Accessing Supplier or Vendor Invoices

In this article:

• Overview 
• Finding Supplier Invoices
• Getting to Know the Supplier Invoice Page
• Additional Actions

Overview 

Supplier invoices are the expenses you pay to keep your firm in business. These may be general costs, such as utilities or office supplies, or they may be for expenses you ultimately pass on to your clients. Regardless, these are the bills that are issued to your company from a supplier that you must pay. 

For information on how to create supplier invoices using either a standard or quick-entry wizard method, see Creating a Supplier Invoice/Vendor Invoice.

Finding Supplier Invoices

Supplier invoices are typically found using the Accounting menu.

• In Actionstep, go to Accounting > Supplier Invoices* and choose Supplier Invoice. The Supplier Invoice page appears.

Getting to Know the Supplier Invoice Page

The Supplier Invoice page includes the following features (click on this image to make it larger, if needed):

A. Use the Filter menu to more quickly find the records you need. You can use the filter to search by date, supplier, salesperson, and many other options. (Use the Clear option to clear any existing selections.) You can also use the Filter for basic reporting, such as finding invoices due for a month or the total you have paid to a certain supplier.

B. Click items in the Seq. No, Our Reference, or Supplier columns to view the specific invoice. 

C. Click items in the Matter ID and Related Customer columns to view the matter associated with the invoice. 

D. Click the number in the Documents column to review existing or upload a new document attachment. 

Additional Actions

Once you select one or more invoices, additional options for working with the invoices appear above the list.

The following explains what each of these options does:

• View: After you've selected an invoice in the list, click View to open the invoice on a separate browser tab. 
• Status: Select one or more invoices and then click this drop-down menu to change the status for those invoices:
  • Lock/Approve: Choose this option to post the supplier invoice to your general ledger. You are moving it from draft to an open status.
  • Unlock/Revert to Draft: Choose this option to move an open invoice back to draft status so that changes can be made to it. 
    CAUTION: There are restrictions in Actionstep that will stop an invoice from being moved back into draft status. These can include:
    
    • Having a payment made against the invoice.
    • Having a credit applied to the invoice.
    • Having the invoice included in a sales tax/VAT return.
    • Data permissions can prevent a user from being able to "unlock" a supplier invoice.
    • There is a setting in Accounting Preferences which prevents the user from deleting an accounting transaction.
  • Update status to Closed: Choose this option to move an open invoice to closed status. This indicates that it is fully paid. This can only be done to an invoice that is fully paid. Typically, this will not be needed as a supplier invoice is automatically marked as closed when paid in full; however, it may be that zero-amount invoices might not be marked as closed so this function will achieve that.
• Print: Select one or more invoices to either Print, Preview, Email as Attachment, or Download. Regardless of which option you choose, you will be prompted to select the supplier invoice template you want to use to complete the action. Note: These options to do not create a copy of the invoice that was issued to you by your supplier, but a PDF record of the invoice as it is recorded in Actionstep.
• Other: The Other drop-down menu includes the following options:
  • Upload Document: Use this option to upload a supporting document to your supplier invoice record to ensure you have complete records. For example, you should consider uploading a copy of the actual invoice you received from the supplier/vendor. You can also upload documents by clicking the number in the D (for Document) column of the Supplier invoice list.
  • View Uploaded Document: Use this option to view the names and file types of files you've already uploaded. 
  • View GL Transaction: Use this option to view the general ledger accounts that were debited and credited for the selected transaction. This is a useful way to audit how your supplier invoices are affecting your general ledger. There can be multiple transactions that are associated with a supplier invoice and a payment to it.  If the invoice hasn't been posted to the GL, this option will not do anything.
  • Mark as Sent or Mark as Unsent: Use this option to mark a supplier invoice as either sent or unsent. This updates the Sent Date and and Sent Via columns in the supplier invoice list. These columns are normally auto-updated if you use the Print or Print > Email as Attachment option.
    CAUTION: This option is typically used for sales invoices (bills you send to your client to pay you) and not supplier invoices.
  • Delete: Use this option to delete the supplier invoice. You can only delete an invoice if it is in draft currently. 
    TIP:  If you delete an invoice and later need to recover it, you can use the Filter option to find it and reset its status. To do this, clear the checkboxes for any invoices you've selected so that the Filter menu is visible again. Then select it and choose Show Available Filters. Set the Status to Deleted. This shows you all deleted invoices in your system. (You can apply additional filters to help you find a specific supplier invoice.) Once you find the invoice, either open it and use the Save button to change its status, or select the checkbox beside it and use Status > Unlock/Revert to Draft to save it as a draft. 
• Create Payment: Use this option to create a payment for the selected supplier invoice(s).

Related Articles:

• Creating a Supplier Invoice/Vendor Invoice
• Crediting a Supplier Invoice/Vendor Invoice
• Paying a Supplier Invoice/Vendor Invoice