Correcting a purchase mistake

Summary

Purchase entry goes wrong in ordinary ways. A figure gets keyed wrong, a line lands on the wrong nominal code, a payment gets recorded against the wrong invoice, or a whole document turns out to be a duplicate.

There are three fixes, and picking the right one saves work.

• Edit fixes the invoice’s details: the supplier’s invoice number, the dates, the header nominal code, the description and notes. On a totals-only invoice it also fixes the net and VAT.
• Void and re-enter fixes anything on the lines of an itemised invoice, and anything else Edit cannot reach. Lines cannot be changed once an invoice is confirmed.
• Reverse takes back a payment recorded in error.

Prerequisites

• Permission to create and edit purchase invoices.
• To void, permission to void purchase invoices. Owners and Managers have it. Service advisors do not.
• To reverse a payment, permission to record purchase payments.

Steps

Edit an invoice’s details

Use this when the document belongs in your books and a detail on it is wrong.

1. Open the purchase invoice and select Edit.
2. Change the supplier’s invoice number, invoice date, due date, nominal code, description or notes.
3. Select Save Changes.

Two limits apply.

1. The supplier is locked. If the invoice went against the wrong supplier, void it and enter it again.
2. On an itemised invoice the net and VAT are locked. Scanned invoices and invoices entered line by line take their totals from the lines, and the lines cannot be edited after you confirm. To correct a line, void the invoice and re-enter it.

If the invoice has payments recorded and you change the amounts on a totals-only invoice, a warning tells you the change may put the payments out of step. Check the figures before you save.

Know what the nominal code does before and after you confirm

This trips people up, because the behaviour changes at the moment you confirm and nothing on screen says so.

1. While you are reviewing a scan, lines set to Same as invoice follow the header nominal code. Change the header and those lines move with it.
2. Once you confirm, every line keeps the code it had. Changing the header code on a confirmed invoice moves nothing on the lines.

So if a line on a confirmed invoice is coded wrong, changing the header will look like it worked and will not have. Void the invoice and re-enter it with the right code on that line.

Fix a purchase coded to a sales code

Purchase screens no longer offer sales codes, but invoices entered before that change can still carry one. Where the lines have no code of their own (every header-only invoice, and invoices entered before lines had their own codes), the lines follow the header, so changing the header fixes the whole invoice.

1. Open the invoice and select Edit.
2. Pick the right cost code under Nominal code. Sales codes are not in the list.
3. Select Save Changes.

You can still edit other details on such an invoice without changing the code. The sales-code check only runs when the code changes.

Reverse a payment

1. Open the purchase invoice and find the payment in its history.
2. Select Reverse. The dialog names the amount, date and method.
3. Confirm. The invoice balance is restored by that amount.

It cannot be undone, and a reversed payment stays visible on the record rather than disappearing.

A payment that was part of a bulk payment cannot be reversed on its own. Reverse the whole batch. See Paying a supplier with one payment.

Void a purchase invoice and re-enter it

Use this when the document should not be in your books at all (a duplicate, or an invoice entered against the wrong supplier), and when a line on a confirmed invoice is wrong.

1. Reverse any payments first. An invoice with payments cannot be voided.
2. Open the invoice, open the actions menu and select Void invoice.
3. Pick a reason, add a note if you need to, and confirm.
4. Enter the invoice again correctly. You can reuse the supplier’s invoice number, because a voided invoice no longer holds it.

What blocks a void: recorded payments, a credit note that refers to the invoice, or an invoice already synced to your accounting package.

If the invoice came from a scan, the scanned document goes back to your inbox for re-review, chipped Returned, with a banner saying which invoice was voided and why. So you do not lose the paperwork. When you re-review it, the lines are read again from the document, so check each line’s amounts, nominal code and part match before you confirm. If the same scan also recorded a delivery, the document stays with that delivery record instead. Re-enter the invoice by hand, or upload the document again.

Voided invoices stay on file. The purchases list hides them by default and shows a button saying how many are hidden. Select it to show them. A search shows voided invoices too, dimmed and badged.

Checking a suspected duplicate. Search the purchases list for the invoice number. The search ignores how the number is written, so 0903017486 also finds 903017486. Ctrl-click (Cmd-click on a Mac) each result to open both in new tabs and compare them. Void the one that is not the supplier’s real invoice. Search again afterwards and both still show, with the voided one dimmed. See Searching purchase invoices.

Fix a payment recorded on the wrong invoice

Reverse first, then void. In that order.

1. Reverse the payment.
2. Void the invoice, if the invoice itself was wrong.
3. Re-enter and re-record.

When the supplier got it wrong, not you

If the supplier overcharged you or billed a part you did not get, the invoice you entered is a true copy of their document. Do not void it. Ask the supplier for a credit note and record that. See Recording supplier credit notes.

A supplier credit note entered in error

A confirmed supplier credit note cannot be voided or edited yet. Check every line and reason before you confirm one. If one went in wrong, contact support before you record anything else against that supplier.

Money a bulk payment could not attach

When you pay a supplier’s statement in one go, money for invoices you did not hold yet is left over on that bulk payment. It is not a mistake to fix, and reversing is rarely the answer.

1. The invoice has now arrived. Enter it, then use Settle it from that money on the invoice page. The held money settles it and no second payment is recorded.
2. The invoice is never coming. Open the bulk payment and use Write this off with a reason. It cannot be undone except by reversing the whole payment.
3. You tried to record a payment on the invoice and it was refused. The message says a bulk payment already set aside money for this document, so recording another payment would pay it twice. Settle it from that money instead.

Settling and writing off are covered step by step in Paying a supplier with one payment.

Expected Outcome

• A corrected purchase ledger with the audit trail intact.
• Scanned paperwork back in your inbox rather than lost with the voided invoice.

Notes

• Editing or voiding an invoice in an already-filed VAT quarter changes that quarter’s figures, and Torqueflow cannot tell whether you filed it. A void removes the invoice from the VAT figures in every period, retroactively and silently. If the quarter is filed, that is a conversation with your accountant, not a quiet correction.
• Nothing is deleted. Voided invoices stay on file with who voided them and when.
• There is currently no way to cancel a goods receipt. If a delivery was recorded wrongly, check the existing receipt and speak to an owner.

Troubleshooting

Problem: The Edit button is not on the invoice. Cause: The invoice has been voided, or your role cannot create and edit purchase invoices. Fix: A voided invoice cannot be edited. Enter it again instead. Otherwise ask an Owner to check your role.

Problem: The net and VAT boxes are greyed out when I edit. Cause: It is an itemised invoice, so its totals come from the lines. Fix: Lines cannot be edited after confirming. Void the invoice and re-enter it.

Problem: I cannot void an invoice. Cause: Payments, a credit note that refers to it, or an accounting-package sync. Fix: Reverse the payments first. A synced invoice is corrected on the accounting side.

Problem: I changed the nominal code on a confirmed invoice and the lines did not move. Cause: After confirming, lines keep their own codes. Fix: Void the invoice and re-enter it with the right code on each line.

Problem: “That’s a sales code, so it can’t be used on a purchase invoice.” Cause: A sales code records income, so it cannot go on a purchase. Fix: Choose a cost code from the list.

Problem: I voided an invoice and cannot find the scan. Cause: It went back to your scan inbox for re-review. Fix: Look for the Returned chip in the inbox.

Problem: “A bulk payment already set aside … Recording another payment here would pay it twice.” Cause: A bulk payment to this supplier is holding money for this invoice. Fix: Open that payment and settle the invoice from the money it set aside. If the message says the payment also claims a credit you have not entered, enter the credit note, then reverse the bulk payment and record it again.

Problem: “This payment has been synced to Xero.” Cause: Reversing it here would put you out of step with your accounting ledger. Fix: Handle it in Xero.