Correct a posted service invoice

On an unpaid sales invoice you can choose Correct or Cancel in BC, and the system creates the credit memo itself. Many people expect the same on a posted service invoice. We have gone through what Microsoft Learn writes about corrections on sales, purchasing and service, and what you can do when the action does not exist. It is a guide that can be used as a checklist. It is a checklist, not a guarantee.

How Correct and Cancel work on sales

On a posted sales invoice, Cancel automatically creates and posts a corrective credit memo that reverses the invoice. Correct cancels the invoice and at the same time creates a new sales invoice with the same information, which you can correct and post again. Microsoft writes that this applies to unpaid sales invoices that have not been fully shipped. In all other cases a corrective credit memo is recommended.

What Learn says about service

For service, Learn describes a different mechanism. Under the heading Correct errors in service invoices, it says that you can delete service invoices that have associated service ledger entries. The deletion posts a corrective service ledger entry and restores the invoice date and period in the contract, so that you can create the invoice again.

The text is in the section about invoicing service contracts. We therefore read it as a solution for contract invoices. We have not found a Correct or Cancel action on a posted service invoice that corresponds to the sales invoice one.

Limits on deletion

You can reverse several invoices, but you must do it in order, starting from the latest invoice. You cannot delete a service invoice if details such as the invoice period or the Prepaid field have been changed on the service contract afterwards. Therefore delete the invoices before you change the contract.

Correction in practice

If the service invoice is posted and does not come from a contract, the normal route is a service credit memo and a new service invoice. It is two documents and a manual process, but the traceability is good: the auditor can see the original invoice, the credit memo and the new invoice.

Post a service credit memo with the same lines as the invoice, so that the invoice's value is zeroed.
Create a new service invoice with the right information.
Apply the credit memo against the original invoice on the customer ledger entries, so that the customer does not see an open balance.
Check the service contract if the invoice came from there, so that the next invoice date is still right.

Before you choose a route

Ask first: has the invoice been sent to the customer? Has it been paid? Is it part of a contract? The answers decide whether a deletion is possible or whether it has to be a credit memo. Always test the procedure on a copy of the data before you use it on real invoices, and get the auditor's acceptance of your routine.

Figures and timeline

Corrections to service invoices often arise at period end, because hours, spare parts or prices are only checked then. The earlier an error is caught, the fewer documents are involved. Consider having a colleague check service invoices before they are posted if corrections are frequent. Testing a correction in a sandbox environment also shows whether your setup of contracts and posting groups gives the entries you expect.

Example

An invoice has been posted with the wrong hourly rate. The invoice has been sent but not paid, and it comes from a service order. Here a credit memo and a new invoice is the safe route. The invoice is credited in full, and a new invoice is created with the right price. The credit memo is applied against the original invoice, so that the customer only has to pay the new invoice.

The idea on our list

The idea of being able to correct posted service invoices has 159 votes at Microsoft. At Addverk we collect ideas for small apps that could close gaps like this. They are ideas we are considering, not something you can download or buy today. The list of 30 ideas is on the Coming up page, and you can see which of them look like what you are missing yourselves.