Edit a paid bill

For the purposes of editing, a bill is considered paid if it is:

  • Selected for payment

  • Partially paid

  • Fully paid

Compared to unpaid bills, paid bills have more restrictions in terms of what you can edit. Your options are also affected by factors such as the bill state, your configuration, and where the bill originated.

If you need to make a change that requires journal entries to be posted, the reporting period in which the transaction's GL posting date falls must be open.

Subscription

Accounts Payable

Purchasing
User type

Business
Permissions

For transactions created in Accounts Payable:

Bills: List, View, Edit

For transactions created in Purchasing:

Purchasing transactions: List, View, Edit
Restrictions

A Purchasing transaction definition must not have Edit policy set to "No edit".

Where you can edit paid bills

You can only edit bills that originated in Accounts Payable within the same application.

These bills appear in the Bills list with a Summary title of "Bills: <date> Batch". For example, "Bills: 2020/07/15 Batch".

You can edit non-posting fields for bills that originated in Purchasing only in Accounts Payable and you can reclassify the bill. For most changes, however, you’ll need to start over.

Purchasing transaction that are configured to post to Accounts Payable appear as a bill in the Bills list with a Summary title of "<transaction definition name>: <date> Batch". For example, "Vendor invoice: 2020/07/15 Batch". Your purchasing transactions could have different names like "PO bill", "Receipt", and so on.

Bills created from charge payoffs

When you create a charge payoff in Cash Management, it creates a bill in Accounts Payable that you use to pay your credit card. This bill cannot be edited. You can only reverse the payment, reverse the charge payoff, and then create a new one.

These bills appear in the Bills list with a Summary title of "Liability Bills: <date> Batch:. For example, "Liability Bills: 2020/07/15 Batch".

Bills created from manual payments

When you create a manual payment in Cash Management, it creates a bill in Accounts Payable with a state of Paid. This bill cannot be edited. You can only reverse the manual payment and create a new one.

These bills appear in the Bills list with a Summary title of "Quick Payments: <date> Batch:. For example, "Quick Payments: 2020/07/15 Batch".

Edit non-posting fields in a paid bill

When a bill's state is Paid, Partially paid, or Selected, you can only edit fields that do not post to the GL. You can edit these fields when the reporting period is closed because they do not require journal entries to be posted.

If the bill originated in Purchasing, you cannot edit non-posting fields in the purchasing transaction, but you can edit them in the bill.

The following table shows the non-posting fields that you can edit in a bill. All other fields are considered posting fields.

  For bills originating in Purchasing For bills originating in AP
Field name Edit in Purchasing? Edit in AP? Edit in AP?
Vendor document number/Bill number No Yes Yes
Reference number No Yes Yes

Message/Description

 No

Yes

 Yes

Payment term/Term

 No Yes Yes
Due date No Yes Yes
Place this bill on hold N/A Yes* Yes*
Recommended to pay on N/A Yes Yes
Payment priority N/A Yes Yes
Attachment No Yes Yes
(line item) Memo No Yes Yes

*For Partially paid bills, only.

To edit non-posting fields in a paid bill:

  1. Go to Accounts Payable > All > Bills.

  2. Select Edit next to the bill you want to change.
  3. Change the non-posting fields as applicable.
  4. Select Save.

Edit a bill that has been selected for payment

The Selected state indicates that the bill has been selected for payment but the payment has not been processed. A payment request was created that includes the bill.

When a bill's state is Selected, you can only edit fields that do not require journal entries to be posted. See the Edit non-posting fields in a paid bill.

For these bills, to edit fields that require posting, you need to reset the bill state to Posted, first.

To reset a Selected bill to Posted and edit the bill:

  1. Do one of the following:

    Either method sets the bill's state back to Posted and the bill is considered unpaid.

  2. To change the bill, see edit an unpaid bill.

Change the GL account or dimensions for line items

To change the GL account, department, location, or other dimension values for a bill line item in a Paid or Partially paid bill, you need to reclassify the bill.

You can reclassify a bill when all of the following conditions are met:

  • The Enable reclassification for bills and adjustments option is selected in Configure Accounts Payable
  • You have the Bills: Reclassify permission
  • The bill wasn’t paid by a credit card
  • The bill date is in an open period

If any of the above conditions are not met, you cannot reclassify the bill. In this scenario, start over.

You cannot use the reclassify function to change the dimensions on lines that are allocated. In this scenario, start over.

If you reclassify a bill in Accounts Payable that originated in Purchasing, the change will not be made to the Purchasing transaction. If you want the change to be made in Purchasing, start over.

To reclassify a bill:

  1. Go to Accounts Payable > All > Bills.

  2. Select Edit next to the Paid or Partially paid bill you want to change.
  3. Select Reclassify.
  4. Edit the line items as applicable.
  5. Select Save.

You can also use the reclassify function to update 1099 information for vendors who are set up for 1099 treatment. See Reclassify a bill in Accounts Payable for details.

Change the amount that you owe a vendor

You cannot edit the line item amounts in a Paid or Partially paid bill. In this scenario, you can create an adjustment for the applicable amount.

If you overpaid the vendor, create a debit memo (which becomes a vendor credit). If you underpaid the vendor, create a credit memo (which becomes a bill that you pay).

You can create adjustments in either Accounts Payable or Purchasing. The best practice is to create the adjustment in the application in which the bill originated. So if the bill originated in Purchasing, convert the vendor invoice to a debit memo or credit memo in Purchasing.

Learn how to create an Accounts Payable adjustment.

Learn how to convert a Purchasing transaction.

Change the vendor or GL posting date, add or remove line items, or allocate line items

You cannot change the vendor, GL posting date, or line item data like the Billable flag for line items, and you cannot add line items or allocate line items in a Paid or Partially paid bill. If you need to make these types of changes, start over.

Start over

Starting over with a paid bill means that you void the payment, reverse any adjustments, and then reverse the bill, which effectively zeroes out the transaction. Then you can add a new bill with the correct information and process the payment as applicable.

Accounting flow for bill with no vendor credits

The following example shows the accounting flow for a bill with one expense line item for $100.00. After the bill was paid, the payment was voided and the bill was reversed.

Event date GL posting date Event Accounts Payable account GL account for expense Payment account Journal
January 15 January 15 Create the bill Credit 100 Debit 100   Accounts Payable
January 28 January 28 Pay the bill/Process the payment Debit 100   Credit 100 Cash Disbursal
February 2 January 28 Void the payment Credit 100   Debit 100 Cash Disbursal
February 2 January 15 Reverse the bill Debit 100 Credit 100   Accounts Payable

Accounting flow for bill with vendor credit adjustment

The following example shows the accounting flow for a bill with one expense line item for $100.00 and that also had a vendor credit (debit memo adjustment) for $25.00 applied during Pay bills. After the bill was paid, the payment was voided, the adjustment was reversed, and finally the bill was reversed.

Event date GL posting date Event Accounts Payable account GL account for expense Payment account Journal
January 15 January 15 Create the bill Credit 100 Debit 100   Accounts Payable
January 17 January 17 Create the debit memo adjustment Debit 25 Credit 25   Accounts Payable
January 28 January 28 Pay the bill/Process the payment Debit 75   Credit 75 Cash Disbursal
February 2 January 28 Void the payment Credit 75   Debit 75 Cash Disbursal
February 2 January 17 Reverse the debit memo adjustment Credit 25 Debit 25   Accounts Payable
February 2 January 15 Reverse the bill Debit 100 Credit 100   Accounts Payable

Accounting flow for bill with Inline credit

An inline vendor credit is a negative line item in a bill. If you applied the entire negative line amount to the same bill in which the negative line exists, you can simply void the payment and reverse the bill as reversing the bill will also reverse the credit. However, if you applied part or all of the negative line item to a different bill and that bill is also paid, then you’ll have to void the payment for that bill in addition to the bill you want to change.

The following example shows the accounting flow for a bill with one expense line item for $100.00 and an inline credit line item of: $25.00. The entire inline credit was consumed by this bill. After the bill was paid, the payment was voided and the bill was reversed.

Event date GL posting date Event Accounts Payable account GL account for expense Payment account Journal
January 15 January 15 Create the bill Credit 100 Debit 100   Accounts Payable
      Debit 25 Credit 25   Accounts Payable
January 28 January 28 Pay the bill/Process the payment Debit 75   Credit 75 Cash Disbursal
February 2 January 28 Void the payment Credit 75   Debit 75 Cash Disbursal
February 2 January 15 Reverse the bill Credit 25 Debit 25   Accounts Payable
      Debit 100 Credit 100   Accounts Payable

Start over with bills originating in Accounts Payable

If you paid the entire bill with one payment method and didn't apply any adjustments, you can void the payment and reverse the bill at the same time in the applicable register. Otherwise, void the payment where applicable, reverse the adjustment, and then reverse the bill from the Bills list.

To start over with a bill that originated in Accounts Payable:

  1. Void the payment. Use the payment date as the void date. Where you void the payment depends on how you paid the bill. For example, if you paid with a check you would void the payment in the Check Register.
  2. If an adjustment was applied to the bill, reverse the adjustment. Use the adjustment transaction date as the reverse date. The bill's state is now Posted.

  3. Reverse the bill.

    1. Go to Accounts Payable > All > Bills.

    2. Find the bill that you need to reverse.

    3. Select More actions > Reverse at the end of the row.

    4. Use the calendar tool to select the Reverse the transaction on date. Use the bill's GL posting date as the reverse date.
    5. Enter the reason for the reversal and any other pertinent information in the Memo field.
    6. Select Submit.
  4. Create a new bill.
  1. Void the payment. Use the payment date as the void date. Where you void the payment depends on how you paid the bill. For example, if you paid with a check you would void the payment in the Check Register.
  2. If an adjustment was applied to the bill, reverse the adjustment. Use the adjustment transaction date as the reverse date. The bill's state is now Posted.

  3. Reverse the bill.

    1. Go to Accounts Payable > All > Bills.

    2. Select Reverse next to the applicable bill.
    3. Use the calendar tool to select the Reverse the transaction on date. Use the bill's GL posting date as the reverse date.
    4. Enter the reason for the reversal and any other pertinent information in the Memo field.
    5. Select Submit.
  4. Create a new bill.

Start over with bills originating in Purchasing

If the bill originated in Purchasing, you still need to void the payment and reverse any adjustments. However, there's no reverse function for bills that originated in Purchasing. Instead, you need to create an adjustment that zeroes out the effects of the bill and then apply the adjustment to the bill.

To zero out the bill, you can either convert the source purchasing transaction to a purchasing adjustment transaction (debit memo) or you can create a debit memo adjustment in Accounts Payable. The best practice is to convert the purchasing transaction as the purchasing transaction might also affect inventory totals and values.

To start over with a bill that originated in Purchasing:

  1. Void the payment. Use the payment date as the void date. Where you void the payment depends on how you paid the bill.
  2. If an adjustment was applied to the bill, reverse the adjustment. Use the adjustment transaction date as the reverse date. The bill's state is now Posted.

  3. Reverse the effects of the bill.

    1. Do one of the following:

    2. Go to Accounts Payable > All > Bills.

    3. Filter the list for the applicable vendor.
    4. Select Line details next to the applicable bill.
    5. Select Credit details next to a bill line item
    6. Select the checkbox next to the matching credit from the debit memo that you created in step a. and then select Save. This applies the credit to the bill line item.
    7. Repeat steps e and f for each bill line item.
    8. Select Save.
    9. In the Pay bills page, select the bill and select Pay now. This removes the bill from your vendor aging report.
  4. Create a new purchasing transaction.
  1. Void the payment. Use the payment date as the void date. Where you void the payment depends on how you paid the bill.
  2. If an adjustment was applied to the bill, reverse the adjustment. Use the adjustment transaction date as the reverse date. The bill's state is now Posted.

  3. Reverse the effects of the bill.

    1. Do one of the following:

    2. Go to Accounts Payable > All > Bills.

    3. Filter the list for the applicable vendor.
    4. Select Line details next to the applicable bill.
    5. Select Credit details next to a bill line item
    6. Select the checkbox next to the matching credit from the debit memo that you created in step a. and then select Save. This applies the credit to the bill line item.
    7. Repeat steps e and f for each bill line item.
    8. Select Save.
    9. In the Pay bills page, select the bill and select Pay now. This removes the bill from your vendor aging report.
  4. Create a new purchasing transaction.

What to do when the reporting period is closed

If the reporting period is closed, do one of the following: