AP Invoice posted with zero dollar amount, but distributions had accounts populated with amounts

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We just had a client go live. They accidentally entered an AP Transaction where the amount on the main transaction screen was zero. However, they did populate amounts in the distributions tab. The client is on GP 2015. I am unable to void the invoice as it doesn't show up in either void open transactions or void historical transactions. In the vendor inquiry screen, the document does show has historical with zero amount. However, the expense account and payables account do show dollar amounts from the distributions

I ran check links and reconciliation, but that didn't resolve the issue. The client says this could happen often, so I need a solution that doesn't involve running an SQL Script if possible.

Has anyone else had this issue? Why would GP have allowed this to post?

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L Vail 65,271 on at

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RE: AP Invoice posted with zero dollar amount, but distributions had accounts populated with amounts

Hi,

Since the unwanted transaction is in the History file, you could use the Remove Transaction History utility to remove that transaction from your payables document. This will not effect the general ledger in any way, it will just get rid of it in the payables history table.

Kind regards,

Leslie
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RE: AP Invoice posted with zero dollar amount, but distributions had accounts populated with amounts

This all makes total sense to me.

But, still wondering...does GP just not allow you to VOID an AP transaction that has been posted with a ZERO amount? We have one that was posted with zero trx and distribution amounts, so not affecting anything - just an extra unnecessary trx that I'd prefer to have a void asterisk beside to clarify that it was an error - not serving any other purpose, you know?

Seems like it should still let you void the Historical transaction even though it's all zeros, but not really looking like it does? Looks like you're just stuck with that zero trx on the vendor account?
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RE: AP Invoice posted with zero dollar amount, but distributions had accounts populated with amounts

We regularly enter zero dollar net invoices.

Some are purely free goods.

Most are due to the fact that at receiving, we will examine product coming in, match it against the PO, and verify the quantity received.

If the product doesn’t meet our criteria, we will refuse it.

Our vendors will invoice us for the refused product.

We will enter that invoice as a $-0- amount, with a comment that will appear on the remittance advice to that vendor’s next payment explaining why we changed the invoice amount to $-0-.

If the vendor’s collection department doesn’t have access or doesn’t read the remittance advice or their drivers don’t communicate back to them that the order was refused, they will keep the invoice open, on the statement of unpaid invoices they send to us, and will call about it.　 They will also re-send the invoice.

To prevent a replacement invoice from going in (under the same vendor/invoice number), and to provide a note to ourselves, as well as to the vendor, about why the invoice amount was zeroed out, we enter the invoice with a $-0- amount in the Payables system.
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Heather Roggeveen 9,146 on at

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RE: AP Invoice posted with zero dollar amount, but distributions had accounts populated with amounts

Hi

There is actually nothing at all wrong with the transaction from a system perspective, so check links or anything else will not resolve this.

What your client has effectively done is to post a journal from Accounts Payable. The system uses different validation checks dependent on the transaction type to deem a valid transaction. Zero dollar invoices can be posted – and can be useful in some scenarios.

In Payables Transaction entry, the distributions are validated by the TYPE field. The net value (debit less credit) of any one type must match the front screen. In your case, the Purchases field is zero and the PURCH type in distributions nets out to zero – so no issues.

To fix this one, you will just have to do a journal to clear the GL accounts and reenter the invoice. The invoice number will probably have to have a dot or similar after it because the system probably won’t let you enter the same document number a second time.

Nothing you can do to prevent this either – but for the user, if she / he goes into distributions, and it is blank, that should be a clue that something isn’t right. The AP code should already be populated with a TYPE of PAY if they have filled in the front screen.

If the client says this could happen often, then to be honest, they need to do more training and think about what they are doing. I have to say, this is not a scenario I have come across for new users in 10+ years of consulting. The front screen is the one that they should be checking against the invoice entry values before going anywhere near distributions.

Cheers

Heather
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RE: AP Invoice posted with zero dollar amount, but distributions had accounts populated with amounts

The issues is that the main Transaction screen has no amount entered.(see above for screen shots) There are entries in the distributions, but they were not zero. And, we aren't using multi-currency. I already ran check links against all financial and Purchasing tables as well, just in case, and this didn't resolve the issue.
babubaskaran@outloo... 10 on at

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RE: AP Invoice posted with zero dollar amount, but distributions had accounts populated with amounts

Hi the distribution functional and originating both are zero so it might be due to exchange rate, have you checked valid exchange rate for this. Please run check link against Multicurrency.
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RE: AP Invoice posted with zero dollar amount, but distributions had accounts populated with amounts

Sure. Here are the screen shots:
babubaskaran@outloo... 10 on at

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RE: AP Invoice posted with zero dollar amount, but distributions had accounts populated with amounts

Hi,

Can you share the screen shot of AP transaction and distribution of the same.