Invoicing customer orders takes place towards the end of the customer order flow. The goods ordered have to be fully or partially delivered before invoicing is carried out. The order can be invoiced either manually or automatically. This is determined by the settings of the order type.
There are three types of customer order invoices as given below.
The invoice type can be set as either Normal or Collective through the Customer/Order/Misc Customer Info tab. Credit invoices can be created through the Create Customer Credit Invoices window or through the Return Material Authorization function.
The header status of an invoice depends on the actions that have been performed on it.
There may be instances where the customer order is placed by one customer but the payment is made by another customer. This can be recorded by specifying an invoice customer in the Customer/Order/General tab or Customer Order/Misc Order Info tabs.
The customer order invoicing process can take place in a number of ways, as described below.
This refers to the creation of normal or collective invoices.
Normal invoices- These are created when goods have been partially or
fully delivered for a customer order. In the case of a partially delivered
order, the invoice is prepared for the delivered goods only. The order should be
delivery confirmed if it requires delivery confirmation.
If the invoice includes rental lines the requirement for
creating the invoice is that rental events have been created. The rental invoice
line is based on the rental transactions and not on the delivery of goods. If
rental transactions have not yet been generated for the rental line, this can be
done as part of the invoice process. Rental invoice lines can be handled
together with sales lines on the same invoice. Delivery confirmation is not
handled for rental line and is not required in order to create an invoice.
Collective invoices- Two or more orders from the same customer may be invoiced together using a collective invoice. This feature can be used to prepare invoices at regular intervals rather than for each and every order placed by a single customer. It can also be used when more than one order is delivered at a time. Collective invoices may be prepared for all existing customer orders or only for selected ones. Collective invoices for lines delivered via shipment are also created here. If the orders are associated with projects for which the Project Unique Billing check box has been selected, separate invoices will be created for each project.
Customer order invoices can be prepared even before the goods are delivered. Advance invoices can only be prepared for up to one hundred percent of the total value of the order. Advance invoices cannot be prepared for customer orders with a header status of Delivered or Invoiced/Closed. It is also not possible for orders with order lines connected to billing stages or when self billing is enabled for the customer. Customer orders requiring delivery confirmation cannot be invoiced in advance. Advance invoices cannot be created when Jinsui invoice creation method is used. Customer orders may be invoiced in advance where the creation of collective invoices has been enabled for the customer. However, those orders which have been invoiced in advance will be excluded from the collective invoice. The status of the header does not change when an advance invoice is created. However, the Advance/Prepayment Based Invoice check box will be selected in the Customer Order/References tab and in the Customer Invoice/General tab of the advance invoice which is created.
Prepayment-based invoices are created before the goods are delivered, but unlike advance invoices, prepayment-based invoices are created only after a prepayment for a customer order has been received. The amount of a prepayment-based invoice should not exceed hundred percent of the total value of the order for which it is created. In order to deduct the prepayment made for the order from the final invoice, the prepayment-based invoice must be posted and offset against the relevant customer payment on account connected to the customer order. Prepayment-based invoices are not included in reminder proposals, interest invoicing proposals or direct debiting proposals. It is also not possible to pay or offset prepayment based invoices in any payment flow other than customer offset.
A customer order debit invoice or a customer advance debit invoice in the Posted/Authorized status can be used to create credit notes and credit invoices even when there are no material returns. This may be used when the data entered through the debit invoice needs to be corrected. A credit note (credit invoice) can be used when you give a cash discount or any such reduction in price, or if the goods connected to the particular order are returned by the customer.
A single customer order may have several credit invoices created for it and also for more than the amount which was originally debited. If a credit invoice has been previously created for a particular debit invoice, the total credited amount will be displayed in the Credited Amount field of the Create Customer Credit Invoices window. If you attempt to credit an order has been credited in the past, a message appears to inform you that this order has been credited before, along with the previously credited amount. This does not include credit invoices created from the Return Material Authorization window.
Self-billing occurs when a customer creates an invoice for himself and thereby eliminates the need for the supplier to create and send him an invoice in order to receive payment for deliveries. A Customer Self-Billing Invoice is created according to the details given by the customer, perhaps through an incoming self-billing invoice. The information provided is matched with the information in the customer order lines either manually or automatically. The Customer Self-Billing Invoice will be created once the matching has been completed successfully. The self-billing process can take place with varying levels of automation.
There may be deviations between price or quantity self-billed by the customer and the price or quantity expected. Each deviation can be given a reason and the action taken in response to this deviation may also be recorded.
The Invoicing of Fixed Price Agreements dialog box is used to create invoices where fixed price agreements are concerned. Invoicing is carried out by selecting one or more payment plan rows and entering the required parameters.
An agreement may be based on the number of items that you expect to buy during a particular time span. Prices may be re-negotiated at the end of such a period if the actual quantities purchased vary from the agreed quantities. In this case, a retrospective invoice can be created for all the items that have already been delivered.
An invoice can be modified to include changes to the data it contains provided that it has not been printed. Modifications can be accomplished through the Customer Invoice window. Such modifications can have subsequent effects on the system. This window also allows you to print the invoice or transfer it through EDI, MHS and ITS. You can also print a work copy of the invoice if you wish. Credit invoices which are in Preliminary state may be removed through this window as well. Additionally, you can view the postings related to a particular invoice.
The Print Customer Invoices window can be used to confirm printouts of customer invoices as well as credit notes. A customer invoice cannot be modified after it has been printed. The Print Advance Payments information on Customer Invoice check box found in the Invoice/General tab of the Company window needs to be selected if you wish to print information of advance payments. When a printout is confirmed it will be placed in the Report Archive, ready for printing and the necessary postings are created.
Invoices can be used to create a collective voucher of invoices which can then be posted as a group. This will be possible only if the customer belongs to a customer group with the "Use Collective Voucher" property selected when the invoice was created.
Vouchers are not created if there are errors in the posting lines. The voucher must, therefore, be created manually after any posting errors have been corrected. The Customer Invoice Postings Analysis window can be used to track down customer invoices for which vouchers were not printed. The Customer Invoices with Errors window can be used to create vouchers manually once the errors have been corrected. This applies to invoices printed or sent via Print Invoice or in IFS/Distribution. In the end the invoices are allocated a permanent identity each and a voucher is created and transferred to the hold table in IFS/Accounting Rules.