Troubleshoot bill reversals

Learn about solutions to common issues that you might have when reversing bills.

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Before you can reverse a bill that has a state of Selected, you need to cancel the payment request associated with the bill.

Reasons why you might not see the Reverse link next to a transaction include the following:

To reverse Accounts Payable transactions, you must be a business user with one or both of the following Accounts Payable permissions:

  • Bills: Reverse
  • Adjustments: Reverse

If you're not able to see your user permissions, ask your admin to check them.

You can reverse the following Accounts Payable transactions:

  • Paid bills
  • Adjustments
  • Unpaid bills, when Enable reversal of unpaid bills is selected in Configure Accounts Payable

Transactions created at a different level show Not owned in place of the Reverse link.

If the transaction was created at the entity level, slide into the entity to reverse it. To reverse a transaction created at the top level, go to the top level.

To require that Draft and Posted Bills be reversed instead of deleted, enable the option in your configuration.

  1. Go to Accounts Payable > Setup > Configuration.

  2. In the Enable functionality section, select Enable reversal of unpaid bills.
  3. Select Save.

This error can occur when you try to do one of the following:

  • Reverse a bill that has been selected for payment.
  • Reverse a negative amount bill that has been applied as a credit.

To reverse a bill with a state of Selected, first cancel any pending payment requests that include the bill. Then, reverse the bill.

To reverse a negative bill, first unapply the credit. then, reverse the bill.

For a bill that was paid using a manual payment, voiding the payment automatically reverses the bill. Learn how to void a manual payment.

Bills created from a purchasing transaction, such as a vendor invoice or receipt, cannot be reversed. To remove the accounts payable liability for an unpaid bill, enter an adjustment transaction and then apply the credit created by that adjustment to the bill.

If the Purchasing transaction is for non-inventory items, create the adjustment in Accounts Payable:

  1. Following the instructions on decreasing the amount owed to a vendor, enter a debit memo adjustment for the amount of the bill.
  2. Apply the credit created by the adjustment to the bill.

If the Purchasing transaction is for inventory items, create the adjustment in Purchasing:

  1. Create an adjustment transaction in Purchasing.
  2. Apply the credit created by the adjustment to the bill.

You can only edit non-posting fields for Reversal and Reversed bills.

Undoing a reversal isn't in accordance with accounting best practices. Instead of undoing a reversal, perhaps one that was done by mistake, re-enter the original transaction, correcting any errors.

This ensures that the original transaction, reversal, and new transaction provide a valid audit trail and are compliant.

Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) is an accounting standard. Set by the standards organizations Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB), and Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF), GAAP ensures uniform and consistent financial reporting across governments, businesses, and noprofit organizations.

GAAP compliance works to make sure that financial reporting is transparent and adheres to well defined rules.

Sage Intacct adheres to these standards when creating workflows that help maintain GAAP compliance.

For example, some accounting software allows editing transactions in closed periods. Sage Intacct requires books to be reopened to make changes. This way, Sage Intacct ensures GAAP compliance, an accurate audit trail, and complete historical reporting.

Learn more about GAAP.

This error occurs when you try to reverse a bill or payment that has line items for entities, locations, or departments that you're restricted from accessing.

Instead, have a user that is not restricted by location or department reverse the bill or payment.

Learn more about entity restrictions for users.