Definition

Document from an invoicing party containing the payments to be made based on business transactions performed in Purchasing and Inventory Management. An incoming invoice can be an invoice or a credit memo.

Use

An invoice contains various information, such as:

One of the basic questions is the invoice reference, which enables you to clearly allocate the invoice to a business transaction. If such a reference exists, the system uses "knowledge" that it already has and proposes the appropriate values when verifying the invoice, for example:

If the vendor invoice contains different information, you can overwrite the data proposed. The system checks whether your entries are allowed and displays a warning or error message if anything is incorrect.

Structure

In Logistics Invoice Verification – as in other applications – the SAP system often needs to retrieve stored data at many points, change this data where necessary, or add new information.

Depending on the type of information, the data in the SAP System is stored in different master records, such as the material master record or the vendor master record. This central data storage function avoids redundant data and ensures that the different departments use the most up-to-date information from various departments (Material Requirements Planning, Purchasing, Inventory Management, Quality Management, Logistics Invoice Verification, and so on).

The important data for Invoice Verification is:

Master Data

Master data is permanent data on objects, for example materials, in the SAP System. Every object is given a unique number by which it can be identified in the system.

Material data is information on the materials bought by or produced in the company. This includes the material number, material name, units of measure, stock data, overdelivery and underdelivery tolerances, reminder keys, price control data, and prices. Different departments in Materials Management maintain material data.

Vendor data provides information on the suppliers that a company deals with. Vendor data includes the address, bank data, possibly also the name of the bank head office, the currency of the vendor, as well as the terms of payment and terms of delivery. The Purchasing department and Accounting department maintain vendor data.

Accounting data is used to define G/L accounts. It includes the account name, the account type, the currency in which the account is managed, information as to whether an account may be posted to directly, and which financial budget it is allocated to. The accounting data is maintained in Financial Accounting.

Transaction Data

Transaction data records transactions in the SAP System. Whenever you post a purchase order, scheduling agreement, goods receipt, or invoice, the system automatically creates a document. The document data of a transaction depends on the application area that the transaction belongs to. Every document receives a document number by which it can be uniquely identified.

A purchasing document contains information such as the vendor number, the purchase order date, the terms of delivery, the material number, and the order quantity.

A material document is created when a goods receipt is posted. It includes the posting date, the quantity delivered, and perhaps also the delivery note number and the purchase order number that the goods receipt refers to. It documents the quantity-based changes.

An accounting document is created when a goods receipt (unless the goods receipt is not valuated) or an invoice is posted. It contains details of the individual postings with the account number, posting key, and the amount. It documents the value-based changes.