Accounts Payable, when you capture an invoice to a supplier/vendor that has been already captured, say a duplicate invoice, an error message does come up as per the screen attached.
However they have been complaints and Audit findings from some clients that , this is wrong as it is leading a user that they can change system from the very start. So is it possible that the message can be reading, “ Error: Description: Invalid input. Document number XXX for Vendor ZZZZ already exist. Without it specifying that a character has to be added but rather the onus should be on the user to add a character to it without the system (as per highlighted screenshot) being pre-emptive as that is deemed as too leading.
by: Caesar P. | over a year ago | Financial Management
Comments
We have a situation where 2 of our suppliers have started to repeat their invoice numbers after about 5 years - rather than adding a letter or a fullstop at the end, I would like the ability to quickly check the date of the first invoice and if it was years ago, then be able to accept this 2nd invoice as is, without having to open up Vendor Activity and do a search.
The challenge is that the message tells the user what to do which Auditors have found it to be leading a user to act in that way
JANUARY 2015...... We just upgraded from Sage PFW to Sage 300 ERP on 1-5-2015. I NEED TO BE ABLE TO "OVER-RIDE" THE DUPLICATE INVOICE ERROR ("INVALID INPUT. DOCUMENT NUMBER FOR VENDOR ALREADY EXISTS").
We have 10 different sites/offices in our group.
For more than 20 of our vendors/utility providers, THEIR ACCOUNT# IS THE INVOICE#. We re-use their vendor-assigned ACCOUNT NUMBER, month after month, as our INVOICE#.
If i start making-up bogus invoice numbers, for ALL TEN OF OUR SITES -- for these 20+ vendors, they will absolutely/positively post our payments to somebody else's accounts!! It's gonna be an accounting NIGHTMARE!! =/
I NEED TO BE ABLE TO OVER-RIDE THIS ERROR MESSAGE & FORCE THROUGH A DUPLICATE INVOICE#!!! PLEASE HELP!!!
4-28-2015......SAGE 300 ERP -- YOU ARE KILLING ME!!!!!!! three months have passed. we STILL cannot over-ride the "duplicate document number" error in Accounts Payable. *****THIS IS ABSURD!!***** on what PLANET is it "good accounting practice" for me to be making-up bogus invoice numbers????? just so i can force-through invoices for our multitude of vendors WHO DO NOT USE INVOICE NUMBERS?!?!?!?!?!?!? i need to be able to over-ride the "duplicate document number" error message ((like we were able to do in Sage PFW)) and re-use the same VENDOR-ASSIGNED ACCOUNT NUMBERS in the invoice number field!!! that's what our vendors want to see on our check stubs. ((not some crappy, ridiculous, made-up invoice number))
Hi Amy H - couple of points :
- no need to shout
- Sage uses the Invoice number as a uniquifying key. In databases, keys cant be duplicate d- otherwise it wont know which record to read. Sage would need to add a separate unique key to allow this duplication, unlikely to happen.
- Simple solution - For each invoice number, type the month and year on the end, of the account number ex xxxxx-0615 . So it still has the account code and make sense to your vendors, is unique, and the month and year is actually useful info.
- If you wish to go further with numbering options (there are also some good add-ons in this area), or get direct feedback from Sage, go through your business partner.
Sage tracks Document Numbers but also allows you to specify your own number in certain screens. Let’s take a look at AR Invoices as an example.
The Document Number field on the AR Invoice Entry screen will always default to “***NEW***” for a new entry. This is the trigger that tells Sage 300 to grab the next available number when you click the Add button.
This check helps ensure that the Invoice Numbers follow in order. Sage 300 will also allow you key in your own Invoice Number. This is very handy if you have field invoices or integrate with third party software that generates the Invoice Number itself (such as Industrios 😊 ). Since Sage 300 doesn’t control a manually entered number, it does not attempt to update it’s internally tracked number sequence. Document Numbers in AR must be unique, so now we have numbers that could interfere with Sage’s sequence.
The best way to determine the Document Numbers that have been used, is to go to Accounts Receivable > AT Transactions > Document Inquiry. From there, click on the Finder, and scroll though the list to see what the next available Document Number should be.
Regards,
James