Invoice Allocation Workspace

Use this workspace to enter new vendor invoices, allocate invoices to accounts and jobs, and process vendor invoices.

You can also use this workspace to reconcile a vendor invoice against a purchase order.

The Invoice Allocation's tab contains general and account information about the invoice or credit memo. In the sub-tab, you allocate the invoice lines to the appropriate cost accounts/jobs.

When you enter a vendor invoice in this workspace or in the Vendor Invoices workspace, you must allocate it to indicate the accounts and job-, item-, or asset-related purchases to which the invoice pertains. You can perform the allocation in this workspace before you post the invoice or in the Reallocate Invoices workspace after you post the invoice.

Depending on the type of purchase that the invoice covers, you can enter the allocation or reallocation using the following methods:

• If the invoice is for items for your warehouse, you must allocate the invoice in this workspace or the Reallocate Invoices workspace and select the For Inventory Purchase field for the allocation line. If you select the For Inventory Purchase field in the System Information workspace, Maconomy creates an allocation line with the full invoice amount and with the For Inventory Purchase field selected. You can edit the allocation line manually if needed. If you specify a purchase order number and a packing slip number that matches the delivery note number of a receipt that pertains to the specified order, Maconomy automatically creates an allocation line for each line on that receipt that resulted in an item movement. On the automatically created allocation lines, the For Inventory Purchase field is selected.

  The selection of the For Inventory Purchase field and the allocation of the amount cause Maconomy to create purchase transactions in the sub-tab of the Invoice Reconciliation workspace that corresponds to the vendor invoice that you entered. After you post it, you can reconcile the vendor invoice against the corresponding item receipt in the Invoice Reconciliation workspace.

• If the invoice is for acquisitions of fixed assets, you can create a fixed asset-related invoice allocation line. You can enter the information about the specific assets before or after the posting of the vendor invoice.
• If the invoice is not for items for your warehouse, you do not need to create any purchase transactions. Enter the relevant P&L cost accounts or job numbers in the Invoice Allocation workspace, depending on whether you want to enter the purchase directly in the G/L module or relate it to a job. To post the vendor invoice you must approve the allocation by using the Approve (Line) for Posting action in either this workspace or the Invoice Allocation workspace.
• If you have not yet decided where to enter the vendor invoice, you can postpone it until after it is posted. You can then enter it in the Reallocate Invoices workspace to the relevant cost accounts or jobs. In this case, do not allocate the invoice in this workspace.

Finally, you can reconcile purchase orders automatically in this workspace. You can perform the control and reconciliation of remainder amounts automatically by selecting the Margin for purchase order reconciliation system parameter, or manually using the Allocate Remainder action in the Action menu. For a detailed description of automatic purchase order reconciliation, see the introduction to the Vendor Invoices workspace and the description of the Margin for purchase order reconciliation system parameter in the System Parameters workspace in the Set-Up module.

You can also automatically allocate the invoice to expense accounts by entering an allocation code in the Vendor Invoices workspace or in this workspace. Maconomy then posts the invoice in accordance with the allocation code.

In the Copy Vendor Invoice island, you can specify a vendor invoice to be copied to a new invoice or you can reverse the effect of an already posted vendor invoice. Using the Reverse at Copying field, you can specify whether the invoice that you enter in this island should be reversed, that is, you can create a credit memo that is based on any given invoice.

When an invoice allocation has been completed, you must submit it using the Submit for Approval action. Next, the allocation must be approved according to the approval principle selected for vendor invoices.

When you submit a vendor invoice, Maconomy checks if the approval should be based on approval hierarchies or if the vendor invoice can be approved by all users with access to the approval actions. You create and maintain approval hierarchies in the Approval Hierarchies workspace in the Set-Up module. You can perform the approval at several levels, coordinated by an approval hierarchy. If so, Maconomy picks an approval hierarchy based on the invoice allocation information, and through this hierarchy, Maconomy identifies the people who need to approve the allocation. The criteria for whether a vendor invoice requires approval and who is to perform the approval can be the size of the amount on the allocation lines or the number of the vendor in question, for example. You can only transfer the invoice and post the amount after all required people have approved the allocation lines of the invoice.

You can only approve an invoice allocation for posting if the sum of the allocated amounts, less any inventory purchase amounts, in the Balance and Tax Balance fields is zero. If you make any more changes after you approve the allocation, you must approve it again.

You cannot post a vendor invoice journal if it includes invoices for which allocation has been started in this workspace, but allocation is not yet approved. In other words, the Allocation Started and Released for Posting fields in the Allocation, Currency island must either both be selected or empty before you can post the vendor invoice. The Status field in the same island displays the current status, such as Awaits Allocation and Awaits Posting of the invoice journal that is displayed in the workspace.

If you specify in the sub-tab of this workspace a company other than the company that is displayed in the tab of the Vendor Invoices workspace, intercompany postings between the responsible company on the vendor invoice and the specified company occur when you post the vendor invoice. These intercompany postings are of the type Vendor Invoice. However, if you do not select the Create intercompany entries for companies with same parent company system parameter, Maconomy only creates intercompany entries if the two companies involved are not both assigned to the same parent company.