Accounting documents

An accounting document is the payable that the finance team can review, approve, schedule and settle. It belongs to a business partner and an organization. Its dates, gross amount, amount paid and status give AP Specialist and Treasury a common record while they carry out different jobs. Coded document lines point to ledger accounts; attachments keep the invoice and supporting papers near the decision.

The Accounting Documents Control Desk brings documents still needing a decision into a ranked queue. Stage segments, organization and status filters let a reviewer narrow the work, then open the native document record. The desk is especially useful when several partner bills are nearing their due dates but only some are ready for approval. The Controller should reach the source bill and its lines before deciding.

• Intake. AP Specialist records the counterparty reference, document date, due date, amounts and organization.
• Coding. Each document line carries its description, quantity, price, tax code and ledger account.
• Decision. The native approval action moves an eligible document to Approved and records a review decision and operation result.

Agree which partner information must be checked before a bill enters review. Partner payment terms and lifecycle state are visible on the master record, while the bill has its own due date and amount. Agree who can edit the coded lines after a review begins, and how the team handles a disputed bill. The statuses distinguish draft, pending approval, approved, scheduled, paid and disputed work; define an owner for each queue.

A controller and AP Specialist should also decide what evidence is required for different spend categories. An invoice PDF may be enough for a routine utility bill; a contract or purchase order may matter for a larger service bill. The attachment record holds the evidence type and uploader. The approval decision holds the reviewer, reason and conditions. These records should tell the same story.

Use a partner bill with several coded lines. The AP Specialist checks that the line total agrees with the document amount and links the right organization. If the expense relates to a restricted fund, the Controller examines the fund decision before the bill decision. Move the bill into the review queue. The Controller opens the native document, checks the source file and lines, then approves it through the document action. Verify that the decision and operation result point back to the same bill.

The Treasury Analyst can then create a scheduled payment linked to that accounting document. AP Specialist should continue to see the bill and amount paid, while Treasury Analyst follows release and reconciliation on the payment. If the bill remains disputed, its status should make that clear in the board and the overdue list.

• AP Bills Worklist — Draft and progressing bills with due dates and amounts for daily AP work.
• Accounting Documents Awaiting Review — Bills waiting for the Controller’s decision.
• Bills by Status — A board for the payable stages, including disputed work.

See bill review to payment and payment release.