Vendor Returns and Open to Match

Did you receive the extra 5 in PO30?  (You should also be prompted to PO52-buyer message-Receiving- to accept the overage.  You cannot release the receiver in PO30 until overage is accepted.)

When you did the return in PO31, what REASON did you select?  (We only do returns in PO31 if it is for a credit.  We also print off the final screen and send it to AP so they know to expect a credit.)

My only thought is that AP does not know there was a return of 5 and they were invoiced 15. Hence the 5 left to match?????

AP is a mystery to me.....LOL

 

Once you receive it, AP has to match against it. Ideally, when you perform the return, a credit memo will be obtained from the supplier and given to AP so that AP can offset the invoice.

Think of it this way - as soon as a supplier ships an item to you, they simultaneously send you an invoice. The proper way to account for this is to receive the item (even if damaged) and then AP can apply the invoice to that receipt. By performing the return in Lawson, Lawson keeps track of the fact that you are owed the credit memo for the vendor return and if you reconcile your returns you will find that the process works perfectly

As for the buyer message mentioned above, - that isnt necessarily how lawson works. You can configure Lawson to allow over-receipts or to not allow over-receipts. If you allow over-receipts you can also configure Lawson to automatically create a buyer message when an over-receipt occurs but you don't have to configure Lawson this way. It's a great to automaticlly create buyer messages when an over receipt occurs, but not everybody does it.

Thank you, both, for the quick replies.
I see what both of you are saying. Here's what happened that prompted this:

Ordered qty 4.
Received 4.
Received (again) 4. Accepted the PO52. So, now we have 8.
Returned 4.
Invoiced (matched and paid) for 4.
Returned (again) 4.

So, we have returned 100% what what we received.
However, my open-t0-match is 4. It's as if PO64 only sees that we received 8 and were invoice for 4. It doesn't care that we returned 8.

Is the correct step, to reduce the open-to-match, to do a receipt adjustment after each vendor return? I would think that since we returned them, the system should see that we no longer have them to "match" to.

You cannot adjust the receipt after a vendor return.

There are two options and you listed them both in your previous posts. You can either "not receive" goods you plan to return (no invoice entry will be required) or you can receive them and then return them using lawson. (In option 2 an invoice must be entered). Well some organizations actually receive the goods in Lawson but they return the goods using a paper based process but I do not recommend that approach.

If you use option number 2 you must enter an invoice to clear the open to match quantitiy.

Not everyone agrees on the proper approach. I recommend option two for two reasons. The first reason is that you will have an audit trail within Lawson documenting what actually happened. The second reason is that the supplier typically sends an invoice for everything they ship so unless it was an accidental overshipment you will get an invoice from the supplier and they will expect you to pay it. By using Lawson's vendor return module, Lawson keeps track of the credits you are a owed (and even allows you to do an immediate charge back at the time of the return if you don't want to wait for the vendor to send a credit memo).

If you prefer option one then you can certainly do a receipt adjustment to remove the receipt when you perform a return but you will need to manage your returns outside of Lawson most likely using a paper based process

In your particular situation I recommend that the buyer contact the supplier to determine if there is an invoice for the extra shipment. If so request a copy of it plus request the credit memo for the return and forward everything to AP. If there is not an invoice for the over shipment, (for example if it was an accidental over shipment) then AP should have a process where they can clear the open to match (by entering a fictitiuos invoice and credit memo).

On a sidenote keep in mind that if this is a non-inventory product the department has been charged for it and will not get their credit until this is cleaned up so timely action is helpful for all parties concerned

Thanks, Mike!
After thinking it through and reading your last post, I think I have it down: If we ACTUALLY received the goods, whether it was more than we ordered or not, then we will be expecting an invoice for it. So, Lawson is programmed such that just because you returned those goods, doesn't decrease the open-to-match amount because you are expecting an invoice to come in for them.

Thanks for your help, everyone!

You got it Jeremy. Best of luck!!

Jeremy:

Quick question.  In a previous response, you said you returned 4 each TWICE.  Is that meaning you did PO31 twice?  Did you not keep the original 4?

The one OCD brain cell I have is stuck on that.

Yes, we returned the original 4. I'm not sure why (I didn't ask the facility) but they needed to send the original back. Maybe they're expecting replacements to come in??

Hey everyone. Working on similar issue again and I was wondering something: If I do a vendor return, then enter a credit memo for the return, why would my open-to-receive amount not go back up? If I've returned the goods, I'm expecting replacement goods to come in. But, Lawson does not increase my open to receive quantity.
This becomes a problem for us when we fully receive the goods, invoiced fully, and paid. The line closes out! But, if something breaks we want to return it and then receive the replacements in.