Accounts payable invoice matching is the process of matching the vendor invoice, purchase order, and packing slip information. Vendor invoices are often based on packing slips that represent actual shipments, rather than on purchase orders. Sometimes the invoiced amounts do not match the purchase order amounts, and sometimes the shipped quantities do not match the invoiced quantities. To manage this information, Microsoft Dynamics AX enables you to do the following things:

Create an accounts payable invoice based on packing slips. Packing slips are automatically suggested for invoicing, and you can select which packing slips to use. You also can select specific packing slip line items from multiple purchase orders, if necessary. For more information, see Post and print purchase order invoices based on packing slips and date.
Enter and save an invoice before a shipment arrives. After the packing slip that represents the shipment arrives, you can match the appropriate packing slip lines to the invoice lines. For more information, see About saving vendor invoices.
View and approve quantity differences between the invoiced quantity on the invoice and the received quantity on the packing slip. If there is a difference, you can save the invoice and later match it to a different packing slip or change the invoice quantity to match the received quantity. For more information, see Save vendor invoices and match to packing slips.
Enter invoice amounts that were not included on the original purchase order, so that the invoice information matches the invoice that you received from your vendor. You can compare the miscellaneous charges for purchase orders with the miscellaneous charges for invoices. If necessary, you can add miscellaneous charges to invoices and allocate them to invoice lines. For more information, see Account for PO invoice variance due to miscellaneous charges.
View and approve price match discrepancies between the invoice net unit price and the purchase order net unit price. You can set up price tolerance percentages for companies, vendors, and items. If the vendor invoice line price is not within the acceptable price tolerance, you can save the invoice until it is approved for posting, or until you receive a correction from the vendor. For more information, see Record the receipt of vendor invoices and match against received quantitiesand Resolve invoice matching discrepancies.

Example

You enter a purchase order with one line item for 1,000 batteries at a price of 1.00 each. The purchase order is approved and submitted to the vendor. The vendor ships 1,000 batteries, and you enter a packing slip for 1,000 batteries at a price of 1.00 each. The inventory cost for the batteries is updated with this price.

An invoice arrives for 1,000 batteries at a price of 1.10 each. Your company policy allows a 5 percent price tolerance for this category of item. A price of 1.05 would be acceptable, but 1.10 is not. When you enter the invoice information, Microsoft Dynamics AX identifies that there is a price matching discrepancy and you can save the invoice until the discrepancy is resolved.

Set up Accounts payable parameters for invoice matching

Before you begin, be sure that the Invoice matchingconfiguration key is selected, and switch to the company that you are setting up invoice matching for.

Click Accounts payable> Setup> Parameters .
On the Updatestab, select the Use invoice matching for this companycheck box.
In the Post invoice match discrepanciesfield, select whether to require approval before posting an invoice that contains invoice matching discrepancies.
In the Display price match iconfield, select whether to display an icon only if there is a positive invoice matching discrepancy, or to display an icon if there is either a positive or negative invoice matching discrepancy.

For example, if the tolerance is 5 percent and the purchase order unit price is 10.00, a price match icon is shown if the invoice unit price exceeds 10.50. If you select If line prices are greater than or less than allowed tolerance, an icon is also shown if the invoice unit price is less than 9.50.

Set up inventory model groups for invoice matching

Price discrepancies between the price of an item on a packing slip and the price on a corresponding invoice may affect the recorded inventory cost of the item. To help ensure that inventory costs are recorded correctly, you can require that packing slip information be posted before invoice information can be posted.

Click Inventory management> Setup> Inventory> Inventory model groups .
Select an inventory model group.
On the Setuptab, select the Receiving requirementscheck box.
Select the Deduction requirementscheck box.
Repeat steps 2 through 4 for the inventory model groups that you want to use invoice matching for.

Set up item price tolerance information

You can set up price tolerance information for all items in your company, for item price tolerance groups, or for individual items. To set up item price tolerances by group, you must first create item price tolerance groups and then assign each item to the appropriate group. For example, you might set up three item price tolerance groups: High, Medium, and Low.

Click Inventory management> Setup> Price/Discount> Item price tolerance groups .
Press CTRL+N to create a new item price tolerance group.
Enter an identifier for the item price tolerance group and a name.
Repeat steps 2 and 3 for the remaining item price tolerance groups.
Click Inventory management> Common Forms> Item details .
Select an item.
On the Generaltab, select an item price tolerance group.
Repeat steps 6 and 7 for the remaining items.

Set up vendor price tolerance information

You can set up price tolerance information for all vendors in your company, for vendor price tolerance groups, or for individual vendors. To set up vendor price tolerances by group, you must first create vendor price tolerance groups and then assign each vendor to the appropriate group. For example, you might set up two vendor price tolerance groups: 10 percentand 5 percent.

Click Accounts payable> Setup> Price/Discount> Vendor price tolerance groups .
Press CTRL+N to create a new vendor price tolerance group.
Enter an identifier for the vendor price tolerance group and a name.
Repeat steps 2 and 3 for the remaining vendor price tolerance groups.
Click Accounts payable> Common Forms> Vendor Details .
Select a vendor.
On the Generaltab, select a vendor price tolerance group.
Repeat steps 6 and 7 for the remaining vendors.

Set up price tolerance percentages

You can set up price tolerance percentages for your company, items, and vendors. When vendor invoices are compared with purchase order information, Microsoft Dynamics AX searches for the applicable price tolerance percentage in the following order.

Item code	Account code
Table	Table
Table	Group
Table	All
Group	Table
Group	Group
Group	All
All	Table
All	Group
All	All

The default company price tolerance is 0 percent and is applied to all items and all accounts (All, All). You cannot delete the default company price tolerance record.

For example, you might set up the following price tolerance percentage records.

Item code	Item relation	Account code	Account relation	Price tolerance percentage	Notes
All		All		1%	This percentage applies to all items and all vendors, unless one of the other scenarios applies. This is the company price tolerance percentage.
Table	Battery	All		1%	This percentage applies to the Battery item from all vendors.
Group	Low	All		2%	This percentage applies to all items whose item value model group has the "Low" item price tolerance group assigned to their item value model groups, and All vendors.
Group	Medium	All		6%
Group	High	All		15%
All		Group	5 percent	5%
All		Group	10 percent	10%	This percentage applies to vendors who are assigned to the "10 percent" group, and All items.

Click Accounts payable> Setup> Price/Discount> Price tolerance setup .
In the first row, you can change the default company price tolerance.
Press CTRL+N to create a new price tolerance percentage.

Enter information about the item and vendor combination that the price tolerance applies to, and the price tolerance percentage.

Note
You cannot enter a negative price tolerance percentage. By default, Microsoft Dynamics AX allows negative price discrepancies. To track negative price tolerance percentages, select If line prices are greater than or less than allowed tolerancein the Display price match iconfield in the Accounts payable parametersform.

Repeat steps 3 and 4 for the remaining price tolerance percentages.