Invoice exceptions

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated February 1, 2024
  • 7 minutes to read
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    Summary of Invoice Exceptions

    Invoice exceptions are discrepancies identified during the invoice processing within Accounts Payable Operations. The exception engine automatically detects these issues and lists them in the Accounts Payable Workspace, allowing Accounts Payable Specialists to analyze and resolve them efficiently.

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    Key Features

    • Automatic Detection: The exception engine runs automatically for various invoice types, including PO invoices, Non-PO invoices, and Credit memos, identifying different types of exceptions.
    • Types of Exceptions: Common exceptions include invalid or blocked suppliers, insufficient funds (quantity or line amount variance), insufficient goods receipt, missing required information, and invalid business owners.
    • Exception Resolution: Specialists can take specific actions based on the type of exception, including updating invoice details, editing purchase orders, and managing supplier information.
    • Monitoring Scheduler: The exception engine runs every five minutes by default but can also be activated manually when needed.

    Key Outcomes

    By utilizing the exception engine, Accounts Payable Specialists can effectively manage and resolve invoice discrepancies, leading to smoother invoice processing, timely payments, and better supplier relationships. This process ensures that all invoices are accurate and compliant with established business requirements, ultimately improving operational efficiency within the Accounts Payable department.

    Invoice exceptions are issues that are identified in an invoice during invoice processing.

    The Accounts Payable Operations exception engine automatically identifies discrepancies in invoices and lists them as invoice exceptions in the Source-to-Pay Workspace workspace. The Accounts Payable Specialist can analyze the identified invoice exceptions and take appropriate action to resolve them.

    The Accounts Payable Operations exception engine is run for the PO invoices that are in either the PO matching completed or Exceptions found state.
    • The Accounts Payable Operations exception engine is run for Non-PO invoices that are in the Accepted or Exceptions found State.
    • The Accounts Payable Operations exception engine is run for Credit memo invoices.
      • For the PO type Credit memo exception engine is run when credit memos are in either the PO matching completed or Exceptions found state.
      • For the Non-PO type Credit memo exception engine is run when credit memos are either in Accepted or Exceptions found State.
    The Accounts Payable Operations exception engine identifies invoice exceptions of the following types.
    Table 1. Invoice exception type
    Invoice exception Description Do these steps to resolve the invoice exception Applicable to
    Invalid or blocked supplier This exception occurs in one of the following scenarios:
    • The supplier information is missing on the invoice.
    • The supplier information on the invoice doesn’t match the information on the purchase order if invoice is of type PO.
    • The Supplier Legal Entity Mapping (sn_fin_supplier_detail) table doesn’t have a record with a combination of Invoice.supplier and Invoice.legal_entity fields
    • The Supplier Legal Entity Mapping (sn_fin_supplier_detail) table consists of suppliers with one of the following attributes set to true:
      • Hold Payment: Indicates that the invoice payment is put on hold for the supplier
      • Hold Posting: Indicates that the invoice posting is put on hold for the supplier

    This exception is a header-level exception.

    		 To resolve this invoice exception, do the following:
    • If the supplier information is missing on the invoice, do the following:
      1. Log in to the application with the Accounts Payable Specialist (sn_ap_apm.accounts_payable_specialist) role.
      2. Populate a valid supplier and legal entity.
    • If the supplier information on the invoice doesn’t match with that on the purchase order, do the following:
      1. Log in to the application with the Accounts Payable Specialist (sn_ap_apm.accounts_payable_specialist) role.
      2. Update the supplier information on the invoice to match with that on the purchase order.
    • If the Supplier Legal Entity Mapping (sn_fin_supplier_detail) table, doesn’t have a record with a combination of Invoice.supplier and Invoice.legal_entity, do the following:

      1. Log in with the Supplier Enablement Manager (sn_fin.supplier_payment_info_write) role.

      2. Add a record with the combination of Invoice.Supplier – Invoice.LegalEntity fields in the Supplier Legal Entity Mapping (sn_fin_supplier_detail) table.
    • If the supplier's Hold Payment and Hold Posting attributes are set to true in the Supplier Legal Entity Mapping table, do the following:

      1. Log in with the Supplier Enablement Manager (sn_fin.supplier_payment_info_write) role.

      2. Take the necessary actions to remove holds from invoices to enable payment and posting of the invoices.
    		 PO invoice, Non-PO invoice, Credit memo invoice
    Insufficient Funds (Quantity variance) This exception occurs when the total quantity of previously billed invoices and the current invoice that is in-process becomes more than the respective purchase order line quantity.

    This exception is a line-level exception.

    To resolve this invoice exception, you must edit the purchase order. For more information, see Edit a purchase for an Insufficient Funds invoice exception.

    		 To resolve this invoice exception, you must edit the purchase order. For more information, see Edit a purchase for an Insufficient Funds invoice exception. PO invoice
    Insufficient Funds (Line amount variance) This exception occurs when purchase order lines don't have sufficient funds left to process the current invoice that is in-process.

    This exception is a line-level exception.

    		 To resolve this invoice exception, you must edit the purchase order. For more information, see Edit a purchase for an Insufficient Funds invoice exception. PO invoice
    Insufficient Goods Receipt This exception occurs when one or more lines of an invoice don’t have sufficient receipts to process the invoice.

    This exception is a line-level exception.

    f
    Resolving the Insufficient Goods Receipt exception when PSM is installed
    If Sourcing and Procurement Operations (PSM) is installed, and if no receipt task exists for the purchase order line, Accounts Payable Invoice Processing creates a receipt task and displays the task in the Related tasks tab of the exception form. For more information, see Invoice exception form.

    The receipt task is assigned to the user specified in the Recipient field on the PO line. The recipient must have the sn_shop.acknowledgement_task_owner role to complete the receipt task from Employee Center.

    For more information, see Confirm receipt of your order from Employee Center.

    Resolving the Insufficient Goods Receipt exception when PSM isn’t installed
    If Sourcing and Procurement Operations isn’t installed, then the Accounts Payable Specialist must manually create an exception task, which is assigned to the business owner. The business owner must mark this task as complete in Employee Center. For more information, see Mark an exception task as complete from Employee Center.
    		 PO invoice
    Valid coding required This exception occurs when one or more lines of an invoice are missing the following information:
    • Ledger account
    • Tax code
    • Cost center

    This exception is a line-level exception.

    		 To resolve this invoice line exception, do the following:
    1. Log in to the application with the Accounts Payable Specialist (sn_ap_apm.accounts_payable_specialist) role.
    2. Populate the ledger account, tax code and cost center information on all the invoice lines.
    		 PO Invoice, Non-PO invoice, Credit memo invoice
    Missing required information This exception occurs when one or more fields of the following are missing on the invoice:
    • Payment terms
    • Invoice type
    • Supplier
    • Invoice amount
    • Invoice date
    • Legal entity

    This exception is a header-level exception.

    		 To resolve this invoice exception, do the following:
    1. Log in to the application with the Accounts Payable Specialist (sn_ap_apm.accounts_payable_specialist) role.
    2. Populate the following fields on the invoice:
      • Payment terms
      • Invoice type
      • Supplier
      • Invoice amount
      • Invoice date
      • Legal entity
    		 PO Invoice, Non-PO invoice, Credit memo invoice
    Missing or Invalid Business Owner This exception occurs when the business owner of the invoice is missing or inactive or is different from the business owner mentioned in the purchase order (if invoice is of type PO).

    This exception is a header-level exception.

    		 To resolve this invoice exception, do the following:
    1. Log in to the application with the Accounts Payable Specialist (sn_ap_apm.accounts_payable_specialist) role.
    2. Update the valid business owner field in the invoice line.
    		 PO Invoice, Non-PO invoice,Credit memo invoice
    Insufficient billing amount on Purchase order This exception occurs for credit memo of type PO invoice when PO doesn't have sufficient billing quantity or amount to process the credit memo invoice.

    This exception is a line-level exception.

    		 To resolve this invoice exception, do the following:
    1. Log in to the application with the Accounts Payable Specialist (sn_ap_apm.accounts_payable_specialist) role.
    2. Update the pending invoices related to the purchase order and process them before proceeding with credit memo.
    		 Credit memo
    Incomplete credit memo This exception occurs when original invoice reference and purchase order reference aren’t populated on the credit memo invoice.

    This exception is a header-level exception.

    		 To resolve this invoice exception, do the following:
    • For PO credit memo invoice, you must populate the purchase order.
    • For Non-PO credit memo invoices, you must populate the original invoice reference.
    • If the original invoice or purchase order doesn't exist in the system, you can bypass the exception and process the invoice as a Non-PO credit memo after populating the original invoice number on the invoice header.
    		 Credit memo

    By default, the exception engine is configured to run once every five minutes through the Exception Monitoring Job. This is a scheduled job that is inactive in the state by default. For information on how to activate the scheduled job, see Activate the Exceptions Monitoring Scheduler.

    However, you can also run the exception engine manually. For more information, see Check for invoice exceptions on a single invoice.

    When you run the exception engine manually on a single invoice, it checks for exceptions only on that invoice, whereas the automated exception engine checks for exceptions on all the invoices that are valid for exception check.

    You can bypass an exception in situations where that exception is not applicable to an invoice. For more information, see Bypass an invoice exception.

    The Accounts Payable Operations exception engine finds exceptions and lists them in the list page of the Source-to-Pay Workspace. View the list of exceptions by navigating to All > Accounts Payable Operations > Source-to-Pay Workspace.

    In the workspace, select the list icon (List icon) and do one of the following:
    • Navigate to Lists > My Work > My open invoice exceptions.
    • Navigate to Lists > All Work > All open invoice exceptions.

    The Accounts Payable Specialist can analyze the invoice exceptions, create exception tasks, and assign these tasks to the relevant individuals to fix the exceptions and resolve the case. For more information, see Work on an invoice exception.