Documentation/ Document types/ Which type to use
Which type to use for each document
You choose the type before you upload, and it settles which list the document ends up in, what is pulled out of it and which checks run. Getting it wrong is not serious, a transfer fixes it, but it is worth getting right.
On this page
Two questions that settle it
- Who issued it? If somebody else issued it and your company received it, it is a purchase, an expense, a purchase delivery note, transport or customs. If your own company issued it, it is a sale.
- Is it an invoice or a delivery document? An invoice asks for money; a delivery note proves something was delivered.
Decision table
| What you received | Type |
|---|---|
| An invoice from a supplier of goods | Purchase invoice |
| An invoice for electricity, phone, rent, accountancy, insurance | Expense invoice |
| An employee's payslip | Payslip: a type of its own, with no supplier and no VAT |
| An invoice you raised to a customer | Sales invoice |
| An invoice for carriage or from a haulier | Transport invoice |
| A hotel or wholesaler invoice to a travel agency | Purchase invoice, with the tourism sector fields |
| A delivery note that came with the goods | Purchase delivery note |
| A delivery note you raised when you delivered goods | Sales delivery note |
| A customs document for an import | DUA |
| A credit note from a supplier | The same type as the invoice it corrects |
Purchase or expense
This is the commonest doubt, and the split is not arbitrary: the two are coded differently.
| Purchase invoice | Expense invoice |
|---|---|
| Goods or raw materials coming into the business. | Services and utilities the business consumes. |
| The item, quantity and price detail is what matters. | The amount and its nominal account is what matters. |
| Usually has a delivery note before it. | Rarely has a delivery note. |
| Feeds the product master and the price checking. | Does not feed the product catalogue. |
The rule of thumb: if what you bought gets resold, made into something or put on a shelf, it is a purchase. If it gets consumed just to keep the doors open, it is an expense.
Delivery note or invoice
One order usually produces both: first the delivery note with the goods, then the invoice that charges for them. You upload both, each as its own type, and tie them together with consolidation, which checks item by item that what you were billed for is what arrived.
Uploading both duplicates nothing: they are different documents doing different jobs.
Why uploading as a delivery note matters
The Received products table is fed only by documents uploaded as delivery notes. A purchase invoice does not appear there, however much line detail it carries.
Which matters directly to anyone who only handles invoices but wants to track products, prices and movements: upload the document as a delivery note and then transfer or copy it to an invoice. You keep the received-products trail without giving up the invoice record, and it costs nothing extra from your plan.
The awkward cases
| Case | How to treat it |
|---|---|
| A document headed "priced delivery note" that carries amounts | A delivery note. Having an amount on it does not make it an invoice. |
| A delivery note with no amounts | A delivery note. That is normal for plenty of suppliers. |
| A till receipt from a shop | An expense, unless it is goods for resale. |
| An invoice from a supplier who also delivers | A purchase, if the carriage is just another charge on the goods. Transport, if the invoice is for the carriage alone. |
| A pro forma or a quote | Not an accounting document: it should not go in as an invoice. |
| An import invoice with a separate customs document | Two documents: the overseas supplier's invoice and the customs agent's DUA. |
If you chose wrongly
The Not an invoice status warns you when the document does not carry that word, which usually means it is in the wrong list.
The fix is to transfer the document to the right type. You do not delete it or upload it again: the transfer keeps the data already extracted and costs nothing from your plan.