18 Accounts Payable Approvals Processing
This chapter contains these topics:
18.1 Overview
The Accounts Payable Approvals process allows businesses to monitor and manage the outflow of cash through their A/P system. Approvals controls may be set up to determine the Approval Status for all vouchers entered or changed. These controls may be set up based on the voucher's gross or taxable amount, document type, business unit, company or any combination. When A/P Approvals is activated, the system will prevent payment on any voucher that does not have an appropriate Approval Status regardless of its pay status.
The system will use the AP Control file (F0453) when evaluating vouchers to determine if there will be a record created in the A/P Approval Detail File (F04531), and which approvers and status to be assigned. A record is written to the A/P Approval Detail File (F04531) for every voucher, whether it requires approval or not.
The following is the summary hierarchy used to evaluate the vouchers:
-
Business Unit/Document Type/Company
-
Business Unit/Document Type
-
Document Type
-
Company/Business Unit
-
Company
-
Business Unit
Lastly, the defaults are based on the processing options established in Section 109.4, "A/P Approval - Approval Controls (X0453)".
The only exception to the above rule is vouchers created by the Multi-Company Single Supplier (P041016). The evaluation is based on document type or the defaults will be used from Set Approval Flag for Voucher (X0453).
18.2 Setup
18.3 Approving Vouchers
From Accounts Payable (G04), choose Supplier & Voucher Entry
From Supplier and Voucher Entry (G0411), choose A/P Approval - Work with Vouchers
Once A/P Approvals has been activated and controls set up, records will be written to the A/P Approver Detail File (F04531) for every voucher that is entered in the system. This includes vouchers created from the Purchasing and Payroll systems. A/P Approval - Work with Vouchers (P04531) will allow display of all vouchers written to the A/P Approver File. You may inquire on various fields or any combination in order to limit the display of the A/P Approval detail records. The information displayed contains Approval Status, Approved By, Amount Approved, and an asterisk under the Credit Items headings to indicate a credit pay item is included. This program is designed for use as a review tool and for managing the approval status of vouchers in the system.
Figure 18-1 A/P Approval - Work With Vouchers screen
Description of "Figure 18-1 A/P Approval - Work With Vouchers screen"
Allowed values for Approval Status are:
| Approval Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Blank or 0 | The voucher is not approved for payment |
| 1 | The voucher is approved by one of the Approvers, either based on control levels set up or by manually approving the voucher. |
| 2 | The voucher is approved for payment automatically by the system. Either the amount was below the minimum amount or there was no record found in the control file for document type, company or business unit. In either case, the processing options for the Set Approval Flag for Voucher (X0453) had been set for automatic approval. If automatically approved, the "Approved By" ID is DEFAULT. |
| 9 | The voucher was reviewed and rejected for payment by one of the Approvers. |
Only the user assigned as Approver 1 or Approver 2 may change the Approval Status of a voucher. By using the options available, approvers may change the approval status on vouchers. The approvers cannot assign Approval Status '2' to a voucher; this is a system generated approval only. The following table describes the Approval Status functionality:
| If Approval Status = | Then |
|---|---|
| 2 | The Approver 1 or Approver 2 can change the status to reject (9) or to unapprove (0) |
| 0 | The Approver 1 or Approver 2 can change the status to reject (9) or to approve (1). |
| 1 | The Approver 1 or Approver 2 can change the status to reject (9) or to unapprove (0). |
| 9 | The Approver 1 or Approver 2 can change the status to approve (1). |
The approvers use the option key field to affect the update of the status for each voucher. The Voucher Entry option (4) allows the approver to exit to the appropriate voucher entry program. If the field RPRP3 in the AP Detail file (F0411) is updated with a C for the voucher, the system will exit to the Multi-Company Single Supplier (P041016), utilizing DREAM Writer version ZJDE0001. All other vouchers will use Standard Voucher Entry (P04105), utilizing DREAM Writer version ZJDE0001.
Approvers can use function key exits to Speed Release (P04114), Supplier Ledger Inquiry (P042003) and Supplier Payment Ledger Inquiry (P042004). Approvers have the benefit of an 'Approve All Vouchers' function key which will assist in approving large groups of vouchers at a time.
Generic Text is another beneficial function key, which will allow the approver to make notes to the voucher. The Generic Text appears at the summary voucher level and will not be seen when inquiring on individual voucher pay items. You can use option key 9 in Supplier Ledger Inquiry (P042003) to view generic text created by the AP Approval system.
A/P Approvals - Work with Vouchers (P04531) has one processing option which allows you to designate default values prior to accessing the screen. You can set the processing option with the following fields available for assignment.
-
Approver (Enter 'USERID' to get your User ID)
-
Approver 1/2/Either/Both Flag
-
Document Type
-
Approved Status
-
Approved By
-
FROM Approved Date
-
Company
If preloaded information needed for users varies depending on different users, it is recommended you set up separate menu options for each user and update the menu option with the specific DREAM Writer version established for that user.
Note:
As an extra security measure, User ID/Password Security is invoked every time the program is selected. Before any user can enter the A/P Approval - Work with Vouchers (P04531) program, they are required to enter their IBM I-Series password, thus preventing an unauthorized user from trying to approve vouchers from an unprotected PC.18.3.2 Maintenance and Updates
Over the course of time, employees leave the company or are assigned different responsibilities. The Global Update of Approver (P04840) allows you to globally update Approver 1 or Approver 2 from one User ID to another in both the A/P Approval Control file (F0453) as well as the A/P Approver Detail file (F04531).
Evaluate Vouchers - Assign Approval Status (P04532) will allow you to evaluate/re-evaluate and update vouchers based on the assigned version of Set Approval Flag for Voucher program (X0453). As mentioned previously, a new voucher or changed voucher will automatically be run through this program, but there may be occasions to re-evaluate a large group of vouchers, either upon initial implementation of A/P Approvals or if approval control records are added or changed.
A/P Purge (P04800) deletes the corresponding A/P Approval Detail file (F04531) records for vouchers eligible for purging from the AP Detail file (F0411).
When vouchers are deleted or voided in the AP Detail file (F0411), the system will automatically delete the corresponding record from the AP Approval Detail file (F04531).