Documentation/ Consolidation/ When it does not add up
Consolidation queries
When an invoice does not agree with its delivery notes and the difference has to be taken up with the supplier, you record a query on the invoice itself: written down, visible, and outliving whoever spotted it.
On this page
What it is for
A difference spotted and not written down is lost. Whoever checks today is not necessarily the person who will speak to the supplier next week, and by then the detail, which line, what quantity, what amount, is in nobody's head.
The query leaves a record on the document, so anybody who opens it sees there is something outstanding and what it is.
Recording a query
- On the invoice's consolidation tab, use Flag a query.
- Write the description of what you found.
- Save.
The invoice is then marked as having a query on it, visible whenever the document is opened.
What to write
The description is free text, and how useful it is depends on how specific you make it. Worth including:
- Which line or item the difference is on.
- What the invoice says and what the delivery note says: quantity, price, or both.
- How much the difference is.
- The delivery note number concerned, if it is one in particular.
A description along the lines of "does not add up" is no use to whoever reads it later. One along the lines of "delivery note 4471: invoiced for 24 cases, note delivers 20; difference €86.40" lets somebody take it up without going back through the document.
Clearing a query
When the matter is settled, the supplier issues a credit note, the missing delivery note turns up, the invoice turns out to be right, the query is cleared by emptying the description and saving. The application confirms it has gone.
The road out is the road in: what is in the field is what decides whether the query exists.
Cases that deserve one
| Situation | What to write down |
|---|---|
| Billed for more than was delivered | The item, both documents' quantities and the difference. |
| A price above the one agreed | Price invoiced, price agreed and the total difference. |
| An item billed with no delivery | The line concerned and the amount. |
| A delivery never invoiced | The outstanding delivery note number. |
| A delivery note invoiced twice | The numbers of both invoices involved. |
| The delivery note is not in the system | That it is still to be received or uploaded. |
On accounts with consolidation with AI switched on, that last case usually comes identified for you: the proposal names the exact delivery note number the invoice mentions and cannot find.
What it does not do
- It does not block the document. An invoice with a query on it can be approved and sent if you decide to.
- It does not tell the supplier. It is an internal note; you take it up the way you always would.
- It does not correct the amounts. It records the difference, it does not adjust it.
- It is not a substitute for correcting when the error is in the reading rather than the supplier: in that case you fix the value.