Accounts Payable > Payment Processing > Payment Cycle > AP Automatic Release of Invoices to Pay

AP Automatic Release of Invoices to Pay

You use this program to indicate the suppliers and invoices to release for payment by system check or EFT.

The selected suppliers and their invoices are displayed in the treeview and listview of the Payment Cycle Maintenance program.

The AP Automatic Release of Invoices to Pay program can be run more than once against a single payment run. The invoices released in subsequent runs of this program are added to those already released for that payment run.

AP Automatic Release of Invoices to Pay

Field Description
Start Processing Select this to release the supplier invoices according to the criteria you defined and to return to the Payment Cycle Maintenance program.

If invoices are already released against the payment run, they remain released and are not removed. Any additional invoices that meet the selection criteria you specified are simply added to the existing set or released invoices for the payment run.

The suppliers and invoices released for payment are displayed in the treeview and listview of the Payment Cycle Maintenance program.

If the payment run is for EFT payments, then only suppliers against whom EFT payments are required, are included in the selection.

The AP Automatic Release of Invoices to Pay program returns to the Payment Cycle Maintenance program. The invoices selected for release are displayed in the Invoices Released for Payment listview and the suppliers for the released invoices are listed in the Suppliers to Pay treeview.

[Note]
  • Suppliers who are On hold are excluded from the release.
  • Only suppliers belonging to the AP branches to which you have access are included in the release.
  • If you are denied access to the AP branch defined against the invoice, then the invoice is not released.
  • If you are denied access to the bank defined against the supplier, then the supplier is excluded from the release.
  • If you are denied access to the bank defined against the invoice, then the invoice is not released.
  • If the status of the invoices is not spaces, then the invoice is not released.
  • Invoices are only released for suppliers where the bank defined against the supplier matches the bank defined against the payment run.
  • Invoices are only released for suppliers where the currency of the supplier matches the currency of the payment run.

Invoices that are scheduled for release fall into the following categories:

  • Past due invoices

    If an invoice has a due date that is prior to the date entered in the From date field above, it is marked as Past due and is released.

  • Due invoices

    If an invoice has a due date that is equal to or later than the date entered in the From date field above and earlier than the To date entered above, it is released.

  • Discountable invoices

    If an invoice has a discount date that is equal to or later than the date entered in the From date field above and earlier than the To date entered above, it is marked as discountable.

    For these items, the discount availability takes precedence over due date considerations.

Withholding tax is automatically calculated if all of the following apply:

  • the option: Withholding tax required is selected

  • the AP withholding accounting basis is set to Payment

  • the option: Automatic calculation of withholding tax is selected
  • a valid withholding tax code is defined against the supplier

Withholding tax is not calculated if the option: Automatic calculation of withholding tax is not selected, even if the option Withholding tax required is selected.

Tax on settlement discount is automatically calculated using the Default tax code or Default QST code defined against Settlement discount in the Accounts Payable Setup program. The rate for these codes is determined by the Calculate tax using historical rates option. When this option is enabled, the invoice date is used to ascertain the tax rate at that date. When this option is disabled, the current tax rate against the tax code is used.
Payment run information  
Payment run This indicates the payment run code into which you are releasing the invoices for payment.
Currency This indicates the currency of the payment run and therefore the currency in which payment will be made.
Bank This indicates the bank from which the payment will be made.
Bank name This indicates the name of the bank from which the payment will be made.
Due date

This enables you to indicate the dates to use to include invoices for release.

Any non-zero balance invoice with a due date that is equal to or after the From date and prior to the Next payment date will be released for payment.

If an invoice has a due date that is prior to the date in the From due date field, it is marked as Past due and is released.

If an invoice has a due date that is equal to or later than the date entered in the From due date field and earlier than the To next payment date field, it is released.

If an invoice has a discount date that is equal to or later than the date entered in the From due date field and earlier than the To next payment date field, it is marked as discountable.
From due date This indicates the earliest date to use to ascertain whether discount on an invoice can be taken.
To next payment date This indicates the latest date to use to ascertain whether an invoice must be selected for release.

This defaults to the system date plus one day.

[Note]
  • Any invoices with a due date prior to the Next payment date will be released.
  • Credit notes with a due date equal to or earlier than this date are included for release.
  • Invoices with a due date equal to or later than this date are not included for release. This also applies to invoices with a credit balance.
Class  
Supplier class selection Indicate the supplier class for which to release invoices.
Supplier  
Supplier selection Indicate the supplier(s) for whom to release invoices.
Branch  
Supplier branch selection When processing invoices against suppliers using the AP Invoice Posting program, you can specify the branch to use for a particular invoice.

This option enables you to indicate whether you want to release invoices processed to the supplier's account for all branches or only for a specific branch.

Note that the selection is based on the branch defined against the invoice, not the branch against the supplier.
Include Options  
Include credit invoice balances Select this to release invoices that have a credit balance as well as credit notes not yet offset against existing invoices.
Include EFT suppliers Select this to include invoices for suppliers against whom EFT payments are required.

This option is only enabled if the payment run is for a System checks payment type. If you select this option, then you can process system checks for suppliers normally paid by EFT.

If you do not select this option, then suppliers against whom EFT payments are required are excluded from the selection.
Include credit balance suppliers

Enable this to include suppliers whose current balance is negative. The system checks the APSMST-CUR (Current supplier balance) field.

This option is enabled by default and is the first test done to ascertain whether to proceed with processing the invoices for the supplier.
Include past due invoices

Enable this to include invoices with a due date before the date entered at the From due date field in the Due date section.

This option is enabled by default and is the second test the program does to ascertain whether an invoice must be included for release.

If you untick this option, Past due invoices will be ignored from the selection process.

Include if released value is zero

This applies when you have positive and negative invoices balances that qualify for release for the supplier.

The program totals all positive balance invoices due for release and offsets each credit balance invoice due for release against the positive total until the total is zero.

If this option is enabled, and the sum of the net value of the released invoices for a supplier is equal to zero, then the invoices are released for the supplier.

If this option is disabled, and the sum of the net value of the released invoices for a supplier is equal to zero, then no invoices are released for the supplier.

This option is enabled by default and is the second test the program does to ascertain whether an invoice must be included for release.

See Net Value calculation example.

Net Value calculation example

This section explains how the net release value is determined for the Include if released value is zero option.

Assume the following invoices are included for release according to the other criteria you indicated:

Invoice 1 balance of 1000

Invoice 2 balance of 500-

Invoice 3 balance of 2500-

Invoice 4 balance of 100

Invoice 5 balance of 300-

The positive balance invoices are released:

Invoice 1 payment 1000

Invoice 4 payment 100

The net positive value at this point is 1100

Now the negative value invoices are applied until the 1100 reaches zero as follows:

Invoice 2 is applied: 1100 - 500 = net remaining balance of 600. As this is still a positive value, Invoice 2 is released.

Invoice 3 is applied R600 - R2500 = net remaining balance of R1900-. As this is now a negative value, Invoice 3 is released as a partial payment of R600.

When the payment run executes, Invoice 3 is left with an outstanding balance of R1900- (i.e. 2500 less 600).

At this point processing of further credit balance invoices stops as the released balance is zero and Invoice 5 is not released.

The result of released invoices is therefore as follows:

Invoice 1 payment value 1000

Invoice 2 payment value 500-

Invoice 3 payment value 600-

Invoice 4 payment value 100

This adds up to a zero value check transaction and if you untick the Include if released value is zero option, then it means that you want to exclude all the above invoices from being released.

Notes and warnings

Program access

  • This program is accessed by selecting the Release Invoices > System Checks/EFT - Automatic Release option from the from the Invoices Released for Payment listview of the Payment Cycle Maintenance program.

Restrictions and limits

  • Automatic release only includes invoices for which the supplier's bank matches the bank defined against the payment run.

eSignature considerations

Electronic Signatures provide security access, transaction logging and event triggering. This enables you to increase control over your system changes.

Access to the following eSignature transactions within this program can be restricted at Operator, Group, Role or Company level. You configure this using the eSignature Setup program.

eSignature Transaction Description
AP Automatic invoice release

Controls access to the System Checks/EFT - Automatic Release function of the Payment Cycle Maintenance and AP Automatic Release of Invoices to Pay programs.

Inserting Application Help

You would typically follow this procedure to display help for the current program in a customized pane that can be pinned to the program window.

Information includes step-by-step instructions for the various functions available within the program, including a brief overview of what the program does, what setup options are required and how to personalize the program.

  1. Open the program for which you want to insert application help into a customized pane.

    This functionality is only available for a program that has panes.

  2. Right-click any form field.

    You can also click the triangle menu icon that appears in the title area of a pane.

  3. Select Insert Application Help from the context-sensitive menu.

    The application help appears in a pane within your program. You can reposition the pane using the docking stickers or pin it to the program window.

Removing the Application Help pane

If you no longer want to display application help in a pane for your current program, you can simply remove it.

  1. Select the Close icon in the right-hand corner of the application help pane.

  2. Confirm that you want to delete the pane.