Quantity Variance

Definition

The difference between the quantity delivered and the quantity invoiced for goods received for a purchase order is the quantity still to be invoiced. A quantity variance exists if the quantity you are entering from the invoice does not match this open quantity.

Use

Quantity variances occur if the vendor:

  • Sends a partial invoice for one or more deliveries

In this case, the system expects to receive more invoices (or return deliveries).

  • Sends an invoice for a delivery that the goods receipt has not yet been posted for.

In this case, the system expects further goods receipts (or credit memos).

Special circumstances exist for goods-receipt based invoice verification :

  • If goods-receipt based Invoice Verification has been defined for an order item and the goods receipt has not yet been posted, the system does not allow you to post the invoice.

  • If goods-receipt based invoice verification has been defined for a purchase order item, a goods receipt has been posted, and an invoice is now entered for a larger quantity, the standard system is configured to display a warning message. This enables you to post a quantity larger than that received at the time of invoice receipt even when goods-receipt based invoice verification is active.

Note Note

Note that no more goods receipts can be matched to this invoice. As a result, you can no longer tell from the purchase order history which goods receipt items belong to which invoice items.

End of the note.
  • You can control the system messages for goods-receipt-based invoice verification and purchase-order-based invoice verification separately in Customizing for Invoice Verification. In the standard system, both messages are configured as warning messages. For example, you can configure the message for goods-receipt-based invoice verification as an error message. This allows you to prevent payment for an invoice quantity that is larger than the delivered quantity in goods-receipt-based invoice verification.

See also:

Posting Quantity Variances