The sales invoice
The invoice is the central document in Sahl. Here you learn to create it quickly from the panel, and exactly what happens the moment it is posted.
On this page
A full-width screen
Open Sales, then Sales invoices and click New sales invoice. A full-width entry screen opens: the header at the top, the lines table where the real work happens, and the totals at the bottom. The same screen serves quotations, orders and returns under a different title.
The header
- Customer: search by name or code (F4). Choosing one fills in their currency, price list, salesman, and payment terms, which set the Due date. Leave it empty for a cash sale to a walk-in and type the Customer name (cash) if you like.
- Date: today by default. The date must fall in an open fiscal period.
- Warehouse: where quantities are taken from. Filled with the default warehouse, and never accepts a warehouse outside your scope.
- Currency and its exchange rate: from the customer or the branch. The rate is resolved from the latest rate recorded on or before the invoice date and can be overridden.
- Prices include VAT: decides how the price you type on a line is read.
- Reference and Notes: optional; the reference is for the customer's order number, for example.
The lines
- Press F2 or click the item cell, then type the item name or scan the barcode. A barcode scanner fills the line directly.
- Choose the Unit if the item has more than one; quantity and price follow the chosen unit.
- Quantity: no fractions for an item sold by the piece, up to three decimals for an item sold by weight.
- Rate: suggested from the customer's price list, then their category's, then the default list. It can be edited by hand.
- Discount % on the line, and Header discount % on the whole invoice, spread proportionally over the lines.
- Enter moves to a new line.
The totals at the bottom (Net, Tax, Total) are approximate until saved; the final calculation runs on the server with one rule: line discount, then promotion, then header discount, then tax per line, then cash rounding, which applies to the POS channel only and not to panel invoices.
Shortcuts that speed things up
F2 item or barcode search, F4 party search, Ctrl+S save draft, Ctrl+Enter post. A twenty-line invoice by barcode is done in under two minutes without touching the mouse.
Save, then post
Save creates a draft: no number, no effect on stock or the books, and it can be edited or removed with Delete draft. Post is the real moment. Before it goes through the system checks, in order: that lines exist, the customer's credit limit (see Credit limits), the price list's maximum discount, and that a warehouse is set. Then it assigns the number in the form INV-26-01-000001 or whatever format you set in numbering.
After posting, the Print and Cancel (reverse) buttons appear, and the invoice can be collected with a receipt voucher allocated to it; see Receipt and payment vouchers. The Payment column in the list shows: unpaid, partial, or paid.
What happens in the books
At the moment of posting, every quantity leaves the warehouse at the current weighted average cost and that cost is saved on the line, then one entry is written:
- Debit 1400 Customer receivables under the customer's name for the total, or 1410 Cash customer if there is no party.
- Credit 4100 Sales for the net after all discounts, one line per item group.
- Credit 2300 Output VAT for the tax.
- Debit 5100 Cost of goods sold and credit 1500 Inventory for the cost of what left, always in the base currency.
Example: an invoice of 1,170 (net 1,000 and tax 170) with goods cost 600: Customer receivables 1,170 debit, Sales 1,000 credit, Output VAT 170 credit, Cost of goods sold 600 debit, Inventory 600 credit.
Why was posting refused?
The most common reasons: insufficient stock for an item that does not allow negative balance, an invoice date older than the item's latest movement in that warehouse, a locked fiscal period, a credit limit exceeded under the block policy, or a discount above the price list limit. The list of messages is in System messages.
An invoice from an order or quotation
If you have a confirmed order or quotation, do not re-enter it: the Convert to invoice button copies all the lines or selected quantities. Details in Quotations and orders.
What a panel invoice does not do
A panel invoice does not collect money by itself; collection is a separate voucher allocated to it. It applies no cash rounding; that is for the POS. And it cannot be edited after posting except for notes; corrections go through cancel and a new invoice, as in Posting and cancelling.
Frequently asked questions
Can a posted invoice be edited?
No, except for notes. A posted invoice wrote an entry and a stock movement that are never edited. Cancel the invoice so everything is reversed, then create a correct one.
Why is there no salesman on the invoice?
Either the salesmen feature is off, no salesmen are defined, or you lack permission to view them. The hint under the field names the reason.
The invoice is in dollars. In which currency is the cost booked?
The customer balance, sales and tax are in dollars with their base equivalent, while cost of goods and inventory are always in the base currency because they are a historical cost.