Variances in an Invoice Item
When you enter an invoice, the system proposes certain values from the purchase order or goods receipt. If the invoice item differs from the default values, you must determine the reason for the variance by contacting the purchasing or goods receipt department or the vendor.
It is too time-consuming to investigate very small variances. So tolerance limits can be defined in the system. If variances in an invoice item are within these limits, they are accepted by the system.
If a tolerance limit is exceeded, you receive a system message. You can still post the invoice but it will be automatically blocked for payment if it exceeds the upper tolerance limit (see also
Tolerances).If the invoice is blocked, all the items are blocked. Even if the invoice only displays variances in one item, the whole invoice is blocked for payment.
If you post an invoice with a blocking reason, the system carries out two steps:
The following blocking reasons exist for variances in invoice items (the relevant blocking indicator is specified in parentheses):
A quantity variance exists if the invoiced quantity is larger than the difference between the quantities delivered and those already invoiced. In the SAP System, a quantity variance is treated differently depending on the amount of the variance. The product of the order price and the variance quantity is used as the basis for determining whether the invoice is to be blocked. Lower priced items are permitted relatively large quantity differences, whereas more expensive items are allowed only very small differences.
A price variance exists if the invoiced price (invoiced amount divided by the invoiced quantity) is not the same as the net order price.
A variance in order price quantity exists if the ratio between the order price quantity and the order quantity in the invoice differs from the ratio specified at goods receipt (or if it differs from the ratio in the purchase order, if no goods receipt has taken place).
A schedule variance exists if the date of invoice entry is before the delivery date specified in the purchase order. In the SAP system, schedule variances are treated differently depending on the value of the invoice items. The product of the invoice item value and the number of days variance is used as a basis for determining whether the invoice is to be blocked. In this way, relatively large schedule variances are allowed for lower value items, whereas only very small schedule variances are permitted for high value invoice items (When an invoice refers to a scheduling agreement, the system does not check for a schedule variance, since there is no clearly fixed delivery date in a scheduling agreement.).
If a material is defined as being relevant for quality management, goods receipts for this material are posted to stock in quality inspection. Invoices for the material are blocked until the inspection has been successfully completed.
If more than one goods receipts is posted for an order item, an inspection is carried out for every goods receipt. A distinction is made between two different scenarios in Invoice Verification:
The invoice is blocked if the inspection has not been completed for the goods receipt.
The invoice is blocked if any goods receipts are still in quality inspection. If an invoice is posted before the goods are received, it cannot be blocked for quality inspection.
When Quality Management is active, we recommend you work with goods-receipt-based Invoice Verification. In addition to the fact that invoices are only blocked that pertain to the exact goods receipt, this also ensures that an invoice cannot be posted before the goods receipt and subsequently before the quality inspection has taken place.
An invoice containing a blocking indicator is blocked for payment until you release it. (See also
Validity of the Block.)