management system (DOCMAN) which integrates with ITAS.
4. How are discounts/premiums handled?
Answer: INVOICING recognizes that there is TRADE discount/premium and asks the question ‘whether the invoice price should be inclusive’ of discount/premium. NOTE: There is a specialist process for calculating a late delivery (CARRY) charge that can be applied to the Invoice price. This is achieved by the setup of a suitable Cost Type, which is nominated in ctrl07_carry. The TRADE cost grid can then maintain a non-actualised , exclude from p&L cost in the same currency and price code as the contract e.g. GBP 5 PMT. If the invoice date is outside of the scope of TRADE shipment period, the user is asked if they wish to include the additional CARRY charge PMT.
5. How are DOCDES templates made available to INVOICING?
Answer. When the templates have been built in DOCDES, highlight the folder and mouse right-click to use the feature Menu Options. This allows the user to assign a number of ITAS programs to use that folder and it’s templates. To complete the verification of the templates for use by those applications, highlight template and parse/lock it using the feature Lock from mouse right-click.
Answer. This is designed for the situations where a Provisional Invoice has been produced and the Final is completed when final weights are known and have been entered into ITAS. E.g. Delivery and provisional invoice are based on 100 x 50kilo bags, 5 MT @ $ 1000 pmt = invoice value $5,000. Final weights are agreed and the ITAS record is updated with 99 bags and weight = 4.935 MT. Final invoice value is $ 4,935 which less 5,000 provisional results in $65 credit to the counter-party. This scenario is different to Credit Note production, in that the Operating Company want to update their TRADE/traffic records before completing the Invoicing.
Answer. You will need to setup a suitable template with special rules inv_circle, inv_lowestprice. When you have picked your Sale involved in the circle, you will be presented with a grid of contract details for entry of minimal details of each part of the circle, this will include the price and counter party. The invoice generated will show all the buy/sell grid details of the circle and the invoice value will be the sale value less the lowest value in the chain. It will produce a zero value sale invoice if the lowest sale value in the chain is the operating company. Note that this procedure is not effective on an unpriced sale or purchase contract involved in the chain.
8. How are String Invoices created?
Answer. The main difference is that the counter party to be invoiced is unlikely to be the party on the Sale TRADE that you are marking. The override account is used to redirect the Invoice accounting and document creation. If you use the special circle rules (see above) in the template, you will be presented with a grid of contract details for entry of minimal details of each part of the circle, this will include the price and counter party. The invoice generated will show all the buy/sell grid details of the circle and the invoice value will be the sale value less the lowest value in the chain. It will produce a zero value sale invoice if the lowest sale value in the chain is the operating company. Note that this procedure is not effective if an unpriced sale or purchase contract involved in the chain.
9. How does ITAS handle Pre Payments (Pre Financing) for Purchase Trade
Answer. Use CASH option ‘Pay cash for Pre payment’ which will enable the user to enter one or several items to the Customer with their relevant Contract Number and value. The TRADE payment terms must be setup in PHYSCODES with the marking ‘Pre payment’. The accounting generated will post between the S01 nominated prepayment suspense account and the bank, using the EXP nominated code. The suspense account entries will include the customer account for reference, all viewed in HAQ/SRC. The TRADE /invoicing/Other will show the detail of the pre-payment to be used by the INVOICING procedure when the Invoice is processed. The INVPURCH and PINV procedures will allow application in part of the Pre Payment value when not full quantity being invoiced. This process will transfer the suspense amount to the WIP ledger and the Invoice ‘piece-of-payment’ will need the special DOCDES rule [prev_invoices] to show the pre payment value. There is another EXP nominated code to identify recovery of prepayment. There is a TRADE right-click report ‘Pre Payments not invoiced’ to list all outstanding pre-payments (pre finance).
10. How does ITAS handle PrePayment for Sale Trades
Answer. Use INVOICING/SINV option ‘Pre Payment’ which will enable the user to raise an accounting entry, create a piece-of-paper and mark the TRADE with relevant data. The TRADE payment terms must be setup in PHYSCODES with the marking ‘Pre payment’. The accounting generated will post between the S01 nominated pre-payment suspense account and the bank, using the EXP nominated code for Pre finance. The suspense account entries will include the customer account for reference, all viewed in HAQ/SRC. The TRADE /invoicing/Other will show the detail of the pre-payment to be used by the INVOICING procedure when the Invoice is processed. The INVOICING and SINV procedures will allow application in part of the Pre Payment value when not full quantity being invoiced. This process will transfer the suspense amount to the WIP ledger and the Invoice ‘piece-of-payment’ will need the special DOCDES rule [prev_invoices] to show the pre payment value. There is another EXP nominated code to identify recovery of prepayment. There is a TRADE right-click report ‘Pre Payments not invoiced’ to list all outstanding pre-payments.