Post invoices and credit notes

Find this screen

Open: Invoicing > Processing > Post Invoices and Credit Notes.

How to

Choose what to post

You can post invoices and credit notes from both Sales Orders and Invoicing.

Open: Invoicing > Processing > Post Invoices and Credit Notes

To change what's shown in the list, use the selection criteria and click Display.
Highlight the ones that you want to post.

You can use Ctrl+click to highlight more than one invoice or credit note.

Alternatively, select the invoices and credit notes from the Invoicing List and select Post (Invoicing > Invoicing List).

Post invoices or credit notes by number

Choose Post invoices or Post credit notes.
Select Range of invoice numbers or Range of credit note numbers.
Select the numbers from the From and To drop-down lists.

Post a single invoice / credit note

Choose Post invoices or Post credit notes.
Select Single invoice or Single credit note.
Select the invoice or credit note from the drop-down list.

Useful info

About posting invoices

Posting an invoice or credit note finalises it and updates your nominal accounts and customer accounts.

The invoice status is updated to Completed and no further changes can be made to it, although it can be reprinted. You can't post invoices and credit notes that haven't been printed. This is to make sure that you have sent the invoice to the customer before it's added to their account and you ask for payment.

Once the invoice or credit note has been posted:

You can see the details of the invoice and nominal account posting in the Customer Transaction enquiry. It shows here with a transaction type of Invoice and it's given a unique URN.
It's added to your customer's account balance and will appear on their next statement.
Once you receive payment for the invoice, you can allocate the payment to the invoice.

About stock levels and allocating stock to invoices from Invoicing

If you're adding stock items to invoices (from Invoicing), then the stock isn't allocated to the invoice until it's posted.

For stock items that use the FIFO or Standard costing methods:

If you don't have enough stock in the selected warehouse, then stock level will become negative when the invoice is posted.
For stock items using the Average costing method:

Average stock items can't have a negative stock level. If there isn't enough in stock, then the invoice can't be posted until the stock level is increased.

For invoices created from sales orders, stock is allocated and despatched before the invoice is posted. If you want to allocate stock to invoices before they're posted, then you'll need to use sales orders.

Posting to the nominal accounts

When you post an invoice or credit note, the value of each invoice line posts to the nominal account specified for the item. This means that one invoice can post to several nominal accounts. The nominal account used is usually anIncome type account on your Profit and Loss.

Any lines that don't have a valid nominal account are posted to the suspense account.

You can see the total values posted to nominal accounts and VAT rates on the Nominal & VAT tab of the View invoice screen (Invoicing List > View).

Any lines that don't have a nominal account are posted to the suspense account. To help you make sure that the correct nominal accounts are used for your invoices and credit notes, you can set defaults on your stock items and customer accounts.

For stock lines:

When you add a stock item or invoice and order item to an invoice, the nominal account set on the record is used by default. You can override this on the invoice if you need to. Setting a default nominal account on the record helps you to make sure that sales are recorded against the correct nominal account.

For example, if you sell both products and services, you might want to see sales for these separately on your profit and loss. To achieve this, you can record your product sales against a nominal account for products, and your service sales against a nominal account for services.

For free text lines:

When you add a free text line, the default nominal account set on the customer's account is automatically entered on the line. Again you can override it if you need to.

Fix it

The invoice can't be posted

This only occurs when there isn't enough free stock available to fulfil any stock item lines, and the stock item doesn't allow stock levels to become negative.

This will only apply to invoices (from Invoicing) that contain stock items that use the Average costing method, as these items can't have a negative stock level. For items using FIFO or Standard costing methods, the stock levels can become negative.

This doesn't apply to invoices created from sales orders, as stock is allocated before the invoice can be printed.

A report showing the invoices that have been posted and those that can't is produced automatically. Check this to find the stock items that are out of stock.

'No invoices / credit notes to display' message?

Click Display to make sure you selection has been updated.
Invoices or credit notes are not shown in the list if they have:
- Been posted already.
- Not been printed yet.

What happens when

The invoice or credit note is posted

When an invoice or credit note is posted, this:

Creates a sales invoice (SI) or sales credit (SC) transaction.
Updates the customer's account balance.
Updates the relevant nominal account balances.
Updates the VAT Return, when applicable.
Changes the status to Completed.
For invoices from Invoicing with stock item lines:
- Updates the stock levels.
- Shows the stock item as allocated and despatched in the stock history.
Prints a report showing what's been posted, and what has not.

An invoice with a payment is posted

Creates a sales invoice (SI) and sales receipt (SR) transactions.
The invoice and receipt are allocated to each other.
Updates the customer's account balance.
Updates the relevant nominal account balances.
Updates the VAT Return, when applicable.
Changes the status to Completed.
For invoices from Invoicing with stock item lines:
- Updates the stock levels.
- Shows the stock item as allocated and despatched in the stock history.
Prints a report showing what's been posted, and what has not.