Once you have set up accruals in the Purchase Ledger Options found in the System module which is security permission driven and you have set up your analysis records, you can begin using accruals for your purchase ledger invoices or credit notes.
When you open the invoice or credit note screen, you can see three extra columns or fields on your purchase transactions Details section which relate to purchase accruals and these are: (you might have to scroll to be able to see these columns)
Accrual Nominal
Accrual Period
Defer Accrual
The above options remain visible but read only when you have selected an analysis record which is not set up as an accrual analysis.
When you enter a purchase ledger invoice or credit note and on the Details section of the transaction entry screen, select an analysis which is set up for accruals, then the above mentioned fields become enabled and will pull through any default values set up either as the nominal accruals account or the accrual period.
If you have not set up a nominal account in the Purchase Ledger Options, and you have not set a period on the accrual analysis, the Accrual Nominal will be blank while the Accrual Period will be set to zero on a purchase ledger invoice or credit note. You must enter an Accrual Nominal as you will not be able to save a transaction without entering the Accrual Nominal.
The Accrual Nominal will not pull through the default nominal account set up in Purchase Ledger Options when the currency of the default nominal account and the currency of the transaction you are entering are different. In this case you have to manually enter a nominal account that matches the currency of the transaction.
Note: Manually entering an accrual nominal is not going to update the default accrual nominal set up in Purchase Ledger Options, it is only saved against the transaction.
If you have a purchase analysis record assigned to the supplier record you are entering a sales ledger transaction for, and that analysis has been set up to be an accrual analysis, once you locate the supplier record, the analysis is pulled through on the Details section of your purchase ledger invoice or credit note and the Accrual Nominal, Accrual Period and Defer fields become enabled.
If the accrual analysis has been set up with a default number of Accrual Period, the number of periods is pulled through for the Accrual Period and you can manually change this on the purchase ledger invoice or credit note entry screen.
Note: Changing the Accrual Period on a transaction is not going to update the number of periods on the analysis record, it is only saved against the transaction.
When you create a purchase ledger invoice or credit note with multiple detail lines and the accrual nominal and the number of periods specified are the same, and all details lines either have or don't have costing details, then a single journal is created, otherwise a separate journal is created for each combination.
When you create a purchase ledger invoice or credit note with multiple detail lines and the accrual nominal and costing detail as the same, then the accrual journal is created with a single detail line, otherwise separate detail lines will be created for each nominal account and costing combination.
Enter a purchase ledger invoice using accruals
To enter a purchase ledger transaction, please follow the steps below:
Click Creditors then Transactions then click Invoice.
Select the supplier record. You can enter the supplier account code. If you're unsure of the code, you can click the drop-down arrow and select Show More which displays several more records and offers you to search the code and name of the supplier.
Enter all relevant information on the header your invoice, then on the Details section on the Analysis code field locate an analysis that is set up for accruals.
If you have a default analysis assigned to the supplier record you have selected, and that analysis is set up for accruals, then the analysis will pull through for you and you will not have to change this.
Enter the values and any other information you need for your transaction.
You can also see the above mentioned three fields related to accruals.
The Accrual Nominal is prepopulated with the default nominal assigned in Purchase Ledger Options and you can change this. If there isn't one set up in Purchase Ledger Options, the field will be blank and you must add a nominal account.
The Accrual Period is prepopulated with the default number of periods assigned to the analysis record you are using and you can change this. If the analysis is set up with zero periods, then zero will be pulled through and you can amend this.
The Defer Accrual option is not selected as default and you can select this checkbox if you wish to delay or defer the accrual process.
Finish adding in our detail lines and values and when you are ready, click Save.
Don't worry, your transaction is not going to be posted yet.
On the Save Options screen, select any options that you wish to work with and click Save.
You can follow the same steps as above if you are entering a purchase credit note.
For more information on the accruals journals created, please refer to the Purchase transactions accruals journal details and values article.