Guide · ERP
How a Sales Invoice Posts to the General Ledger
Posting a sales invoice to the general ledger means recording the sale as a balanced journal entry: what the customer owes, set against the revenue earned and any tax collected.
The short answer
When a sales invoice is submitted in Suntel360 ERP, it posts one balanced voucher: debit the customer's receivable for the grand total, credit revenue for the net amount, and credit each tax account for its tax. Cost of goods sold is not on the invoice; the delivery note posts it, when perpetual inventory is enabled.
From quotation to ledger, document by document
1. Quotation and sales order: nothing posts yet
Every selling document in Suntel360 ERP, from quotation to sales invoice, is either draft, submitted or cancelled. A sales order can be created from a submitted quotation that is still open for conversion. Submitting a quotation or a sales order posts nothing to the general ledger. Submit does assign the document number and re-check the customer, price and tax records, and a sales order is also checked against the customer's credit limit. Every submit needs a fiscal year covering the posting date, or it is refused.
2. Delivery note: the goods leave the warehouse
A delivery note is created from a submitted sales order, choosing the order lines and quantities to ship. On submit, each line issues stock from its warehouse. Shipping more than the sales order allows is blocked before any stock moves, and the delivery note stays a draft. Each line is costed at the item's valuation rate at the moment of issue (moving average, FIFO or LIFO, set per item), and that rate is frozen on the line. Issuing more than is on hand is refused unless the organisation allows negative stock, and always for moving-average items.
3. Cost of goods sold: posted by the delivery note
With perpetual inventory enabled and an inventory account on the warehouse, each stock movement also posts a two-line voucher, written together with the stock ledger row so the two cannot drift apart. For a delivery, that is a debit to cost of goods sold and a credit to inventory for the issue value. The cost of goods sold account is found per line: item, then item group, then the organisation's default. If none is set, the line falls back to the stock adjustment account, and the delivery is refused only if that is missing too. The account used is frozen on the line, so a later cancellation reverses into the same account. Without perpetual inventory or an inventory account, stock still moves but no ledger entry is made.
4. Sales invoice: receivable, revenue and tax
A sales invoice is created from a submitted sales order, not from the delivery note, copying the item, unit, price list, tax template and customer from the order. It can also be created on its own, or from billable time on a project timesheet. On submit, the invoice is re-priced from live records, and those fresh totals are what post. The voucher debits the customer's receivable account for the grand total and credits income for the net amounts, found per line, so one invoice can credit several revenue accounts. Each tax account is credited its tax, and any rounding goes to round-off.
5. Checks before the voucher is written
Before the voucher is written, the posting is checked. Debits must equal credits in the base currency: a difference within a small tolerance goes to round-off, and anything larger is rejected. Lines may only post to accounts that exist, are not groups, and are enabled and not frozen. A posting date in a closed accounting period is refused. The receivable account comes from the customer or the accounting-settings default; with neither, submit is refused. Billing beyond the sales order is blocked, and the credit limit is checked again. The invoice number is taken only after the receivable, billing and credit-limit checks pass, so numbering can have gaps when a ledger check then rejects the posting.
6. One transaction: ledger and invoice together
The ledger voucher, the customer's receivable entry, the status change to submitted, the sales order's billed quantity and any project totals are written in one database transaction. Either all of it is saved or none of it is, so the invoice and the ledger cannot disagree. Payment terms become a fixed instalment schedule and due date at the same moment. The invoice itself does not move stock or post cost of goods sold: if no delivery note is submitted for a sale, none is posted.
7. Cancel and amend: reverse, then correct
A submitted invoice cannot be edited, and posted ledger lines are never changed. To correct one, cancel it: a reversal posts every original line with debit and credit swapped, against the same accounts and on the original posting date, so it falls in the same period. A voucher can be reversed only once. Cancelling is refused if that date is in a closed period, or if a payment has been applied. Then amend: only a cancelled invoice can be amended, and only once. Amending creates a new linked draft, which gets its own number when submitted.
Worked example: one order, two vouchers
Sample data| Document | Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quotation and sales order | No ledger entry | – | – |
| Delivery note (perpetual inventory) | Cost of goods sold | 320.00 | – |
| Delivery note (perpetual inventory) | Inventory | – | 320.00 |
| Delivery note total | Debits equal credits | 320.00 | 320.00 |
| Sales invoice | Accounts receivable (customer) | 550.00 | – |
| Sales invoice | Sales revenue | – | 500.00 |
| Sales invoice | Sales tax payable | – | 50.00 |
| Sales invoice total | Debits equal credits | 550.00 | 550.00 |
Sample figures: 10 units sold at 50.00 each plus 10% sales tax, costed at 32.00 a unit. The delivery note lines post only with perpetual inventory enabled.
What Suntel360 ERP does, and does not do
It does
- Posts cost of goods sold on delivery-note submit, when perpetual inventory is enabled.
- Posts the sales invoice as one balanced voucher, in the same transaction as its status change.
- Costs outgoing stock by moving average, FIFO or LIFO, chosen per item.
- Handles invoices in other enabled currencies, keeping base-currency amounts alongside.
- Refuses any posting or reversal dated in a closed accounting period.
- Corrects by cancel and amend: a reversal on the original date, then a new linked draft.
It does not
- Create a sales invoice from a delivery note; both come from the sales order, and neither triggers the other.
- Post cost of goods sold from the sales invoice.
- Edit or delete posted ledger lines; a correction is a reversal plus a new document.
- Offer an override for a closed period.
- Consolidate financial statements across companies, or receive payroll postings from HRMS.
Questions
What is the journal entry for a sales invoice?
In Suntel360 ERP, a submitted sales invoice debits the customer's receivable account for the grand total, credits one or more income accounts for the net amounts, and credits each tax account for its tax. Any rounding goes to a round-off account. The voucher must balance in the base currency before it is written.
When does a delivery note post cost of goods sold?
When it is submitted, if perpetual inventory is enabled and the warehouse has an inventory account. The delivery note then debits cost of goods sold and credits inventory at the item's valuation cost. Without perpetual inventory, stock still leaves the warehouse but no ledger entry is made, and the sales invoice never posts this cost.
How do you cancel and amend a submitted sales invoice?
Cancel it first. Cancelling posts a reversal of every ledger line, with debit and credit swapped and the original posting date kept. It is refused if a payment has been applied or the period is closed. Then amend the cancelled invoice: this creates a new draft linked to it, which gets its own number when submitted.
Why is the reversal dated on the original posting date?
So the reversal falls in the same accounting period as the entry it undoes, and that period's figures for the cancelled document net to zero. It is also why cancelling is refused when the original date is in a closed period: the reversal would have to post into that period, and closed periods accept no postings.
What happens in the ledger when the customer pays?
A payment entry is allocated against the invoice and posts a debit to bank or cash and a credit to the receivable account, with any exchange gain or loss on its own line. Once a payment is applied, the invoice cannot be cancelled. The payment entry can itself be cancelled, which reverses its ledger entry and releases the allocation.