Enter ad hoc invoices (command-l or control-l)

Use the option ‘Enter Ad hoc Invoices’ only to create new Invoices or Credit Notes for items unrelated to any specific Order, Job, Service Call or Event Attendee, or if these Volumes are not present. So, for example, producing an Invoice for an additional charge to a given Order should be produced via one of the Invoice functions within the Order, whilst perhaps an Invoice for services rendered could be produced here.

Note that once an Invoice has been posted to the Nominal Ledger, many of the fields cannot be altered. If you realise you have made an error in an Invoice after it has been posted, the only way to reverse it is by raising a Credit Note followed by the correct Invoice. Then, allocate the Credit Note against the original, erroneous, Invoice using the ‘Invoice Receipt’ function described later in this chapter. Do not attempt to correct the error by journal in the Nominal Ledger. If you do this, you risk introducing errors to your Sales Ledger and your control Accounts.

Note that if you wish to create a Goods Out Stock Movement for the items you are invoicing, you should first enter a Sales Order and create the Invoice from there. The ‘Enter Ad hoc Invoices’ function does not create Goods Out Stock Movements.

Whether you are entering a new Invoice, or checking on screen an Invoice produced from an Order, the information required for an Invoice is described below. When using the function ‘View Sales Ledger’ the same screen (with a different heading) will be used if you want to view a Receipt.

Invoice No

This number will be created sequentially by the system, so should usually be left alone. If you do want to change the sequence, don’t do it here, but in the ‘Unique File Nos’ list within Preferences in the Data Manager.

Note that when creating Credit Notes, they may either follow a separate numbering sequence or be part of the Invoice numbering sequence. You may inform Enterprise 6 of your preference using the ‘Credit Notes use separate Unique No’ check box on the Sales Orders & Ledger screen of Preferences.

Company

Type here the Company Code of the customer involved. Enter the first four letters of a Company (or Surname for private individuals). If there is only one Company in your database starting with the letters typed, the details will be brought up; if there is more than one you will need to choose from a selection on the right of the screen; and if there are none you will be prompted to ‘Create it’ (See ‘Enter Companies’).

Contact

Either after or before entering the Company, you can specify a Contact name. If you have put in the Company and enter an @ sign and there is only one Contact at that Company, his/her full name will be confirmed immediately. If more than one exists, you can select from a list that appears, or ‘Add’ it. You may also enter a Surname or Forename into the box and the system will search by these.

If no Company Code has been entered, you can enter a Contact Code or part of their first or surname. Selecting a Contact from the resulting list will cause the appropriate Company Code to be brought in as well.

Invoice date

This is the date to appear on the Invoice - it assumes today’s date but can be changed. The Period below is calculated from this date.

Terms

The Payment Terms for the Invoice will default from those set when entering the Company, but can be changed for a particular Invoice. A list appears with the available options - click on one to choose it or Cancel to ignore the list and type your own. Note that, if you wish the Due Date to be calculated from the Terms, you should enter the number of days as a number, not a word - ie 30 not Thirty.

‘Proforma’ is one of the Choices options for the Terms field. This is not automatically used for Proforma Invoices, because you may wish to indicate to the customer what the Terms will be on a proper Invoice. However, if you do use the Terms ‘Proforma’, these will automatically be replaced by the Preferences or Company default Terms when you create an Invoice from the Proforma (by using ‘Copy Previous’).

Due date

This is calculated automatically, based on what is entered in the Terms field. Therefore, Pay on Invoice results in the Due Date being the same as the Invoice date. 30 Days results in a Due Date of Invoice Date + 30. The number of days in Terms must have been entered as a number, not a word - ie 30 not Thirty.

Period

The current open Period will automatically be inserted here, but can be changed to any other open Period (if there are good accounting reasons).

Debtors acc

This is not the Sales Analysis Account, but the opposite side of the double entry, where the ‘debt’ for the invoice is stored until the Invoice is paid. It need not usually be changed from its default, but there may be circumstances where it would - eg if you are billing on behalf of others who may want to see their ‘debts’ shown separately.

Analysis

Invoices can be allocated different Analyses to allow, for example, the departmental analysis of different kinds of sales or, more fundamentally, multi-company accounting. A suitable Analysis or Department Code can be entered here for future reporting purposes. If the Analysis or Department has a separate address and/or VAT Code (entered using the ‘Analyses’ function in the Data Manager), these will appear on the Invoice and will control the subsequent posting of the VAT.

A default Analysis will be taken from that specified for the user in their Personnel record.

Layer

This field is only enterable if the Multi-layer Accounting companion volume is present. It will be used when posting to the Nominal Ledger. It will normally default to the Layer setting for the Invoice Transaction Type or, if absent, the Actual Layer set in the Accounts section of Preferences.

Credit stage

These are set up in the Accounts section of the Nominal Ledger. This function is used to identify the stage the invoice has reached in the potential hierarchy of chasing letters. Each stage has a Letter Code and a field for the number of Days after the Due Date that the letter should be sent. The ‘Payments Chasing’ option in the Word Processing volume will search for all Invoices at a certain Credit Stage, send the appropriate letters and, if necessary, advance the Invoices on to the next Credit Stage.

You might also want to create a stage which indicates invoices that are in dispute.

A Credit Stage can be set up in Preferences to which all new Invoices will default.

Your ref

Type in the customer’s Order Number, if known. This will be carried forward from the Order, Job or Attendee Order Number if entered there.

Comments

Any length of comments can be made about the Invoice. Note that, when viewing an Invoice created remotely (for example, in the Sales Order Processing or Job Costing volumes), any Comments on those screens will be brought forward to this screen. This can be seen in the example illustrated, which is an Invoice created from the Jobs volume.

To obtain a larger version of this field, ensure your cursor is within it and use the ‘Expand Text’ item on the Functions menu.

Print

Switch this check box on if you wish the Comments to be printed on the Invoice. When creating Invoices from the Sales Order Processing volume, this check box will automatically be switched on if the Print on Invoice check box on page 2 of the Sales Orders screen is on. The comments will be printed as the first item on the invoice. The check box’s default is controlled by the Preference ‘Print Orders’ and Invs’ Comments’.

Currency

Enter here the Currency of the Invoice. A default will be placed in this field, which you can determine on the Sales Orders & Ledger screen of Preferences.

UK/EC VAT

This field is used to signify whether the Invoice represents a transaction with a Company within the UK, the European mainland or the elsewhere. Consequently, the only legal entries are “U”, “E” or a blank respectively. When a Company Code is entered, this field defaults to the correct value as set up for that Company.

EC VAT reg no

This field defaults to the EC VAT Registration Number of the Company in whose name the Invoice is being raised. The left part of the field features a selection list of EC Registration Prefixes including the latest EC additions of Sweden, Finland and Austria.

Once the VAT Registration Number itself has been entered, Enterprise 6 will check that the official format has been used. Numbers entered incorrectly will cause a warning to appear which will show the correct format. Belgium, for example, requires nine digits, represented in the ‘Try again’ message as ‘999999999’. Meanwhile Ireland requires eight characters, including one alpha as the last character or two alphas as the second and last characters. This is represented as ‘9999999X’ or ‘9X99999X’. All the others have different variants of these themes except for Britain which can optionally have spaces (‘999 9999 99’), Austria which must start with a U (‘U99999999’) and Netherlands which must have a B in the third from last position (‘999999999B99’).

Base text

Unlike the Comments field, any text in this field will always be printed on Invoices, towards the bottom left under the Items.

To obtain a larger version of this field, ensure your cursor is within it and use the ‘Expand Text’ item on the Functions menu.

Ex tax

The Invoiced amount excluding Tax is filled in automatically when you print the Invoice (and confirm it was OK), and can subsequently not be changed.

Tax

The total Tax figure of the Invoice is filled in automatically when you print the Invoice (and confirm it was OK), and can subsequently not be changed.

Total

The Invoiced amount including Tax is filled in automatically when you print the Invoice (and confirm it was OK), and can subsequently not be changed.

Received

This field contains the amount received against this Invoice to date. It is kept up to date by the ‘Invoice Receipt’ function.

Due

This field contains the amount owing against this Invoice to date. It is kept up to date by the ‘Invoice Receipt’ function.

The Items included list contains a list of all the lines of the Invoice. To create a new item, press the [+] button in the Buttons Palette or use <Command-N> (Macintosh) or (Windows).

Note that the Sales Ledger Items are stored in a subfile. This means that, when adding columns using the ‘Definitions’ option on the [Editable/Selectable mode] button, you should choose ITEMS from the Fields pop-up and enter the field name in the Formula field. Then, amend the Column Title appropriately. The correct field names are Product Code, Product Name, Quantity, Description, Print Desc, Sales Price, Amount, Tax Code, Tax Amount, Total Amount, Sales Acc, Analysis Code, Order Code, Cost Amount, Item Number and Price Per.

Users with access to Sales Order Processing will create most of their Invoices remotely from there and will not use this screen very often. When checking Invoices that have been created from Sales Orders, most of the fields of Items that were transferred cannot be edited. The exceptions are the Product Name, Description, Tax Code, Tax Amount, Sales Account and Analysis Code. The purpose of this is to minimise discrepancies between the Sales Ledger and Sales Orders. You are not prevented from adding and fully editing new Invoice Items and, of course, there is no restriction when checking Invoices which are independent of Sales Orders. Irrespective of source, Invoices cannot be edited once they have been posted. The information stored within the list is as follows:

Product

Type in all or part of the Product Code in conjunction with the @ sign, and the name of the Product will be confirmed on the right. The Product Code is in fact optional: you can also go to the second Product Name box and type any free text to give a full description of work done, or add items such as Delivery at the Invoicing stage without reference to a Product Code.

Depending on the setting of the Preference ‘Transfer Discount to Inv Product’, which appears in the Sales Orders & Ledger section, when Invoices are created from Orders or Jobs, each Order or Cost Item that contains a Discount figure can, in the corresponding Invoice Item, have text of the pattern ‘@ 20% Discount’ added to the Product Name. This will therefore be printed on the Invoice. Products without a Product Code, Quantity or Amount (ie with just a Product Name) are treated as single line descriptions and appear as such on the printed Invoice. Therefore, no quantity, tax or amount will be printed in such instances.

Description

This field is below the Product Name in the included list. It defaults to the Description of the Product in the Products File. Double clicking on the Invoice Item will bring it up in a full screen layout containing a check box which should be switched on if you want this Description to be printed on the Invoice. The default of this check box is determined by the setting ‘Print their Items’ Descriptions’ in the Sales section of Preferences. If printed, the Description will appear under the Product Name, slightly indented and in a font one size smaller.

Quantity

Quantity defaults to 1 for a new item, but can of course be changed.

Price per

This is an additional field that is used when the Sales Amount of an Invoice Item is calculated. The calculation used is Amount = (Quantity/Price Per)*Price or, if the Amount field is changed, Price = Amount/(Quantity/Price Per). It should be used when the Sales Price brought in from the Product record refers to a multiple quantity of that Product. The value in the field will default to the Price Per entered for the Product. It is impossible to set the Price Per field to 0 - in this event, it will reset itself to 1. The field is a Real number, which means that you can use Decimal places if you require, though this will of course make Amounts rather less intuitive.

The Price Per field will not appear as a column on the standard Enterprise 6 forms, but can be added to the SuperReport forms. To do so, duplicate the ‘SRQtyT’ box in the Items section of the Forms, then double-click and rename it ‘SRPricePerT’. The ‘T’ stands for Text, because the value is converted to a text value, so that 1 can appear as 1 instead of 1.0 whilst 1.5 still appears as 1.5. You will want to add a column heading above the new field - use the [A] Palette tool to create one (in 10 point Times Italic if you have modified the default forms). Note that when Enterprise 6 is launched for the first time, this field will not appear in the Items included list. If you would like it to appear, select ‘Definitions’ using the [Editable/Selectable mode] button in the bottom right-hand corner of the Items list, click [+] in the Buttons Palette, choose ITEMS from the Fields pop-up and enter “Price Per” in the Formula field. Then, amend the Column Title to read “Price Per”, choose the Column Number (probably 3 to appear after Quantity) and finally click [√].

WARNING: This feature should be used with caution since a Price Per is not specified for each Product and therefore cannot be brought in together with a Products’ default Sales Price upon entry of a Product Code. Stock control also does not take account of the Price Per field.

Price

The Price defaults from the Actual Sales Price stored within the Products file. If you change the price here, if you have the correct clearance in your Personnel record and the Product is one which permits such changes, you will be asked if you want to update the Price stored within the Products file - do so only if you want this Price to be remembered for each future occasion. Leave the Price at 0.00 if the line is used purely for description - the zeros will be replaced with blanks on the actual Invoice form.To create a credit item, simply type in a negative Price (using the minus symbol). Don't type both a negative Price and Quantity, since this results in a positive.

VAT

The VAT Code of S - Standard is assumed for each item. Change this if VAT does not apply. The VAT amount will be calculated automatically.AccountThe Item's Account Code indicates to which Nominal Ledger Sales Analysis Account this item will be posted, and is assumed initially from the Code set up within the Sales Invoice Transaction Type or from the Sales Account set up for the Product being used if available. It may nevertheless be changed here - but be sure to enter an Account in the correct Sales range.

Analysis

This optional Analysis will be posted along with the Account Code as above.This field provides the opportunity to specify an Analysis or Department Code of an Invoice Item separately to that of the Invoice as a whole to allow, for example, for the departmental analysis of different kinds of sales. However, when a Receipt is received against the Invoice, that is accounted for using the Invoice-level Analysis. Therefore, for true multi-company accounting, all Invoice Items should carry the the same Analysis as the parent Invoice.In pursuit of this aim of consistency, Analyses of each Item will default to that of the Invoice as a whole if specified. The Analysis of each Product will not be used as a default unless the parent Invoice Analysis is blank. All Items copied in from Sales Orders will be given the Analysis of the Sales Order (or, if that is not specified, the default Analysis as set up for the Invoice Transaction Type in the Data Manager).