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Operations Menu - Create Invoice

To raise an Invoice from a Sales Order, select 'Create Invoice' from the Operations menu. For the function to have any effect, you must first save all changes to the Sales Order (use the [Save] button). Usually you must have issued at least one approved Delivery from the Order: the exceptions to this are described later on this page.

A new record will be created in the Invoice register (in the Sales Ledger), and will be opened in a new window, entitled 'Invoice: Inspect'. This means that it has been created and saved and is being opened for amendment and approval.

The Invoice takes its information from the Order, and, as a default, assumes that all delivered Items are to be invoiced. If you have made and approved a partial Delivery, the Invoice will default to the Quantity of that Delivery. If you have made and approved two partial Deliveries, the Invoice will be for the aggregate Quantity of both Deliveries. If you have made two partial Deliveries, only one of which is approved, the Invoice will be for the Quantity on the approved Delivery only.

If the Order contains an Item that requires Serial Numbers, it will usually be in a single Order row with the correct Quantity. When the Delivery is created, it will contain the appropriate number of rows each with a Quantity of one. The Invoice can mirror the Order (i.e. with a single row for the Serial Numbered Item with the Quantity from the Order) or it can mirror the Delivery (i.e. with a number of rows each with a Quantity of one). If you wish to use the latter option, check the Invoice Based on Delivery box in the Order Settings setting. This will be useful if you need to have the Serial Numbers printed on Invoices as well as on Delivery Notes.

Usually, you must have issued at least one Delivery before you can raise an Invoice, so you cannot invoice an Item until it has been delivered. There are two exceptions to this:

  1. if you are using the Automatic delivery for Service and Plain Items option in the Stock Settings setting. In this case, Deliveries are not created for Service and Plain Items so you can invoice these immediately. If you are using this feature, take care not to create premature Invoices accidentally for services such as delivery and labour from Orders that also include Stocked Items. You must still deliver Stocked Items before you can invoice them.

    If you are using this option, when you add a Plain or Service Item to a Sales Order, the Del 1 and Del 2 Quantities will be changed to the Order Quantity when you save the Order. Therefore Plain and Service Items will never be included on Deliveries created from the Order. This also means that you cannot reduce the Order Quantity for such Items after you have saved the Order.

  2. if the Invoice Before Delivery box on the 'Del Terms' card of the Order or the Invoices Before Delivery box in the Stock Settings setting is checked. In this case, you can raise an Invoice for the whole Order before you issue a Delivery. If you have determined that cost accounting transactions are to be created at the point of delivery, stock transactions in the Nominal Ledger will still be raised when you approve and save the Delivery (i.e. use of the Invoices before Delivery check box does not affect cost accounting in any way). However, if you have determined that cost accounting transactions are to be created from Invoices, stock transactions in the Nominal Ledger will not be raised. When you raise the Invoice, the value of the delivered Item will not be known because the Delivery does not yet exist. In this case you will need to record this transaction manually in the Nominal Ledger.
You can change the Quantity of one or more rows on the Invoice screen as appropriate, but not to a Quantity that is greater than that delivered. You can also remove entire rows, by clicking on the row number to the left and pressing the Backspace key, or add new rows. If you need to invoice a greater Quantity than was delivered, you must do so by adding a new row to the Invoice. Ensure that the Update Stock box on the 'Delivery' card of the Invoice is checked so that stock levels are updated accordingly and, if appropriate, to cause cost accounting transactions to be created in the Nominal Ledger for the extra quantity. The Update Stock box will only apply to Invoice rows that are not related to the Order.

Two check boxes on the 'Debtors' card of the Account Usage S/L setting, Update Base Currency when Invoicing and Update Foreign Currency when Invoicing, control the Base and Exchange Rates on the 'Currency' card of the Invoice. If you are not using these options, the rates will be copied from the Order. If you are using them, the latest Base and Exchange Rates will be used in the Invoice. In the latter case, the prices in Currency of the Items in the Invoice will not be changed. This means the Customer will still be charged the agreed price, but the value of the Invoice in the home Currency (and therefore in the Nominal Ledger) will be different to that of the Order. If you want to update the pricing in the Invoice to reflect new Base and Exchange Rates (i.e. to change the price charged to the Customer but to maintain the original value in the home Currency and in the Nominal Ledger), enter the correct rates and then select 'Update Currency Price List Items' from the Operations menu.

If the Customer has been assigned a Default Item record ('Pricing' card of their Contact record), all Items in that record will be added to the Invoice automatically (they will not be shown in the Order or the Delivery). Note that these Items will not have a Quantity, so be sure to enter one before printing or approving the Invoice.

To print an Invoice, click the Printer icon. If the Invoice has not been approved and if you are not using the No Test Printout option in the Optional Features setting in the System module, the printed Invoice will be marked as a test print, so that you cannot confuse it with the final version of the Invoice.

When the Invoice is complete, click the OK check box and save. This signifies that the Invoice has been approved. Associated transactions in the Nominal Ledger (including cost accounting transactions if you are using this option) will now be raised and you will no longer be able to modify the Invoice. If you are raising part Invoices from an Order, you will be able to raise further Invoices even if the previous one has not been approved.

Please click here for a full description of the Invoice screen, including detailed information about approving and printing printing Invoices and Nominal Ledger Transactions.

To close the screen and return to the Order, click the close box. You will be asked if you want to save any changes. The Invoiced field of the Order (visible on flip D) will be updated automatically (you will need to close the Order and re-open it to see this).

If you run the 'Create Invoice' function from the Operations menu of the 'Orders: Browse' window, it will only create an Invoice for the first highlighted Order. If you need to create Invoices in batches, use the 'Group Invoicing' or the 'Invoice Delivered Orders' Maintenance functions. You can also create an Invoice by dragging an Order from the 'Orders: Browse' window to the 'Invoices: Browse' window. In this case, the new Invoice will not be opened automatically for checking and approval.

The Order and the Invoice will remain connected to each other through the Attachments facility. This allows you to open the Order quickly and easily when reviewing the Invoice, or to open the Invoice from the Order. When viewing the Invoice or Order, click the button with the paper clip image to open a list of attachments. Then double-click an item in this list to open it.

If the function does not create an Invoice, the probable causes are:

  1. There are no Items on the Order awaiting invoicing.

  2. The Order has a Project Number quoted on the 'Del Terms' card. If this is the case, the Invoice must be raised from the Job Costing module, using the 'Create Project Invoices' Maintenance function.

  3. The Group Invoicing Only check box in the Contact record for the Customer ('Terms' card) has been switched on.

  4. You have logged in as a user that is not permitted to create Invoices from Orders. This is controlled using Access Groups. To do this, deny access to the 'Invoice from Order' Action.

  5. There is no valid record in the Number Series - Invoices setting (in the Sales Ledger). This might be a fault in the setting itself, or it might be because the default Invoice Number on the 'Serial Nos' card of the current user's Person record or in the Number Series Defaults setting (in the System module) is not in a valid Number Series. This problem will usually occur at the beginning of a new year. If a change is made to the 'Serial Nos' card of the Person record, you will need to quit HansaWorld Enterprise and restart for it to take effect.
If you create an Invoice by mistake using this function, you can delete it using this procedure, providing you haven't approved it:
  1. Set the value of the Invoice to zero. Do this by removing every row from the Invoice or by changing all quantities to zero.

  2. Save the Invoice.

  3. Delete the Invoice using the 'Delete' command on the Record menu.
If you want to prevent the raising of an Invoice from a delivered Order, use the 'Set Order to Invoiced' Operations menu function.