Manage the accounts payable overview
Applies to: Dynamics 365 Commerce, Dynamics 365 Field Service, Dynamics 365 Finance, Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management, Dynamics 365 Project Operations, Dynamics 365 Sales, Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management
This article describes the manage the accounts payable business process area in the Source to pay end-to-end process. This process area includes the processes for setting the vendor invoice matching policies of how invoicing performs and is accounted for.
Note
In the first versions of the business process catalog, this business process area had the name Process vendor invoices overview. We're in process of updating the article based on the November 2024 version.
A vendor invoice is generated upon receiving products or services as per a purchase order. It consists of a header and item or service lines, marking the last step in the purchase process. Some invoices might not correspond to purchase orders, like ongoing service bills. There are various methods to enter vendor invoices in Dynamics 365. Depending on the app and the user, vendor invoices can be registered using the vendor invoice approval journal, vendor invoice journal for non-purchase order invoices, and the vendor invoice pool for expense accrual.
Additionally, you can create vendor invoices based on confirmed purchase orders using the Open vendor invoices and Pending vendor invoices pages.
The manage the accounts payable business process area should be defined and incorporated into the overall implementation. This phase typically occurs at the beginning of a project's lifecycle and involves establishing project goals, defining project scope, and developing a detailed project plan. The setup and configuration of your products and base pricing along with the general procurement process should be in place before the vendor invoice process.
Stakeholders
As policies and procedures are outlined within the procurement area, there's also input from other departments that you must take into consideration. These stakeholders include, but aren't limited to:
Procurement and sourcing stakeholders: responsible for the creation of purchase requisitions, purchase orders, and purchase order changes.
Finance stakeholders: The finance stakeholders are involved in ensuring any budgetary considerations are needed and assisting with the approval hierarchy (both personnel and monetary limits) for purchases and invoices.
Accounts payable stakeholders: responsible for invoice generation and matching.
Audit and compliance stakeholders: these stakeholders ensure the proper approvals and configurations are set to meet internal and external audit requirements.
Process flow
The following diagram illustrates the manage the accounts payable business process.
Important
The diagram is not yet updated. But the following text is updated.
Start
Source to pay end-to-end process
Manage accounts payable business process area
- Process supplier invoices
- Dispute invoices
- Receive supplier credits
- Issue and settle supplier payments
- Manage promissory notes
- Cancel supplier payments
- Correct supplier payments
- Process supplier rebates and incentives
Analyze procurement and sourcing
End
Benefits
There are many key benefits that can be used to monitor and measure the success of implementing technology to support the process vendor invoices. The following sections outline the key benefits that an organization might monitor and measure for Process vendor invoices.
Efficiency
The system enhances efficiency by validating vendor invoicing. It can match product receipts to invoice lines that have a three-way matching policy and prevalidate through simulated posting. This helps reduce the errors and inefficiencies that can occur when information is manually entered and processed.
Visibility
The system provides an enhanced experience for viewing workflow and reaching the historical information for vendor invoices. This visibility can help Accounts payable clerks and managers process vendor invoices more efficiently.
Control
Managing the accounts payable gives users direct control over each step of the process. Such control can be beneficial for businesses that require a high level of oversight or have specific procedures that must be followed.
Next steps
If you want to implement Dynamics 365 solutions to assist with your manage accounts payable business processes, you can use the following resources and steps to learn more. (Links are added later, when the articles are ready.)
Related information
You can use the following resources to learn more about the manage account payable process in Dynamics 365.
Perform Accounts payable daily procedures in Dynamics 365 Finance
Find definitions of terminology used in content for manage account payable in the Glossary of terms in Dynamics 365 business processes article, including the following terms:
Contributors
This article is maintained by Microsoft. It was originally written by the following contributors.
Principal author:
- Menekse Saygili | Senior Program Manager