Purchase Invoices

Everything the OMC is billed for lands here. A purchase document names the supplier, carries their own reference so it can be matched against their statement, and splits the cost across the budget codes the spend belongs to. Nothing is paid until somebody approves it, and what has been approved is what a bank payment can settle.

Purchases are for the common areas and shared services of the development. An OMC is not responsible for what happens inside an individual unit, so work inside a unit is not coded here.

The five kinds of purchase

The new button offers five, and which one you choose depends on two questions: has the money already gone, and has the invoice actually arrived?

	Money owed to the supplier	Money owed back by the supplier
The invoice is in front of you	Purchase Invoice	Purchase Credit Note
It has already been paid	Cash Purchase	—
No invoice yet, but the cost belongs to this period	Purchase Accrual	AP Credit Accrual

A Purchase Invoice is the ordinary case: the supplier has billed the OMC and has not been paid. It raises a creditor for the full amount and the invoice sits outstanding until it is paid.

A Cash Purchase was paid at the point of purchase — a card payment, a direct debit that has already gone out. It asks which bank account the money left, records the cost and settles it in the same movement, so no creditor is ever raised.

A Purchase Accrual is how a cost is put into the period it belongs to when the invoice has not come. The work was done in November; the invoice turns up in January. Accruing it in November keeps the year’s accounts honest. An accrual needs no invoice document, because there is not one yet.

A Purchase Credit Note is the supplier crediting the OMC — an overcharge, a job not done, a return. It can be set against whatever invoices for that supplier are still open.

An AP Credit Accrual is the accrual’s mirror image: a credit that has been agreed but not yet issued, booked into the period it belongs to.

Accruals of either kind are not available to a VAT-registered OMC.

List View

View	Shows
All Outstanding	Purchase invoices with an outstanding balance
Invoices for approval	Unpaid invoices awaiting approval
Approved Invoices	Approved invoices not yet paid
Current Year	Purchase invoices for the current financial year; change the year filter to view a different year

Column	Type	Description
Type	picklist	The transaction type (Invoice, Credit Note, Cash Purchase, etc.).
Reference	number	The system reference number for this purchase invoice.
Supplier	picklist	The supplier who issued this invoice.
Supplier Reference	text	The supplier's own invoice or reference number.
Transaction Date	date	The date of this purchase invoice.
Services From	date	The start date of the service period covered by this invoice.
Services To	date	The end date of the service period covered by this invoice.
Total	number	The total invoice amount.
Notes	longText	Internal notes about this purchase invoice.
Attached Invoice	text	The invoice document attached to this record.
Approved For Payment	dateTime	The date and time this invoice was approved for payment.
Approved By	text	The team member who approved this invoice for payment.
Outstanding	number	The amount still unpaid on this invoice.

Detail View

Field	Type	Description
Type	picklist	The transaction type (Invoice, Credit Note, Cash Purchase, etc.).
Reference	number	The system reference number for this purchase invoice.
Supplier	picklist	The supplier who issued this invoice.
Supplier Reference	text	The supplier's own invoice or reference number.
Transaction Date	date	The date of this purchase invoice.
Services From	date	The start date of the service period covered by this invoice.
Services To	date	The end date of the service period covered by this invoice.
Total	number	The total invoice amount.
Notes	longText	Internal notes about this purchase invoice.
Work Orders	grid
Attached Invoice	text	The invoice document attached to this record.
Attached Files	grid	Manage files attached to this purchase invoice.
Approved For Payment	dateTime	The date and time this invoice was approved for payment.
Approved By	text	The team member who approved this invoice for payment.
Outstanding	number	The amount still unpaid on this invoice.
Purchase Details	grid	The expense allocation lines — how the invoice total is distributed across budget codes and schedules.
Account	picklist	The expense budget code this line is charged to.
Schedule	picklist	The lease schedule this expense is allocated to.
Amount	number	The amount allocated to this line.
Description	text	Description for this line item.
delete	icon	Click to remove item from list
Payments Made	grid	Payments and credits applied against this invoice.
Type	picklist	The type of payment or credit transaction.
Ref	link	Reference number of the payment transaction.
Date	date	Date of the payment.
Amount	number	Amount applied.
Notes	longText	Notes on this payment.
	text	Visual spacing column.

Recording a purchase

Entering an invoice

Choose the supplier first — the rest of the form reacts to that choice. Their own reference matters more than it looks: it is what lets you find the document again when the supplier queries their statement. The cost is then split over as many budget code lines as it needs, and the total at the top follows the lines rather than being typed.

Unless the OMC has made attachments optional, an invoice will not save without the supplier’s document attached to it. That is deliberate — it means every creditor on the books can be traced back to the paperwork behind it.

Click [Payables / Purchases] on the main menu
Click on the new button to show options
Select [Purchase Invoice] from the new options menu
Choose the supplier the document belongs to
Enter the supplier's own reference for this document, so it can be matched later
Enter the transaction date - this decides which accounting period the cost lands in
Click the add button to code the cost to a budget code
Choose the budget code the cost belongs to
Enter the amount for this line - the total at the top adds the lines up
Describe what the line is for, so the cost is recognisable on the budget code later
Attach the supplier's invoice - an invoice cannot be saved without one unless the OMC has made attachments optional
Click save to post the document to the ledger

Entering something already paid

A cash purchase asks one extra question — which bank account the money came out of — and settles itself as it is raised. Nothing is left owing and it will never appear on a payment run.

Click [Payables / Purchases] on the main menu
Click on the new button to show options
Select [Cash Purchase] from the new options menu
Choose the supplier the document belongs to
Enter the supplier's own reference for this document, so it can be matched later
Enter the transaction date - this decides which accounting period the cost lands in
Choose the bank account the money came out of
Click the add button to code the cost to a budget code
Choose the budget code the cost belongs to
Enter the amount for this line - the total at the top adds the lines up
Describe what the line is for, so the cost is recognisable on the budget code later
Attach the supplier's invoice - an invoice cannot be saved without one unless the OMC has made attachments optional
Click save to post the document to the ledger

Accruals

Raising an accrual

An accrual books the cost now and waits for the invoice. It shows as outstanding against the supplier so it is visible as something still to come, and because there is no invoice yet, there is no document to attach.

Click [Payables / Purchases] on the main menu
Click on the new button to show options
Select [Purchase Accrual] from the new options menu
Choose the supplier the document belongs to
Enter the supplier's own reference for this document, so it can be matched later
Enter the transaction date - this decides which accounting period the cost lands in
Click the add button to code the cost to a budget code
Choose the budget code the cost belongs to
Enter the amount for this line - the total at the top adds the lines up
Describe what the line is for, so the cost is recognisable on the budget code later
Click save to post the document to the ledger

When the invoice finally arrives

This is the part that does itself. Choosing a supplier who has anything still accrued makes the form stop and ask whether the invoice being entered is the one the accrual was for. Say yes and the invoice is given a reversal line that writes the accrual off, so the cost is counted once rather than twice.

If the invoice is for a different job entirely, cancel — the accrual is left alone and waits for its own invoice. If the invoice came in higher or lower than the accrual, enter the real amounts on the cost lines; only reduce the amount written down if you are expecting a further invoice against the same accrual.

Click [Payables / Purchases] on the main menu
Click on the new button to show options
Select [Purchase Invoice] from the new options menu
Choose the supplier - the form checks straight away whether anything is accrued for them
The accrual is listed with the amount it will be written down by, already filled in for the full balance
Click Reverse - the invoice will carry a line that writes the accrual off
Enter the supplier's invoice number
Enter the invoice date
The reversal line was added for you and cannot be edited - it is what clears the accrual, so the cost is not counted twice
Attach the supplier's invoice
Click save - the invoice is posted and the accrual is written down

Accruing a credit

An AP Credit Accrual works the same way in the opposite direction, and is written down by the credit note when it eventually arrives.

Click [Payables / Purchases] on the main menu
Click on the new button to show options
Select [AP Credit Accrual] from the new options menu
Choose the supplier the document belongs to
Enter the supplier's own reference for this document, so it can be matched later
Enter the transaction date - this decides which accounting period the cost lands in
Click the add button to code the cost to a budget code
Choose the budget code the cost belongs to
Enter the amount for this line - the total at the top adds the lines up
Describe what the line is for, so the cost is recognisable on the budget code later
Click save to post the document to the ledger

Credit notes

Raising a credit note

Saving a credit note that has not been spent goes straight on to ask what it should be set against, rather than leaving it on the supplier’s account to be found later. Every invoice still open for that supplier is listed with what it owes, and you decide how much of the credit goes where. It can be over as many invoices as it takes, and it refuses to allocate more than the credit is worth.

Click [Payables / Purchases] on the main menu
Click on the new button to show options
Select [Purchase Credit Note] from the new options menu
Choose the supplier the document belongs to
Enter the supplier's own reference for this document, so it can be matched later
Enter the transaction date - this decides which accounting period the cost lands in
Click the add button to code the cost to a budget code
Choose the budget code the cost belongs to
Enter the amount for this line - the total at the top adds the lines up
Describe what the line is for, so the cost is recognisable on the budget code later
Attach the supplier's invoice - an invoice cannot be saved without one unless the OMC has made attachments optional
Click save to post the document to the ledger
Click the tick to set the whole credit against this invoice
Click Save Allocations to apply the credit

Allocating a credit later

A credit that was left unallocated — or one only partly used — can be allocated at any time from the credit note itself, using the same dialog.

An allocation is not final. Opening a purchase invoice shows what has been applied to it, and an allocation can be removed there: the invoice goes back to owing that amount and the credit becomes available to use somewhere else.

Click [Payables / Purchases] on the main menu
Open the credit note that still has a balance to use
Choose Allocate Credit To Invoices to decide what the credit is set against
Click the tick to allocate as much of the credit as this invoice can take
Click Save Allocations

Reversing an invoice outright

When an invoice should not have been entered at all, Credit Invoice raises the matching credit note for you, already carrying the supplier, the reference and every cost line from the invoice it reverses, and allocates itself against it. You only supply the date.

It is offered only while nothing has been paid against the invoice. Once it is part paid the credit has to be raised and allocated by hand instead.

Click [Payables / Purchases] on the main menu
Open the invoice that should not have been posted
Choose Credit Invoice to reverse the whole invoice out
Confirm that a credit note should be raised against it
Enter the date the credit belongs to - everything else is already filled in from the invoice being reversed
Attach the supplier's credit note - like an invoice, it cannot be saved without one unless the OMC has made attachments optional
Click save to post the credit note

Approving invoices for payment

Nothing is paid on the say-so of whoever entered it. An invoice has to be approved before a payment run will offer it, and who approved it and when is kept on the invoice itself. An unapproved invoice still appears when a payment is being prepared, but it is flagged and its amount cannot be typed in.

Approval can be withdrawn again — useful when an invoice that was cleared for payment turns out to be in dispute.

Click [Payables / Purchases] on the main menu
Open the invoice that is ready to be paid
Choose Approve to authorise the invoice for payment
Confirm the approval - who approved it and when is kept against the invoice
The invoice now records who approved it, and will appear on a payment run

Click [Payables / Purchases] on the main menu
Open the invoice whose approval needs withdrawing
Choose Remove Approval when an approved invoice turns out to be in dispute
Confirm withdrawing the approval - it can no longer be picked up by a payment

Available Actions

thumb_up

thumb_down

assignment_returned

folder_match

Action	Description
thumb_up Approve
thumb_down Remove Approval
assignment_returned Credit Invoice
folder_match Allocate Credit To Invoices

Where purchases come from

Most are entered here, but not all:

The purchase inbox holds documents that arrived by email. Invoicing one from there opens this same form with the document already attached.
Bank reconciliation can raise a cash purchase directly from an unmatched payment on the bank statement.

Work orders settled by this purchase

When work is ordered from a supplier the OMC raises a work order for it, and that work order waits on the request side to be told the charge arrived. The Work Orders panel is where the two meet: one document can settle several work orders, and one work order can take several documents. Accruals carry the panel too — an accrual prices the work just as an invoice does.

Choosing a supplier who has work orders waiting offers them to you there and then, unasked. You can also link one at any time with the Link Work Order button. Only that supplier’s own work orders are offered — an invoice from one supplier cannot be settling another’s work — and each is listed with its status, so you can see whether the work has been resolved yet.

Linking one asks what it means:

Answer	What it does
Link & Accept Work Order	Links the document and accepts the work order — this is the charge for that work. A work order still open is closed as complete at the same time.
Link Only	Links the document and leaves the work order where it is.
Cancel	Nothing is linked.

Link & Accept Work Order is the normal answer, for an accrual as much as an invoice: the work has been priced and is in the accounts, which is what Accepted means. Use Link Only where this document settles part of the work and more is still to be charged.

Click [Payables / Purchases] on the main menu
Click on the new button to show options
Select [Purchase Invoice] from the new options menu
Choose the supplier - their work orders still waiting for a charge are offered straight away
Click the work order this invoice is paying for - the status shows how far it has got
Choose Link & Accept Work Order - being invoiced is what accepts a work order
Enter the supplier's own invoice number
Enter the invoice date
Click the add button to code the cost to a budget code
Choose the budget code the cost belongs to
Enter the amount the supplier has charged
Describe what the line is for
Attach the supplier's invoice
Click save - the invoice is posted and the work order accepted with it

The link is written as soon as you answer it on a saved document, and with the document itself if you are still entering it — cancel the entry and nothing is linked or accepted.

Click [Payables / Purchases] on the main menu
Open the invoice that turns out to cover a second job
Click Link Work Order to link another job to this invoice
Click the second work order
Choose Link Only - the making good is still to be billed, so this invoice does not settle that work order

Unlinking leaves the work order’s status alone: if it was accepted, it stays accepted. Nothing about the money changes either, so a document linked to the wrong work order should be unlinked and linked to the right one.