Implement and manage accounts payable and expenses
Vendor to payment
Vendor groups feed posting profiles, then vendors. Learn the invoice entry paths, because identifying the right one is the most common scenario trap: the invoice journal posts immediately; the invoice register + approval journal is a two-step path that parks the entry in the invoice register suspense account defined in Accounts payable parameters; pending vendor invoices use workflow and can create a new vendor; the invoice pool holds unapproved entries for later.
Matching
Three-way matching compares invoice totals, price totals (unit price × quantity), and quantities against the purchase order and product receipt. Tolerances are set on items, vendors, procurement categories, or a matching policy, in percentage or amount, for price, quantity, and charges. Failures land in matching exceptions and need approval before posting.
Payments and settlement
Payment proposals select invoices by due date, cash discount date, or other criteria. Methods of payment hold the bridging/offset account, file format, and payment attributes; positive pay files go to the bank. Settlement is where foreign-currency realized gain/loss is created, and reversing a payment journal does not always cleanly undo settlement. Prepayments come from a prepayment journal voucher or a prepayment invoice, and are applied against the final invoice.
Expenses
Expense categories and category groups feed expense policies (per diem, mileage, receipt limits) and expense report workflow. Per diem is calculated per calendar day with meal reductions configured in Expense management parameters; mileage uses distance tiers. Corporate cards are imported and reconciled to itemized expenses.
Worked example
PO price 100, invoice price 106, price tolerance 5%. The variance is 6%, so the invoice goes to matching exception and requires approval rather than posting.
Rule of thumb: if the scenario mentions a suspense account and two approval steps, it is the invoice register and approval journal.