113. Below is a narrative of the “Establish payable” portion (bubble 1.0) of the AP/CD process described in
Chapter 13.
Narrative Description
The first step in establishing the payable involves validating the vendor invoice. This process is triggered by
receipt of the vendor invoice. Process 1.1 comprises a number of steps. First, the vendor invoice is matched
against vendor master data to determine that the invoice is from an authorized vendor. Next, the vendor invoice
is compared against the PO data (see the flow PO accounts payable notification) to make sure that there is a PO
(i.e., there is an authorized purchase) and that the invoiced items, quantities, and prices conform to the PO.
Then, the invoice is matched against the receiving report data to determine that the items and quantities have
been received. Finally, the invoice is further validated by checking for accuracy of terms, computed discounts,
extensions, and total amount due. Note that the vendor master data is updated at this point to reflect purchase
history data.
If the data items do not agree, the invoice is rejected, and follow-up procedures are initiated (see the reject stub
emanating from bubble 1.1). If the data items agree, the invoice is approved, and the validated invoice is sent on
to the next step to be used to record the payable. Bubble 1.2 depicts the process of recording the payable in the
purchase events data and accounts payable master data. A payable is recognized and recorded by:
Creating a record in the purchase events data store.
Creating a record in the accounts payable master data to reflect an open invoice¾a payment due to a vendor.
Updating the inventory master data for the cost of the items received.
Notifying the general ledger of the amount of the payable that was recorded (see the data flow “GL payable update”).