IMOS On-Prem - Complete Operations and Financials AP-AR Workflow

Overview

Note: As with all suggested IMOS workflows, before implementing this workflow, review and approve it with your Business Process Owner or IMOS Administrator. Due to the integrated nature of Veson Nautical products, if one user makes changes in IMOS, it may have unintended impact on other users.

This workflow is based on the following flowchart, steps, roles, and responsibilities.

Flowchart

Steps

Creating an Invoice
Reviewing an Invoice
Posting an Invoice
Tracking Outstanding AP/AR Invoices
Tracking Cash Payments and Receipts in IMOS (Optional)

Roles & Responsibilities

Roles	Responsibilities

Roles	Responsibilities
Voyage Operator Post Fixture Specialist	Create AP/AR invoices Create Time Charter Invoices Create Bunker Invoices
Operations Manager	Approve AP/AR invoices
Accounting team Control team	Post AP/AR invoices Track AP/AR invoices

1. Creating an Invoice

Creating an invoice is the most variable step of this workflow. Based on the roles and responsibilities defined above, the first responsible party will be the Voyage Operator or Post Fixture Specialist (PF). As a Voyage Operator or PF, it is your responsibility to ensure that all voyage-related documents are properly managed, including creating AR documents and recording AP documents received from vendors, suppliers, or counterparties.

Different Invoice Types

The process for creating an invoice in IMOS depends on which invoice type you want to create. To learn how to raise common invoice types, see the following pages:

Creating a Freight Invoice
Creating a Miscellaneous Revenue or Expense Invoice
Creating a Time Charter Hire Payment or Bill
Creating a Bunker Invoice
Creating a Laytime Calculation and Demurrage/Despatch Invoice
The Voyage Manager Invoice tab populates with Create Invoice links when IMOS determines that certain invoice types should be created, such as Freight, Demurrage, or Bunkers.
In the Create Invoices list, you can create many different invoice types for many different vessels and voyages.

2. Reviewing an Invoice

In this workflow, approving an invoice is a much more standard process than creating an invoice. Based on the roles and responsibilities defined above, invoice approval will be performed by an Operations Manager. An Operations Manager will be responsible for several Operators and voyages, and therefore efficiency is important when dealing with many voyage invoices awaiting approval.

You can use the Invoice Approvals form to set limits on which users can approve invoices of a certain Type, Trade Area, or Amount.
IMOS user rights can be set to enable specific users to approve invoices of a certain Type.

To review an invoice, do so from the Voyage Manager Invoices tab or do the following:

In the Financials module center
, open the Approve Invoices list.
Create and save a List View that meets your needs.
Note: You only have to do this once; saving a view enables you to retrieve it later.
In the Approve Invoices list, next to the invoice you want to approve, click Review in the Action column.
Depending on your configuration, you may need to select a Remittance Bank; if you do, select the correct bank and then click OK.
Review the invoice.
Do one of the following:
- Click
  and then enter a Comment, if required.
- Click
  and then enter a Comment that tells the reason for the rejection.
The Approve Invoices list auto-refreshes with the approved or rejected invoice removed.

3. Posting an Invoice

In this workflow, posting an invoice is similar to reviewing an invoice because you can complete all of the steps from one list (unlike creating an invoice). Based on the roles and responsibilities defined above, IMOS users in the Accounting or Control team typically post invoices. This conservative approach accommodates the fact that posting an invoice is the first time Operations has an impact on the financial ledger.

To post an invoice:

In the Financials module center
, open the Post Invoices list.
Create and save a List View that meets your needs.
Note: You only have to do this once; saving a view enables you to retrieve it later.
In the Post Invoices list, next to the invoice you want to post, click Post in the Action column.

Note: If you have not configured your Business Rules correctly, messages will notify you of the missing rules. If you encounter one of these warnings, inform your IMOS Administrator.
Review the Accounting Date and Due Date of the invoice to ensure that it is posted into the correct financial period and the AP/AR team can track the invoice aging correctly. For more items to check before posting, see Items to Check before Posting.
To officially recognize the transaction on your financial ledger, click
.

Items to Check before Posting

Each company has its own validation criteria before posting a transaction. Here is a list of common items to validate before posting to the financial ledger:

Accounting Date: Make sure your Accounting Date is within the account period in which you want recognize the transaction.
Line item Account code: Make sure the line item Account code is the correct Ledger Code for the specific line item. Once posted, you cannot undo without reversing the whole transaction.
Tax Codes: Many Accountants are required to enter Tax Codes for each line item; you can do this in the Operations View tab of the Transaction Data Entry form.