Do’s and Don’ts for Visual ERP: A Little Childhood Wisdom Goes a Long Way
- Look both ways before you cross the street
- Don’t talk to strangers
- Respect your elders
- Don’t put your hand on the stove
Do these ring a bell?
I remember learning these simple rules as a child. They were little pieces of wisdom that adults passed along to help keep us safe and, hopefully, out of trouble. As I was thinking about those childhood lessons recently, I started wondering …
Could the same idea apply to Visual ERP?
After years of working with Visual ERP, I’ve seen plenty of situations where a simple transaction can have consequences that weren’t necessarily obvious to the person entering it. In particular, there are things Accounts Payable users can do that may create balancing problems somewhere else in Visual ERP. The impact might show up in Accounts Payable, PO Accrual, Inventory, or Work in Process.
And here’s the important part:
I don’t believe people intentionally do things that cause problems in Visual ERP.
They’re trying to do their jobs. They’re trying to be efficient. They encounter something unusual and make what seems like a reasonable decision based on the information they have. Sometimes they simply don’t know what happens after they click that button.
I recently heard someone say something that really made me smile: “Oh, I wondered if that was going to show up somewhere.”
They knew they were recording a unique type of transaction. Instead of stopping to ask, they entered it, crossed their fingers, and hoped everything would work out. Unfortunately, Visual ERP doesn’t always work that way.
Every transaction has a story. And sometimes that story shows up somewhere you weren’t expecting.
So, rather than waiting for something to go wrong and then trying to figure out why, I thought it might be helpful to share some simple Do’s and
Don’ts for Visual ERP.
Think of them as the Visual ERP version of: Look both ways before you cross the street. Not because you’re doing something wrong—but because knowing what might happen next can save you a lot of trouble.
Let’s start with Accounts Payable.
| DO NOT DO | Tell me why? | What to do instead? |
| Override the quantity for PO receipt when recording the AP invoice. | Changing quantities in AP does not go backward to change the quantities on the manufacturing side of Visual ERP. The other impact is that un-invoiced quantity remains on the PO accrual report. | Contact receiving or purchasing and tell them about the differences. This can be fixed different ways: Delete the receiver and redo it. Create a return for the over-received quantity. |
| Override the PO Accrual account in AP invoice entry when there is a receiver line. | This change will result in a charge to the account overridden and will be reversed from the account for the PO postings. If these are part ID’s it would be the default inventory account. | When recording the in AP invoices, leave the account as the PO accrual account. If the PO was posted to the wrong account, have the buyer change the PO line to the correct account. The posting candidate on the PO can be set to Yes which will then allow Visual to create a correcting entry the next time full costing is run. |
| Enter the PO Accrual account for as an expense account on AP invoices Be careful – If you use the “make credit memo” button the PO Accrual account will be used but should be overridden to the expense account on the PO or a misc. cost of sales account. | This posts money to the PO Accrual account, but has no impact on the subledger listing thus putting the PO Accrual account out of balance. In addition, there is a cost that is hidden in the PO accrual account, thus showing incorrect financial information. | Enter the AP invoice and select a GL account. If the PO should have been received or returned, have operations folks do these tasks. Then you can process just like all receivers (positive or negative). |
| Record AP invoice for receivers into the prior month after the 1st or 2nd day following month-end. | There is the possibility of recording the AP invoice in the prior month but receipt could be dated the current month. This will cause the PO accrual account to be out of balance due to this timing difference. Good news is it fixes itself prior to the next month-end. Also, if there is a cost difference recorded on the AP invoice AND full costing isn’t run after the AP invoice is recorded, the cost changing would not be picked up until the next month. Again, this leads to imbalance on the PO Accrual account. | Make an effort to record AP invoices prior to month-end. Stop recording invoices with receivers on the 1st or 2nd of the next month. One exception would be expense invoices as they do not impact the PO accrual account.Obtain the PO Accrual Report from Post Manufacturing Journals on 2nd of the month and reconcile to the balance in the General Ledger. Note – Manufacturing Journals would need to be posted. 2nd note – send the report to file, so that there is an electronic copy. |
| Record AP invoice lines directly to any “control” accounts. This would be inventory accounts, WIP accounts, Bank, Accounts Payable or Accounts Receivable Accounts. | There would be values posted to the account, but has no impact on the subledger listing. This will put the account out of balance. In addition, there is a cost that is hidden in the PO accrual account, thus showing incorrect financial information. | Record the invoice to an expense. If the cost belongs in a work order, this can be done in AP invoice entry by selecting the work order base ID, lot ID. Note – This can only be done for Material and Service. |
| Copy an existing voucher to make a new voucher. You wouldn’t copy your homework from someone else, would you? | Copying an existing voucher and then changing a few things, could result in not all required information to be generated. Sometimes it could lead to an imbalance in the General Ledger to AP Aging. | Clear the AP screen and start with a refresh page. |
| DO | How to Do? | Tell me why? |
| Ensure that all receivers have an AP invoice recorded. | Use the PO Accrual Report found under Costing Tools. For date range use ending date back a few months. Click on “Received Not Invoiced”. | To keep the PO accrual list accurate by minimizing the number of records.To ensure an expense isn’t recorded twice. It could have been recorded when the PO was received and if the AP invoice was recorded directly to the expense instead of using the receiver. |
| Reconcile Accounts Payable to General Ledger on a Monthly Basis | Run Aging for the specific account as of the month-end date. If it is out of balance there are a variety of things that can contribute to that. | Because I said so. 😊 I am sure you heard that when you were young. |
| Reconcile Purchase Order Accrual to General Ledger on a Monthly Basis | Run PO Accrual Report from Post Manufacturing Journals. Ensure purchase journal has been run and posted to General Ledger. |
I hope you find these tips helpful. Let us know what other topics you would like us to share the Do’s and Don’ts.
