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Create a customer invoice

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A Customer invoice for a sales order is a bill that is related to a sale, and that an organization gives to a customer. This type of customer invoice is created based on a sales order, which includes order lines and item numbers. Item numbers are specified and posted in the ledger. Subledger journal entries aren't available for a customer invoice for a sales order. For more information, see Create sales order invoices.

A Free text invoice isn't related to a sales order. It contains order lines that include ledger accounts, free-text descriptions, and a sales amount that you enter. You can't enter an item number on this kind of invoice. You must enter the appropriate sales tax information. A main account for the sale is indicated on each invoice line, which you can distribute to multiple ledger accounts by clicking Distribute amounts on the Free text invoice page. Additionally, the customer balance is posted to the summary account from the posting profile that is used for the free text invoice.

For more information, see:

A Pro forma invoice is an invoice that is prepared as an estimate of the actual invoice amounts before the invoice is posted. You can print a Pro forma invoice either for a customer invoice for a sales order or for a free text invoice.

Note

In the case of a system interruption during the sales pro forma invoice process, a pro forma invoice can be orphaned. An orphaned pro forma invoice can be deleted by running the Delete pro forma invoices manually periodic job. Go to Sales and marketing > Periodic tasks > Clean up > Delete pro forma invoices manually.

Using sales order customer invoice data entities

You can use data entities to import and export information about a customer invoice for a sales order. There are different entities for the information on the sales invoice header and the sales invoice lines.

The following entities are available for the information on the sales invoice header:

  • Sales invoice journal header entity (SalesInvoiceJournalHeaderEntity)
  • Sales invoice headers V2 entity (SalesInvoiceHeaderV2Entity)

We recommend that you use the Sales invoice journal header entity, because it provides a more performant experience for sales header import and export. This entity doesn't contain the Sales tax amount (INVOICEHEADERTAXAMOUNT) column, which represents the sales tax value on the sales invoice header. If your business scenario requires that information, use the Sales invoice headers V2 entity to import and export the sales invoice header information.

The following entities are available for the information on sales invoice lines:

  • Customer invoice lines entity (BusinessDocumentSalesInvoiceLineItemEntity)
  • Sales invoice lines V3 entity (SalesInvoiceLineV3Entity)

When you're determining which line entity to use for exports, consider whether a full push or an incremental push will be used. Additionally, consider the data composition. The Sales invoice lines V3 entity supports more complex scenarios (for example, mapping to the inventory fields). It also supports full-push export scenarios. For incremental pushes, we recommend that you use the Customer invoice lines entity. This entity contains a much simpler data composition than the Sales invoice lines V3 entity and is preferred, especially if inventory field integration isn't required. Because of differences in the mapping support between the line entities, the Customer invoice lines entity typically has faster performance than the Sales invoice lines V3 entity.

Post and print individual customer invoices that are based on sales orders

Use this process to create an invoice that is based on a sales order. You might do this if you decide to invoice the customer before you deliver the goods or services.

When you post an invoice, the Invoice remainder quantity for each item is updated with the total of the invoiced quantities from the selected sales order. If both the Invoice remainder quantity and the Deliver remainder quantity for all items on the sales order are 0 (zero), the status of the sales order is changed to Invoiced. If the Invoice remainder quantity isn't 0 (zero), the status of the sales order remains unchanged, and additional invoices can be entered for it.

You can view the status of the sales orders on the All sales orders list page. Use the Open customer invoices list page to view the invoices that you posted.

Post and print individual customer invoices that are based on packing slips and the date

Use this process when one or more packing slips have been posted for the sales order. The customer invoice is based on these packing slips and reflects the quantities from them. The financial information for the invoice is based on the information that is entered when you post the invoice.

You can create a customer invoice that is based on the packing slip line items that have been shipped to date, even if all the items for a particular sales order haven't been shipped. You might do this if, for example, your legal entity issues one invoice per customer per month that covers all the deliveries that you ship during that month. Each packing slip represents a partial or complete delivery of the items on the sales order.

When you post the invoice, the Invoice remainder quantity for each item is updated with the total of the delivered quantities from the selected packing slips. If both the Invoice remainder quantity and the Deliver remainder quantity for all items on the sales order are 0 (zero), the status of the sales order is changed to Invoiced. If the Invoice remainder quantity isn't 0 (zero), the status of the sales order remains unchanged, and additional invoices can be entered for it.

Inventory transactions are updated with the invoice number, and the status in the Line status field on the sales order is changed to Invoiced.

View the status of the sales orders on the All sales orders list page.

Consolidate sales orders or packing slips for posting

Use this process when one or more sales orders are ready to be invoiced, and you want to consolidate them into a single invoice.

You can select multiple invoices on the Sales order list page and then use Generate invoices to consolidate them. On the Posting invoice page, you can change the Summary order setting to summarize by order number (where there are multiple packing slips for a single sales order) or by invoice account (where there are multiple sales orders for a single invoice account). Use the Arrange button to consolidate sales orders into single invoices, based on the Summary order settings.

Split sales order invoices by site and delivery information

You can configure the splitting of sales order customer invoices by site or by delivery address on the Summary update tab of the Accounts receivable parameters page.

  • Select the Split based on invoice site option to create one invoice per site when posting.
  • Select the Split based on invoice delivery information option to create one invoice per sales order line delivery address when posting.

Post to Revenue account for sales order lines that have no price and no cost

You'll have the option to update the Revenue account in the General ledger for sales order lines that have no price and no cost.

To set up or view this information:

  1. Go to the Post to Revenue account for zero priced and zero cost sales order invoice lines parameter on the Ledger and sales tax tab of the Accounts receivable parameters page. (Accounts receivable > Setup > Accounts receivable parameters).
  2. Select Yes to update the Revenue account for sales order invoice lines that have no price and no cost.
  • If this option is selected, the voucher will contain 0.00 entries for the Customer balance and Revenue posting types. A revenue account is defined on the Inventory posting parameter page, on the Sales order account definition tab.
  • If this option isn't selected, lines that don't have price or cost information won't post to the Revenue account. Instead, the voucher will contain a 0.00 entry for the Customer balance posting type.

Line creation sequence number information

When you post customer invoice lines, you will have the option to create sequential line creation sequence numbers. Line creation sequence numbers are assigned during the posting process. By allowing non-sequential numbering, you can help improve the performance of customer invoice posting. Line creation sequence numbers can be used by third-party integrations that expect sequential ordering. Consult your IT department about any extensions that might integrate with line creation sequence numbers.

To set up or view this information, on the Accounts receivable parameters page, on the Updates tab, set the Assign sequential line numbers when posting customer invoice lines option:

  • Set the option to No to use non-sequential numbering for line creation sequence numbers.
  • Set the option to Yes to use sequential numbering. You must set the option to Yes for legal entities that have a primary address in Italy. You must also set it to Yes if the CustInvoiceTransRandLineCreationSeqNumFlight flight is disabled.

Additional settings that change the posting behavior

The following fields change the behavior of the posting process.

Field Description
Quantity Select the quantities to base the posting of the document on. The options that are available vary, depending on the type of document that you are posting, such as a packing slip or an invoice.
  • Deliver now – Select all quantities that are entered in the Deliver now field. Use this option to confirm or deliver a partial order.
  • Picked – Select all quantities that have been picked.
  • All – Select all quantities on the sales order that haven't yet been updated by the current document type.
  • Packing slip – Select all quantities that have been updated by a packing slip.
  • Picked quantity and not stocked products – Select all quantities that have been picked and all product quantities that aren't stocked.
Posting
  • Select this option to journalize the sales order.
  • Clear this option to print a pro forma sales order. Note: If you made an agreement for a payment schedule, the payment schedule isn't shown on the pro forma sales order. Payment schedules are shown only on actual sales orders.
Late selection Select this option to apply the selected query later. This option is used for batch jobs. The query is run when the batch job is run.
Reduce quantity Select this option to automatically reduce the delivered quantity when the document is posted, so that the delivered quantity equals the available inventory.
Print Select when to print documents:
  • Current – Print documents after each invoice has been updated.
  • After – Print documents after all the invoices have been updated.
Note: The Print field is available only if you select the Print invoice, Print confirmation, Print picking list, or Print packing slip option. For example, on the Form sorting page, you have set up the system to sort the information by invoice account. You can then select After to print the documents in a batch that is sorted by invoice account. Otherwise, the documents are printed before processing is completed, and the documents aren't sorted in the order that is specified on the Form sorting page.
Print invoice Select this option to print the invoice. If this option is turned off, you can post an invoice without printing it.
Send e-mail Select this option to send the invoice for a sales order to the customer as an email attachment after the invoice is posted. Attachments are sent as PDF and XML files. This option is available only if you select the Enable CFD (electronic invoices) option on the Electronic invoice parameters page. Note: (MEX) This control is available only to legal entities whose primary address is in Mexico.
Use print management destination Select this option to use the print settings that are specified for the transaction, document, or module on the Print management setup page.
Check credit limit Select the information that should be analyzed when a credit limit check is performed.
  • None – There's no requirement for the credit limit check.
  • Balance – The credit limit is checked against the customer balance.
  • Balance + packing slip or product receipt – The credit limit is checked against the customer balance and deliveries.
  • Balance+All – The credit limit is checked against the customer balance, deliveries, and open orders.
Credit correction Select this option to display the credit note as a debit in the voucher transactions.
Credit remaining quantity If you're posting a credit note, select this option to keep the remaining quantity on order. If this option is cleared, the remaining quantity is set to 0 (zero).
Summary update for Select how multiple sales orders should be summarized:
  • None – Don't summarize sales orders. For example, a separate invoice will be created for each sales order.
  • Invoice account – Summarize all selected orders, based on the criteria that are set up on the Summary update parameters page.
  • Order – Summarize a selected range of orders into one order that you specify. The orders are summarized based on the criteria that are set up on the Summary update parameters page. If you select this option, you must select a value in the Sales order field.
  • Automatic summary – If summary updates have been specified on the Summary update page, summarize all selected orders, based on the criteria that are set up on the Summary update parameters page. If summary updates haven't been specified, the order is posted separately.
  • Packing slip – Summarize a selected range of orders into one invoice for each packing slip. This option is available only if Packing slip is selected in the Quantity field.