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 two different fixes and picking the wrong one makes more work. Amend when the document is right and something on it is wrong. Void when the whole document should not be there.

Prerequisites

• Permission to create and edit purchase invoices.
• To reverse a payment, permission to record purchase payments.

Steps

Amend an invoice

Use this for a wrong figure, a wrong quantity or a miscoded nominal on an invoice that otherwise belongs in your books.

1. Open the purchase invoice.
2. Edit the lines that are wrong.
3. Save.

Three things block an amendment.

1. Payments recorded against it. Reverse them first.
2. Already synced to your accounting package. Correct it there instead.
3. Already voided. There is nothing to amend.

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, the lines follow the invoice’s header nominal code. Change the header and the lines move with it.
2. Once you confirm, they stop following it. Changing the header code on a confirmed invoice moves nothing.

So if a confirmed invoice is coded wrong, amend the lines. Changing the header will look like it worked and will not have.

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

Use this when the document should not be in your books at all: a duplicate, or something entered against the wrong supplier.

1. Reverse any payments first. A paid invoice cannot be voided.
2. Open the invoice and void it.

What blocks a void: recorded payments, a linked credit note, 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, and you can re-enter it correctly.

Voided invoices stay on file. The purchases list has an Include void filter so you can see them when you need to.

Void a supplier credit note

1. Open the credit note and void it.
2. If the credit note returned stock, voiding it puts that stock back on hand. The figures move on their own; the parts do not. Anything physically returned to the supplier may need re-shelving, or the stock count will be wrong.

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.

Expected Outcome

• A corrected purchase ledger with the audit trail intact.
• Scanned paperwork back in your inbox rather than lost with the voided invoice.
• Stock figures that match the shelf after a credit note is voided.

Notes

• Amending 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 documents 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: It has payments recorded against it, or it has synced to your accounting package. Fix: Reverse the payments. If it has synced, correct it in the accounting package.

Problem: I cannot void an invoice. Cause: Payments, a linked credit note, or an accounting-package sync. Fix: Deal with the payments and the credit note 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 no longer follow the header code. Fix: Amend the lines themselves.

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: I voided a credit note and the stock figures went up. Cause: Correct. The credit note had reduced stock, and voiding it undoes that. Fix: Check the shelf matches. If the parts really went back to the supplier, the stock now needs correcting.

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.